JABATAN SAINS SOSIAL, FAKULTI SAINS PERTANIAN DAN MAKANAN, UPMKB, PETI SURAT 396, 97008 BINTULU, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA. TEL: 086-855211/5212 FAKS: 086-855270 WEBSITE: www.btu.upm.edu.my

UNTUK EDARAN DALAMAN SAHAJA FEBRUARI 2011/Bil. 10 JSS/FSPM/UPMKB

Editorial

Advisor Dr. Aryaty Alwie

Coordinator Dr. Ahmad Nasir Mohd Yusoff

Secretary Dr. Salmah Omar

Chief Editor Najihah Abdul Mutalib

Editors Dr. Aryaty Alwie

Dr. Salmah Omar

Fakhzan Buang

Joyce Morris Kapong

Ramuni Incham

Designers Shafinah Kamarudin

Peter Clarence Cluny

Photographer Fakhzan Buang

Promotional Dr. Adrian Daud

It's the lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself. - Muhammad Ali -

Ramuni Incham was born and raised in a conservative long-house community of subsis-tence farmers in Bawang, Balingian, a former sub-district of Mukah, Sarawak (now under the new district of Selangau). She attended SMB. St. Patrick,

Mukah before being selected to Tanjong Lobang College ( Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Hj. Bujang) Miri to complete her form 4 & 5 education. After SPM she went on to do South Australian Matriculation at KPP (Kolej Pengajian Persediaan Luar Negeri), Section 2, Shah Alam, Selangor under the Public Service Department (JPA) sponsor-ship. From 1988, she attended Dalhousie Uni-versity, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada for an engineering degree and completed three years of study for the program. She left Canada to live with her husband in Vermont, U.S.A and returned to Malaysia a year later where she eventually completed her studies for B.A. (English). She is currently working at completing her thesis for a master’s degree in Linguistics. Married to Chris Buda Ansam, an engineer & entrepreneur, Ra-muni is blessed with four children; her eldest and only daughter is pursuing her degree course in

Mechanical Engineering while her youngest son is in form one.

Before joining UPMKB as a language instructor in 2006, Ramuni had worked in the Oil & Gas industry in different capacities at executive level for almost ten years. Besides teaching English proficiency courses at the Department of Social Science, Faculty of Agriculture & Food Science, UPMKB, she also works with other language instructors to coordinate and carry out programs and activities related to the teaching and learning of English language both within and outside of the faculty. Her interests include socio-political matters, women issues, parenting and education, and investment in Oil Palm sector. She ardently hopes to see more serious students come to university to learn not just to read academic texts and reproduce them to pass their examinations, and later qualify for a job, but more importantly to hone their skills to think critically, to evaluate and accept openly & fairly perspectives other than their own, and to ultimately thrive and coexist peacefully in a global community.

Buletin JSS juga boleh dicapai melalui facebook Social Science Department,

UPMKB (group)

The term “middle class” has been used for centuries and there is no clear cut classification of it as it might differ from one society to another. The term “bourgeoisie” in the late Middle Ages and early modern period perhaps gives the picture that we have of middle class people today. Sociologists use the term based on the UK Registrar-General Report (1911), which identified people such as professionals, managers, and senior civil servants as middle class people. In capitalism the term generally refers to professionals and white collar workers. In other words they are quite comfortable with life and have a sense of security in their jobs. This was what life was for a bourgeois family at the beginning of the modern era.

Today, the middle class is facing the effect of globalization whereby they strug-gle to keep up with the comfortable lifestyle they once had. By this definition we can say that the middle class is shrinking but defining it by nominal household income, one might find that the middle class is on the rise. The Economist (Feb 2009 edition) stated that growth of the middle class is fastest in the developing countries and more than half of the world’s population belongs to the middle class. Nevertheless, this standard is based on the developing countries and this explosive growth can be seen in China in the last 20 years where there is rapid urbanization and abandoning of subsistence farming. Malaysia has gone through this process in the 1980s and 1990s and recently the Government was planning to move a notch higher, gearing up to be a “high-income” nation by 2020. That would put the majority of Malaysians to be middle class citizens in 10 years time!

The thought of becoming a high-income nation is exhilarating as the targeted mark indicates a two-fold increase in per capita income by 2020. Assuming there will be no global economic crisis in the next 10 years (which is unlikely), then we should be better off than where we are today. Per capita income in Malaysia currently is just over US$7000 (RM22400) and by 2020 we aim to earn US$15000 (RM48000). The United States is one of the high-income nations we have today. Back in 1988, the average American earned US$33000 a year (i.e., per capita income) after adjusting for inflation (real income). The Internal Reve-

nue Service (IRS) reported that the average real income for Americans in 2008 was still just US$33000. For the middle class American, this current generation is probably not better off than their parents. The incomes of middle class Ameri-cans have been stagnant during this period of time. What was the plight of middle class America? The economic trend in recent years has significantly changed the structure of the society and caused the middle class to shrink. So where did the middle class go? This is not difficult to answer. The fact is that most of the middle class are becoming the “working class”. Could it be that one day the middle class will be wiped out?

Evidence has shown that the income gap between the rich and poor keep on widening especially in recent time despite the effort made to reduce this gap. This inequality was thought to be a problem in developing countries previously but by the economic trend that we are witnessing now, the developed countries do not fared better either. Between 1979 and 2005, the after-tax income (adjusted for inflation) in US for the top 20% of the population increased by 69%, increased by 21% for the middle income, and 6% for the bottom 5%. Glob-alization and information technology (technological change) enable certain people to accumulate wealth very quickly. Amazingly the top 1% improved their income by 176%! This is the group that threatens to wipe out the middle class and make them relatively poor, struggling to make ends meet. Inflation has caught up with most of us today and will suppress us even further in the future by devaluing our money. The purchasing power for most Malaysian has been drastically reduced in the last 5 years. The cost of owning a house has soared to a new height recently and made it difficult even for the middle class. Today the race to accumulate wealth is at such a high speed and with the leverage that the top earners have, the rest of the population will feel the pinch economically. The middle class may not be totally wiped out in the near future but the gap between them and the top earners will grow rapidly with the economic trend that we have today. This justifies the question: Will there be middle class in the future?

A pineapple is a berry

http://www.corsinet.com/

-Adrian D.-

Cheesed off (adj.) – angry, irritated

feeling a bit cheesed off I was really cheesed off

that they made me go to the back of the queue.

Crappy (adj., slang) – marked inferior in quality, lousy

I think that was the crap-piest movies I’ve ever seen.

I felt crappy all day yes-terday.

(Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

To be continued…

JABATAN SAINS SOSIAL, FAKULTI SAINS PERTANIAN DAN MAKANAN, UPMKB, PETI SURAT 396, 97008 BINTULU, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA. TEL: 086-855211/5212 FAKS: 086-855270 WEBSITE: www.btu.upm.edu.my

HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA

Penampilan Diri : Etika Makan Di Majlis Rasmi

-JMK-

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Fakhzan Buang, 2 Feb Dr. Salmah Omar, 8 Feb Dr. Ahmad Nasir Mohd Yusoff, 8 Feb Ribka Alan, 10 Feb

-Aryaty A.- -JMK-

Fun with English

Principle 2: Give honest and sincere appreciation.

As the first principle suggested not to condemn, criticize or complain. The second principle suggests us to give honest and sincere appreciation on the good things done buy our friends, family members or people around us.

There is only one way to get anybody to do anything. Yes, just one way. And that is by making the other person want to do it. Of course, you can make someone want to give you his watch by sticking a revolver in his ribs. Or, you can make your employees give you corporation – until your back is turned – by threatening to fire them. But these are undesir-able methods of asking people to do what they do.

The only way I can get you to do anything is by giving what you want. What do you want? Dr. Deway said that the deepest urge in human nature is “the desire to be important.” Lincoln once began a letter saying “Everybody likes a complement” William James said: “The deepest principle in human nature is the carving to be appreciated.” Instead of using the “wish”, the “desire” or the “longing” to be appreciated. He said the “craving” to be appreciated. This desire of feeling important is one of the chief disguising different be-tween mankind and the animals.

One of the first people in American business to be paid a salary of over a million dollars a year (when there was no income tax and a person earning fifty dollars a week considered well off) was Charles Schwab. He was picked by Andrew Carnegie to become the first president of the newly formed United States Steel Company in 1921 at the age of 38 years old. Why? Because Schwab was genius? No. He knew about steel manufacturing? No. Schwab told the Carnegie that he had many men working for him who knew more about steel manufacturing than he did. Schwab says that he was paid this salary largely because of his ability to deal with people. How he did it? He said: “I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among my people” and “the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.

That is what Schwab did. But what do average people do? The exact opposite. If they don’t like a thing, they shout out their subordinates; if they do like it, they say nothing. One of the most neglected virtues of our daily existence is appreciation. Somehow, we neglect to praise our son/daughter when he/she brings home a good report card. Nothing pleases children more than this kind of parental interest and approval.

In our life, try leaving a friendly trail of little sparks of gratitude on your daily trips. You will be surprised how they will set small flares of friendship that will rose on your next visit. Emerson said: “Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn at him.” As conclusion, let try to figure out the other person’s good points. Be “hearty in your approba-tion and generous in your praise,” and people will cherish your worlds and treasure them and repeat them over a lifetime-repeat them years after you have forgotten them.

When my daughter was little, we took a vacation to Florida. Seated on the airplane near the wing, I pointed out to Rhonda that we were above the ocean. “Can you see the water?” I asked her. “No,” she said, peering out the window at the wing, “but I can see the diving board.” – Rebecca Ricci

Last Thanksgiving, my niece came home with her school project: a beau-tiful autumnal leaf with the words “I am thankful for my mommy” printed on it. Her eyes tearing, my sister said, “This means so much to me.” Her daughter nodded. “I wanted to put ‘Hannah Montana’ but my teacher wouldn’t let me.”

Budi pekerti dan sopan santun yang mulia akan membuatkan sesorang itu senang didampingi dalam sesuatu majlis.

Bukan itu saja, budi pekerti dan sopan santun juga akan membuat kita dihormati dan disanjung tinggi. Berikut

adalah beberapa tips bagi menghadiri majlis makan rasmi atau majlis seumpamanya. Moga anda tampil dengan

penuh elegan dan karisma di sesebuah majlis.

20 perkara yang perlu dielakkan dalam sesuatu majlis :

Congratulations

by Dale Carnegie

To be continue..

Fzn’Feb11 – Adaptasi dari Majalah Maskulin 2008

Announcements

How to Write a Good Story

Everyone has a story to tell. There are many factors that can inspire a good story. Here are a few tips to release the writer in you. It's not hard and everyone can do it--just give it a try.

Step 1 Pick your story ideas based on what you know. If you know your starting subject, it's easier to write about and to branch details from it. Aside from facts and experiences, don't be afraid to dig into what you know emotionally. Grief, love, joy, how to overcome obstacles, fear, these are all things we 'know' and are the universal human experiences at the heart of great stories.

Step 2 Research subjects that you are familiar with but not expert in. For example, most people know what surfing is--they've at least seen it on TV--but they don't know how to do it. So, if you have a surfer character in your story, research surfing. Learn about the moves and techniques. If you have the opportu-nity, interview a surfer about the experience. Try to take a surfing lesson. Spend time observing people and imagining what the world looks like from their point of view. Practice empathy and accumulate experiences that make the facts you read about have context and meaning

Step 3 Decide what audience you envision for your work. Maybe you're writing for teens, or maybe for people who are familiar with a particular place. You might even be writing for yourself alone. Having a clear audience in mind will help you frame your ideas. Write down the reason that you are telling this story. Make sure that is what you are expressing with the story. Sometimes this is called a theme and some examples involve love, what it is to be human, how to be a friend, the power of overcoming fears, etc.

Step 4 Get inspirations in your everyday life. For example, if you want to write a children's book, observe children. See how they act, see the world through their eyes, and then write about something that fascinates them. Listen to the news: maybe your brain can conjure up a story just waiting to be written. Every-day life can be an inspiration. Ask "What If?" and ask it about everything that interests you. Next edition: Steps 5 to 7!

(Source: The Reader’s Digest)

(Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Good-Story )

3-4 Feb, Chinese New Year

15 Feb Maulidur Rasul

7-25 Feb, Test 1

21 Feb, Taklimat SPK Pra Siswazah Peringkat JSS

1. Menggoyang-goyangkan kaki sama ada semasa

duduk atau berdiri

2. Mengunyah gula-gula getah atau sebagainya sambil

bercakap

3. Mencelah perbualan orang lain yang sedang asyik

berbual.

4. Bercakap dengan mulut yang penuh dengan

makanan

5. Menggigit kuku, mengorek telinga, hidung dan

mencungkil gigi di khalayak ramai

6. Membiarkan sudu dalam gelas atau cawan dan

mengacau kopi/teh dengan bunyi yang kuat.

7. Memakai minyak wangi yang kuat baunya pada

waktu siang

8. Meletakkan barangan peribadi atas meja makan.

9. Mengguna atau berjenaka lucah

10. Bergaduh

11. Bertumpu ke meja makan secara bufet dan men-

gambil makanan secara berlebihan

12. Berbedak, bergincu dan bersikat rambut di khalayak

ramai.

13. Memakai pakaian yang tidak sesuai dengan majlis.

14. Berkelakuan yang tidak senonoh dan melakukan

perkara-perkara sumbang

15. Bercakap dengan nada suara yang tinggi

16. Merokok bagi kaum wanita

17. Berbisik-bisik sesama teman

18. Menggunakan bahasa asing yang tidak difahami

oleh orang lain

19. Berlagak sombong

20. Menyendiri dan menjadi kera sumbang