Nuar M

Sunday, March 27, 2011

WorldMUN 2011 was a whole new experience for me as it gave me a wider perspective on how the United Nations work as the conference itself is a platform that closely resembles on how the United Nations functions. I would level this conference as an event filled with great opportunities to interact with a diverse set of people who are like-minded in terms of their knowledge about current issues, their past experiences, and their high ambitions in life. Most are even actively engaged in community works that they have designed in their respective countries which makes them even honorable to me for their simple community act but yet have made a huge impact to their society.

Now, after a week from post-conference, it's back to normal grounds and focus on my final semester. It has been a great trip back then, and it was worth all the effort being put in from the day I have received the invitation, thus working hard to get the sponsorship for the delegates. It paid off at the end of the day. Alhamdulillah :)

Suntec City, the venue for our conference

Clarke Quay

The closing ceremony of WorldMUN 2011 was held at Sentosa, it gives that edge of coolness

Big brother dropped by in Singapore during my trip, your presence made my trip even awesome than it already is. Spent the whole day giving his friends a tour of my second homecity! That tested my knowledge on Singapore really well! Thanks for dropping by dude!

Labels: worldMUN

posted at 3/27/2011 10:32:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad

Monday, March 14, 2011

Today was the opening ceremony for worldMUN 2011 held at the NUS. It's quite a driving distance from our place and fortunately this wasn't the everyday venue! I didn't expect the attendees participating in this event would be a total of 2,200+ delegates from 60 countries representing 200+ universities worldwide! I'm glad that we're able to put our university's name among other top participating universities. Thank you once again to FBEPS for the sponsorship!

A view of the opening ceremony. Great crowd.

Labels: worldMUN

posted at 3/14/2011 10:57:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Bruneian delegation of worldMUN from UBD arrived today at 11am local time Singapore. We were basically going around in terminal 2 of the airport looking for the worldMUN hospitality booth but was later informed that they weren't even set up yet. Then, proceeded with the customs check out before looking for our friendly driver arranged by the embassy, Mahmud, who took us to our residence. Being driven around in a black tinted limo makes me feel like I'm a VIP on arrival. hahah. Anyway, arrived at the residence at about noon but was told that our room will only be ready at 2. So we headed for food hunting and brought the team to Little India where we feasted on sup tulang merah, briyani etc etc. Finally satisfied, went back to the residence to check-in and I was quite impressed with how spacious is the room. The Somerset Orchard equipped with a living room with both flat screen TV and home theatre, a dining area, a kitchen/laundry area, two bedrooms; worth the SGD$3,000 invested. So far, it's been a great day and will be taking them out to become a tourist soon. Alhamdulillah.

Our sweet tinted black limo ride, VIP's on board for worldMUN

The sponsored accommodation by University of Brunei Darussalam FBEPS

Worth the SGD$3k for the whole week stay.

Labels: worldMUN

posted at 3/13/2011 04:43:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad

Friday, March 11, 2011

Alhamdulillah. What was once a coffee talk idea turned into an approved project. All the hard work into making this conference possible finally paid off. Many thanks to those who are involved directly or indirectly towards the preparation of the delegates involved. To my knowledge, there were about 20 officers and personnels of various departments from UBD that I have liased with from the early planning stages to the final stage of the preparation for this upcoming conference. A big thanks to all of them. Not to forget, JIS for their crash course training session & also our media partners for their coverage. For the full story of the article above, click here :)

Labels: worldMUN

posted at 3/11/2011 11:30:00 AM by Nuar Mohammad

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

My trekking route captured by miCoach GPS. It is somewhere along the purple route that taught me a lesson in life.

I came about a lesson in life during one of my trekking sessions. Being a regular trekker, I went on to an unfamiliar route in the dense jungle of Shahbandar and ended up sliding down a slippery steep slope leaving me with minor cuts and bruises. But that's not the main story. It happened when I realized I was alone without any other trekkers within my sight, in an unfamiliar route, with low reception on my phone, in the infamous place for mystical myths to occur, and what was a sunny weather outside turned into a dark and gloomy surrounding with trees shaking its leaves from being blown away by strong gust of winds near the small waterfall. What's weird is that it only happened for a few seconds when I pass by that certain route which was calm before, and calm again after I passed the route. I had goosebumps all over the way. I have heard true accounts of trekkers not being able to find their way out because they 'lost' their way when actually the exit point is just around the corner. Legend has it that they are 'blinded' by the unseen residents of the jungle. It was spooky enough of an experience for me that I was worried I would be 'blinded' as well. To be safe, I did send out a text of my whereabouts just in case anything happens.

It might just be my imagination but I knew something was there. So the lesson is to never hike up alone in an unfamiliar route in an odd hour of the day.

posted at 3/09/2011 08:22:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad

Monday, March 7, 2011

I came about an article entitled Poverty To Be Erased, Not Managed by a local author. The article which was academically structured gave readers an understanding of what poverty is all about in terms of Islamic definition and how the definition could be applied in the Bruneian context. However, from the title itself I would have to respectfully disagree with the author as I am a person who believes that when the situation is managed accordingly, poverty could be a history of the past for the next generation. Having a research paper on the underlying causes of poverty in Brunei Darussalam, eradicating it is far too ambitious at this moment as only a magic potion would do the trick. It takes time (even decades) to solve this ongoing issue. The scenario here is that different families who are deemed poor holds a different case as to other poor families. They may be similar in definition-wise, but under the microscope, introducing a uniform policy to eradicate poverty will benefit one family at the expense of the other.

"The number of Bruneians who receive financial assistance up to this point in time continues to increase"

This statement is a factual statement that I have to agree on. The mentality of our people that when you are in debt because of your loan, then you are eligible to apply for financial assistance from the Government. Where is the gracefulness of these people? Aren't they the ones who are causing themselves to be poor in the first place?

"Thus, we can see poor people who are classified as 'Fakir' or 'Miskin' in the country but who can afford to own TV Astro, a mobile phone, even cars.

However, I'll have to disagree with this statement. Is the author comparing poverty in Brunei with those in Africa who are basically homeless, shabby, and begging for food? The author has to realize that we don't see that in Brunei because the Government takes care of the welfare of its people to avoid such scenarios. However, with regards to owning a TV, most of the poor families whom I visited (100 altogether around Brunei) said that it was a gift given to them, although some insane household opted to loan for a TV set which is ridiculous. About cars, the real poor if they do own a car, it would be something you would consider a junk, but to them it is a vital asset to help them transport their kids to school and drive them to work. We have to take into account that public transport here is not accessible at some areas. They make the best out of the rusty metal and when it breaks down, it would be one of those days when they'll have to walk to their destination or find a caring friend to give them a ride. This daunting situation happens, only that it's unheard of. Thus, before making any judgement on their assets, talk to them and get to know their insights firsthand. Note that I wrote real poor in Italics above, I would like you to know that I am not referring to those skunk who bankrupted themselves because of obtaining a loan for the 36th item (laptop, TV, home theatre, car #1, car #2 etc) they are paying for monthly. Unfortunately, this situation is the one which is commonly heard of and referred to as Al-Gharimin poor! Masya'Allah.

"Rather than seek to eradicate it, most serve only to 'manage' poverty. Instead of trying to solve the problem of poverty, the relevant ministries, as well as the people, tend to be attracted to the less complicated option, which is to "just give the money". To them, giving the money will solve the whole issue. Will it?"

Another point that I disagree strongly, on what basis would the author describe the ministries as generous donors but not great policy makers? Actually there are different programmes being provided such as providing them with sewing machine for those who have the skill in it, lawn-mower, and various others that could be applied for. All these are aiming towards the recipients being dependent on their own income from the assistance provided. However, in most cases, these level of being dependent died quicker than you thought as somehow they aren't motivated to earn hard work income as opposed to the other option i.e. cash handouts. This goes back to the mentality of our people: stop being spoiled for once! Overall, I do agree with the author that giving money is just a temporary cycle of mitigating the problem, the big picture comes back again when the cash pile is low. In order for it to work well, both parties should play their part.

"It will also create excessive dependency among the poor because they believe that they will definitely get the financial support either from the government, NGOs or private individuals. This could eventually lead poor people to fall into the "laziness disease""

The author has summarized the mentality of our people who are under the welfare scheme. Of the 100 households I interviewed, it was a 100% record to this laziness disease.

Hence what is the true picture of the poor in Brunei? From my experience, there are those who are genuinely poor but do not receive any support from relevant agencies (sad ones); there are those who became poor from their own negligent act (excessive loans); and those who are poor but hidden within the normal society (their house may look normal from the outside but the life inside is financially poor, usually resulted from mismanagement of wealth). All in all, this is just my two cents, no pun intended! cheers.

posted at 3/07/2011 08:01:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Amazingly, hiking up is much easier than hiking down the steep hills.

Sunday morning hike was a little bit of a change on my daily routine i.e. running, went up to all 9 hills at Shahbandar in about 1 hour of hike time. The crowd was overwhelming today as on some parts of the hill, you actually have to queue your way up since it was a narrow path. Unlucky me I have forgotten to activate my miCoach while I was on the move, and since this is a new trail for me I have no idea how long of a stretch it was for the distance. Probably 4.5km? But it was a good change of pace from the normal daily runs. At the top of the hill, I found peace and tranquility from the breathtaking view of the South China Sea.

Hilltop view of South China Sea

posted at 3/06/2011 09:58:00 AM by Nuar Mohammad

Saturday, March 5, 2011

The floor plan

With less than a week for the conference which I will be attending to, I became curious on the accommodation that I will be staying in for the week-long conference. Thus, instead of doing something productive on my research journal assignment, I googled the service apartment's website and boy I am looking forward to enjoy my one-week home just by looking at the floor plan. Also, it does have a gym! It makes it even much more interesting for my runs.

something I pulled out from the residential website

posted at 3/05/2011 09:24:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad

Friday, March 4, 2011

With the political instability and social unrest going on in the Arab and North African territory since early February witnessing a parade of success in overthrowing the leaders from Tunisia, Egypt and currently Libya (although Gadhafi is still delusional that his people loves him and would die for him), the question is, how long before something similar would occur in North Korea?

posted at 3/04/2011 07:27:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Today was supposed to be a break from my run but it seems like i'm addicted to running. Perhaps running keeps the insanity in me dry. I still think I lack the energy for a proper upper body workout after each run, what I need is a work out buddy who will push me hard for the pull-ups, push-ups and other related routine movements!

Today's blue zone recovery run was within the 5:31 - 6:29 min/km pace which I have perfected a 100%! Awesome. A sweaty 6.5km run in 43:48.

my free outdoor gym sometimes dominated by friendly playful monkeys!

posted at 3/03/2011 06:00:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Running has been a great hobby of mine over the past month ever since I came about the miCoach app on the iPhone. However, it's time for a better pair of running shoes for the benefit of the long-term health condition of both my ankles and knees. Narrowed down to these two pairs to only find out that they cost a lot! I guess the shoe has to wait for a while.

ADISTAR RIDE 3

ADIZERO TEMPO 4

posted at 3/02/2011 09:31:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad

Amal presenting her policy statement for Yemen

The University's delegation team to the upcoming World Model United Nations (worldMUN) 2011 had a taste of what the program is all about from attending one of such similar events but on a smaller scale held at JIS. Being a weekly activity for the students involved, it has shaped their presentation skills very well even at a very young age! We were basically there to observe the procedures on how policy statements are delivered by each representing country but the tutors find that it would be very interesting for us to join this week's session since this is what we will be doing for real in the following week to come. All in all, this was an excellent crash course as not only we get to represent both the countries that we will be representing during the actual conference (Yemen & Tuvalu), we were also taught on the proper procedures while delivering our policy statement.

I would like to thank our Professor Roger for the arrangement he has made for us to attend this training session at JIS. It has really hiked up our preparation level from 20% to 80%!

Students of JIS actively involved in MUN

Yemen representatives

posted at 3/02/2011 08:57:00 PM by Nuar Mohammad