Sybreon Ones Nought

Post-GE13 Thoughts

Shawn Tan — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:20:55 +0000

It’s been three days after our 13th general elections (GE13). While I do not claim to know what people think, I do know that Malaysians from all walks of life, across all racial groups, are coming together to express our distaste at how we have been denied the change that we sorely need and crave. […]

GE13 Experience

Shawn Tan — Sun, 05 May 2013 20:54:00 +0000

By a stroke of luck, my schedule was totally clear for the two weeks between nomination and polling day for GE13. As my good friend was running, I decided to get involved directly and helped out where I could. Nomination Day I returned to KL the night before nomination day and went to the nomination […]

Bad Computer Science Programmes

Shawn Tan — Sat, 04 May 2013 04:08:47 +0000

This article first appeared in DNA. I sent drafts of my previous article to the Deans of several local Computer Science (CS) faculties for comment. One expressed reservation in labelling it bad CS programmes as they are all accredited by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). Therefore, none of them are bad per se. I would […]

Civil Service Votes

Shawn Tan — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:54:39 +0000

A thought came into my head a few days ago, as I was taking my morning shower – “What if the civil service votes, swing?” Our civil service has traditionally been a solid vote bank for the BN coalition. The generally held view is that the civil servants are a docile lot, with their saya […]

Polling/Counting Agent Training

Shawn Tan — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 03:29:48 +0000

I attended a PACA briefing this week and signed up as a volunteer for the second largest parliamentary constituency in Malaysia – Serdang. I would seriously encourage all Malaysians to at least do this thing once in your life-time, to gain a better understanding of the democratic process in Malaysia. The briefing was divided into […]

My GE13 Nomination Day Experience

Shawn Tan — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:16:36 +0000

This coming 13th General Election (GE13) has been dubbed as the mother of all elections, in Malaysia, for good reason. Whatever happens in the end, I wish the best to all those who are participating in the elections. Personally, I decided that I ought to savour this elections as best I can. So, first thing […]

KPOP Gavy NJ

Shawn Tan — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:19:13 +0000

The girls may not be as hyper as some other Kpop groups, but they can certainly sing!

One Too Many Computer Science Programmes?

Shawn Tan — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 10:27:32 +0000

This article first appeared on Digital News Asia here. I started writing this article, wondering if there were one too many Computer Science (CS) degree programmes in Malaysia. My gut feel was that there were definitely too many CS programmes in Malaysia but I needed to get my facts straight first. Looking up the institutions […]

Parliament Dissolved

Shawn Tan — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:22:43 +0000

Finally, after an extremely long wait, parliament is now dissolved! This got me to think, as I was driving into work this morning, about how the Pakatan Rakyat state governments should have dissolved the state assemblies on 8/March. By not doing so, they essentially lost the moral right to criticise the federal government for over-staying. […]

Losing Mandate

Shawn Tan — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 03:31:35 +0000

There is a small point of note, that most Malaysians are confused over – that is the government’s mandate to govern. As far as the Consti is concerned, the current government’s term of office will automatically expire on 27-Apr-2013 next month. However, as far as mandate goes, the current government has already lost its mandate […]