A little mischief that's JPA

So we were told in the newspapers that according to Bajet 2008 which was announced by our Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that we would receive an increase of up to 97% for our monthly allowance. The increase was said to be due last Sepetember.

So it's now November. Last September, when all was excited about the 'increase' we were hampered come the end of the month when we found out there was no increase on that month's scholarship. I was expecting that, so not much was felt.

Then came October. We were more excited this time. And the JPA students, were more then ever. They hoped to be getting around 2000 bucks (97% increase) . When I checked mine that morning, I got ~400, which meant, still no increase. Again, bummer.

The shock was to the JPA students however when they found out not only did they not get the increase, they suffered a decrease! Instead of getting 1200, they only got 1000. Which meant they only get 300+ for every month. Later, I learned, according to a source (I think it was Doc V), that students under JPA did receive an increase actually, by 20% (or 25%). But then, the government changed the policy of paying our residential halls. They terminated the 60/40 policy, so now, they'll subtract the residential cost straight from our allowance, leaving the JPA students with that one thousand. huh.

So much for the increase. Such political.

Last week, I went to the annual Raya MSD open house at Washington DC and ya Allah, the food was tremendously good. The food was authentic Malay; some sort of nasi, ayam masak merah, rendang, sate, roti jala, gulai ayam, acar, and kuih raya. I think I'm missing a few. Basically, we all just hogged into the meal, and ate like I don't know what!

But I'm not here to talk about the food. Before the makan2, there were speeches from the Malaysian Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Rajmah Hussain, then there was one from the guess of honour, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the TPM's wife. The latter speech is the one I want to talk about.

Yes, in her about an hour speech (maybe less), she did mention about hari raya, for a good 15 minutes or so. Then she mentioned about all her travels to Russia, Paris, and England during the pass week. She came to US because her daughter wanted her to come visit. Then came her long, lengthy political talk. First she mentioned about the government's generosity in increasing the monthly allowance, and then the achievements achieved during their 50 years of ruling. She also told us not to believe everything in the Internet as most of them are lies about the government, which according to her, is all good. Later in her speech, she said that if we were to change governments, our country would lose it's political stability and then be like those which are in war. duhh..

So, that's my political talk for the time being.

Owh, btw, I learned later that Dato' Dr. Anwar Ibrahim's two daughters, Hana, and her younger sister (I don't remember her name) were also present at the open house. I didn't get a chance to see them though. At first the host were rather hesitant in deciding whether or not to allow the girls to come, due to the fact that Rosmah was also present. However, they later allowed them to come with the idea that Rosmah wouldn't even recognize them in the 150+ crowd. Alhamdulillah, that happened to be the case and nothing out of the norm happened, and all were happy.