lawkingdom

Hijrah

2011-01-15T18:23:00.001+11:00

I have decided to upgrade. So this Hijrah is in order. So here is where I will be from now on. Hopefully this move will bring self improvement, self gratification and self salvation for myself and who knows others too :-)

A little something about interview trancriptions

2011-01-01T20:21:00.002+11:00

A new year has arrived, although between yesterday, today & tomorrow means no more than time is closing in on me!!

Anyway here are some interview tips (For making transcription easier) for friends out there considering interviews in their studies:

1) Get a decent digital audio recorder, and set them up properly. Use the Noise Cut function but Avoid using the Voice Over Recognition (VOR) – it paused when there’s a pause in the conversation, which sometimes cut off some of the beginning of a conversation. You’d be left guessing what it was

2) Ask the most relevant question in one recording based on your Interview Schedules (make one - highly recommended!!)

3) During the interview you may find interesting issues that you’d wanted more info, note them down, so you’d remember, but avoid asking about it then. Ask them later, after all the main question have been asked and answered, preferably use a separate recording

4) Most of the time, Wait until the respondent answer/ or ask a question – don’t cut in to avoid unclear / mumbled up words because of cross conversations, you are not in a debate! Although some respondents tend to do that…

5) When in doubt - Use your instincts!

Some Mechanics of Transcription to consider:

1) Get a software that allows you to -

a. Use short keys while transcribing – the usage of mouse really slows you down, and cause ergonomic problem to your palm!!

b. Slow the pace of the conversation, really important for some people who talk rather fast and for people like me who are slow typist (or slightly pekak badak) ;-)

c. Divide the audio recording into several files, to save time from locating where you last stop especially for breaks in transcribing process

2) The above (which I found in the Sony Voice Editor version 3) helps boost your morale in the process. And believe me, when I tell you, your morale can be very, very, very low after some times. For instance the function to divide the files, allows you to divide the files where you last stop, and you may keep the original recordings. You can divide them for instance into 3 files at different intervals of the audio conversations, and listen to each one of them separately. Once you’ve divided them, you may delete the ones that you have listened to, hence it would leave you with the balance of the recordings, giving you the impressions that now there’s lesser time to listened to on the original recorded audio. The help of the software avoided me from feeling nauseous he..he..he..but I do feel rather sleepy at times, especially if you listen to someone who can drive you to dreamland :-D

3) If some of the interviews needed translation (where the parties spoke in English & Malay intermittently), do it in one go. Although if the interviewee spoke fully in Malay, it’s advisable to keep one in that version for reference first. I believe translation process is easier than transcription, once you have everything on paper. You really want to avoid going back to the tapes again!

4) Backup is not enough, print a copy every time you finished one interviews. (I lost one of them from over backing up actually!!)

5) Ask for help! If you can get some… Although I can tell you, no amount of love would make anybody do it for free :-P

6) Keep your sanity intact, cry when you need to, and go for breaks when there are some major achievements, and completing one or two transcription doesn’t cut it, do 10 then go on holiday ;-)

With all the above technique, minus all the cooking, eating, sleeping, play no so desperate housewife time, I manage to finish 31 interviews roughly in less than 3 months. It could take even less time than that if not due to my laptop ram problem and my exhaustion. AND EXHAUSTED I AM!

That said I have to be back at work...Happy New Year everybody :-D

Phd Experience - Malaysian Version

2010-12-28T15:45:00.001+11:00

Now at least the experiences of my Malaysian Phd counterparts were researched and documented! Interesting findings indeed from the eyes (and mind of 18 PhD candidates in UPM). The study focused on the qualities and strategies of the supervisory relationship in particular.

One quote basically summarised (partly) what those experiences were:
"From this last year, I now know what I don’t want to be when I become a supervisor later on. I know I don’t want to be like her…. (Allison, PhD student)"

You can read it in full here.

Sydney Law School Postgraduate Conference

2010-11-07T12:42:00.004+11:00

My recent trip to Sydney was actually planned around my intention of attending this programme - Sydney Law School Postgraduate Conference on the 29 of October. It was a whole day programme held at the Sydney Law School, University of Sydney with 'Law and Social Reality' as the theme of the conference.

The New Law School Building

The Keynote Speaker was Prof Jane Goodman-Delahunty. Her talk was focused on the need for more empirical legal studies to foster 'evidence-based decisions to promote social, procedural and distributive justice within organisations and the community'. She strongly promotes legal researchers to embark on inter-disciplinary research and create a cooperative ventures with researchers from other disciplines.

One of the papers presented really interest me - the one by Sonya Willis, on 'Civil Procedure Meets Social Reality: Can Case Management Really Help with the Unending Quest for Justice?'. She presented on what is considered as case management especially in NSW and whether the right to a fair hearing came into apparent conflict with principles of case management.

I specifically asked on whether ADR played any role in the Case Management... Although the overall answer to that - would be it depends...but based on Ms Wilis experiences in litigating civil cases, especially, some cases are worst of with the presence of compulsory ADR. Hmmmm....more points to ponder....

One of the presenters...on Singapore Environmental Reforms ;-)

Anyway, it was great to have the chance to see the university and experienced the running and 'connection' from within, since it is the oldest university in Australia :-) I hope to be back some day!

University of Sydney's Oxbridge-inspired grounds...

Fighting for better education experience...

2010-10-13T15:13:00.000+11:00

I am turning October into a training month (it seems). I was only initially thinking of attending the ‘NVivo 8’ courses for navigating my data. But ‘news’ that LTU is ‘closing down’ its training unit to students by the end of the year, had me also registering for the ‘Word 2007 – Long Document & Thesis Formatting’ courses for navigating and formatting my theses. I don’t understand why such course of action is taken, considering that we (students) had to pay for most of the trainings.

The training unit and the LTU Postgraduate Association are still fighting the decision, but still it’s rather risky to wait & ponder whether it will be around next year, so that means I had to cramp 4 days of training in the midst of my transcription process! It’s sickening to see how unis such as LTU is run nowadays – more so like a corporation rather than a uni. It’s beginning to be more about money instead of quality education and experience. They are happy to take all your money, but they’re reluctant to grant you the services you paid for.

Recently, all the postgraduate students in my room, including me, had to be relocated to another room in 2-3 weeks time so that our current room can be converted into an office to accommodate administrative staff. We actually wrote a memorandum expressing our concerns of the recent request to relocate us. This request was actually one of many proposals which had disrupted our working environment in the past twelve months.

These amongst others include informing us in November 2009 that the carpet would be re-laid in the current room by Christmas 2009 and were asked to pack and clear our workstations in expectation of such work. But after several communications with the administrators in between December 2009 to June 2010, the scheduled work did not proceed. We were left in anticipation of such work for months, wondering whether it’s a good idea to pack or unpack. Then in April 2010, the builders removed a wall and workstation in the room without any notice. This sudden renovation left one of my colleagues without a work space and caused major disruption to her work environment.

We felt that we are losing our rights as postgraduate student by the days… Hence, in the memo we highlighted that “we are concerned that the Faculty has failed to accommodate the needs of postgraduate students, especially in terms of the lack of consultation on our part. In addition, the Faculty does not appear to have long term plan for the provision of suitable working space for doctoral/postgraduate students. We belief the message that the Faculty is sending us by such actions is not encouraging of research and learning.”

I personally think the memo would not make much different with our recent situation, but at the very least, we have expressed our thoughts over the matter and hopefully in the future, we don’t get trampled all over that easily! Seriously, it’s about having the best of education experiences, not managing the politics of it. Thinking back, it doesn’t seem that Malaysian unis are doing that bad; seriously!

Saving Safely

2010-08-10T01:32:00.004+10:00

In the midst of my interviewing activities, I have forgotten to update on my previous post. Anyway, my respondents have now reached 20 plus people. I am actually cringing over the thought that the numbers might reach 30 or even more. Transcription as have been expected is a different story altogether. I am ashamed to admit the numbers of transcription that I have completed (or not completed). What made it more complicated, when some of the interviews were bilingual. This means I have to do a double transcription for each and every one of those interviews. I would rather play with the children than DOING THAT!

To add to those complications, I have issues in arranging and save-keeping orderly and privately the audio files and transcription documents. I recently got the scare of my PhD ‘data collection’ life, when I lost track of one the transcriptions. I finally decided to upload all the files in Google Doc and put a lock & password on it…pheeewww….I now can keep track of the files safely and ensuring all the data privacy, even if - Allah forbids - I lost my physical storage in whatever forms that I have now.

I guess I should have done that a long time ago, even with the chapters I’m writing. It’s fairly very easy and up to a limit of 1 GB, everything (well most of everything) can be uploaded for free. I am using Google, since I have an account with them. There are basically a whole lot more place/space you can do it in the web, some with a small amount of premium per-annum/month. Happy saving!

Intricacies of Interviews in Malaysia

2010-07-01T12:05:00.006+10:00

Interviews requires a certain amount of skills & techniques. Lots of references out there will discuss most of those skills & techniques. However, when conducting interviews in Malaysia, there are some other matters that needs 'extra' consideration.

I personally think, in Malaysia most of the time when you are given the interview appointment, you are halfway there in your data collection. Once the appointment is given, most informants will not be holding back. They would usually share with you all the information you required from them.

But to get the consent to be interviewed is another story altogether. A lot depends on who the informants are or more specifically who they worked with.

TBC...

ASLI

2010-05-26T09:44:00.008+10:00

ASLI conference started yesterday with a rather broad theme ''Law in a Pluralist Asia: Challenges and Prospects". The conference's presentations were divided into several plenary sessions and posters presentations. I think there's just too many interesting papers running at the same time, it's simply unfair for participants. I had the chance to sit in the Family & Children plenary session. I felt the time given to presenters was rather limited, imagine 1 hour for 5 papers of different gists and another 30 minutes or so for Q & A. Maybe I am rather naive, but that kind of arrangement defeated the main purpose you presented in the first place - sharing knowledge. I was also suprised that I didn't meet more familiar faces there, except for several of my former lecturers. Anyway, it was nice to see old friend Sonny, Kak Sham and also Ustaz (Dr.) Naim eventhough it's just a short chat between them.

The Family & Children Plenary Session

Kak Sham with all her Australian friends ;-D

Dissecting the Oxymoron in 'Study Leave'

2010-05-19T15:53:00.009+10:00

Study Leave...How can one be on leave and studying at the same time? Being on leave always have the connotation that you are free to do what you don't normally do when you are not on leave. Be it, taking a break or rest from work, go on holiday, enjoying the company of your family, etc..etc.. And I doubt study or in the postgraduate sense, research(ing something) is considered something you would want to freely/readily do during your leave ;-P

It gets worst & frustrating when others around you tend to have this misunderstanding that you are free to do whatever you want or feel like doing during your study leave. Only those in the same PhD hole would know that is a whole lot of BS! It makes you want to just wear a T-shirt plastered with "I may look like I am on leave but my brain is running up & down trying to finish my PhD!!" every time people ask you, how long are you going to be on leave or asking you to do something because they thought you are free to do them?

Being on a ‘study leave’ also, has the connotation that you are suppose to be on leave ‘more’ instead of studying. It does not reflect the fact that you are given the leave for a serious business - pursuing your study. It may also tricked you into thinking that you have all the time in world to finish your research, since you are on ‘leave’. And walla! Suddenly you have run out of your entitled leave, the fun part - ‘the leave’ is gone, yet the serious part - ‘the study’ has not been completed! :-(

I believe the term 'study leave' is somewhat inaccurate and has more negative connotations than positive ones. It should be changed into some other phrase/term, for instance perhaps ‘study exemption’ or some other phrase/term that rhymes closer to the reality of those being on study leave, especially PhD. So...any suggestions?

NUS, Singapore

2010-05-12T12:01:00.005+10:00

Four days in Singapore brought another perspective in my life; as a person, as a researcher, as a Malaysian. Maybe I will deal with it specifically some other time. I'm in no mood to report anything, other than my paper presentation went smoothly. I met with several friendly and interesting people and can't wait to be back some other time soon, Insya Allah. Suffice to say, NUS especially Asian Research Institute conducted a very well organised program! Not only that they invite you to participate, but they also pay you to come. Where on earth can find such programs nowadays....

Me - In the middle of promoting Dell PC ;-)

From left - Dr Maznah Mohamad (ARI Fellow - Malaysian), Prof Nurul Ilmi Idrus (Indonesian), next to me, Associate Prof Dr Rumaya Juhari (UPM, Malaysia)

Confirmation?

2010-04-28T17:14:00.002+10:00

My research presentation went smoothly today, Alhamdulillah. But one thing for sure, it leads to more queries and issues that need attending. Arrghhhh...when is it going to be over??? Feels like forever!

First Paper...in PhD Life :-))

2010-04-13T15:13:00.004+10:00

Alhamdulillah, my paper co-written with Kak Dayah entitled "Child Custody and Maintenance Decisions: A Case Study of Selected High Court Judgments in Malaysia from 1998-2008" was finally submitted last Wednesday, 2 days over the due date. I spent the Easter holiday, 2 of those days with Kak Dayah, completing the final draft. I personally felt that more could be done, but time is a major constraint and I had rather underestimate the resources that I need to finalise the paper. We went with it anyway, since I was given a grant to attend the conference & workshop by the organizer.

Thanks to Kak Dayah for some tips and ideas that sometimes did not cross my mind while rearranging the flow of the whole content. We are now in the midst of drafting the slides in preparation for the presentation in May at the National University Singapore. I will be presenting on behalf of both us. Hopefully we will be able to share & exchange ideas with the paper & the presentation, Insya Allah. Singapore....here I come! :-D

Professional Communication and Interpersonal Skills

2010-03-23T06:49:00.008+11:00

This workshop brought me to a journey of self discovery. Always has been an assertive person in communication and stand, my career years in an "Asian" culture organisation has definitely mellowed me. Adding to those years, with the time spent in Australia, striving for a PhD has somewhat 'make' it even worst! I am no longer 'proud' to be assertive, instead slowly regressing into a passive aggresive kinda person , ouch!

The 3 hour workshop made me rethink of various aspects of my personal and professional life. I assume a lot things, which is dangerous. A good researcher, good worker, good person must not assume, all conclusions must be based on facts not hearsay. My PhD must not be based on mere assumptions. My career must not be sacrificed solely based on hearsay. My life must not hang in the balance of my 'negative' preconceptions.

Attending this workshop is not merely in preparation for my next task, it's a soul searching avenue for me, because in less than 2 years, I'll be back 'out there'. May I turn into a better person, worker and researcher, Insya Allah.

The Ethics in Research Interviews

2010-03-14T13:49:00.009+11:00

When discussing about conducting an ethical research, especially qualitative interviews, there are some issues that never crossed my mind before. For instance:

Do you know that, you can't approach a participant through his boss directly? Meaning you can't ask the boss to point out A, B or C and specifically ask them to participate in the interview. It will impose or unduely forcing them to do the interview, or else ...since it is the boss implied 'order'. The boss can only forward your participant invitation letter, but it's up to the potential participants whether to response to the invitation. This way the boss will never know who amongst his subordinates did or did not take part in the study - hence no adverse consequence to them.

Do you know that you can't simply record your interviews in audio or video format or even in writing without the respondents' explicit consent and assuring that if they do consent, the records of the interview will be stored securely and be disposed of, once the study is completed? It's the respondents' rights not to be recorded and if they do, for the data to be treated confidentially.

Do you also know that you have to give the partipants the right to withdraw from participation, even after the interviews had been conducted with them? It's the respondents' right to do so, but in order to be fair to both parties, (since it will create extra headache to the researcher, if everyone starts to withdraw after all the data have been included in the study's report) the researcher may include a 'sunset' clause, whereby the respondents is given up to for instance, 4 weeks to withdraw from the study, and lose the rights after the 4 weeks is over. This way, the respondents still have the right to withdraw in 4 weeks time and the researcher can start including the particular data into the analysis after the 4 weeks is over.

Hmmm...seems like a lot of work...paper & bureaucracy work :-(

Find & Hold

2010-02-24T12:41:00.011+11:00

The Borchardt Library, LTU, is undergoing a major 9.5 m worth of renovation on 2 of its 3 level. And I just found out! Ahhh... and I thought, all the construction signs outside the library stairs are for redeveloping some new shops in the AGORA. The library will soon moves its current entrance from level 2 to level 1, facing the AGORA, in a bit to have more spaces for workstations, incorporate the increased usage of technology and look more contemporary. The library has also moved all of its old books & monographs to an offsite location at Waterdale Road, known as 'Bundoora Annexe' and moved all the general collections on level 3 from its current location from one space to another on level 3 itself, depending on where the ongoing constructions are at the time.

Sounds like a whole lot of headache to me. And the best question is how do I find books now? Well, it involves a combination of human contact (& kudrat) & technology, of course. For books still in the library, I have to enquire at the Inquiry/ Loans desk(s) of the library. While for books and journal volumes/issues held at the Bundoora Annexe, I have to find them online, if available in an electronic version or else the hardcopies are available for loan. I just need to request the material for retrieval using the usual 'hold' services. The material will be delivered to the requesting library's "Hold" shelf. The items will normally be retrieved and returned to the "Hold" shelf Bundoora Reserve area within 24 hours for pick up after 1pm. Hmmm...it's just my luck, then, if can't find my original source and have to return to the library for them. Well, look at the bright side, I'll have an almost brand new library...sometime this year ;-)

The projected 'look' of the new level 1 entrance - once its ready

Back at Work

2010-02-09T11:26:00.006+11:00

(Photo Courtesy of Guardian.co.uk)

Hmmm.... a familiar picture? Finally, I have to be back at work. Not to say that all this while I am not working, I am...that is flexing all my muscle catering for the family and all. My break was short, and to tell you the truth, the complication of the baby's labour this time, really have some toll on me. But as they say "A Mother's Work is Never Done", so TRUE, but worst my "PhD Work will Never Get Done" if I keep with my current phase. So I must be strong for everybody and keep on going!

(Photo Courtesy of Replacements.Ltd)

EPU Approved

2009-12-17T20:33:00.002+11:00

Alhamdulillah, after almost 3 weeks, my EPU application to conduct research in Malaysia has been approved earlier this week. All communications, forms and attachment were sent either through email or online directly into their system. I need to collect the research pass in person, though. Now I can focus on the ethics application, which would be easier with the EPU approval on side. Slightly slower than planned, but surely Insya Allah I will complete this phase.

Setback...temporary?

2009-12-07T21:07:00.002+11:00

Dealing with government can be a hassle, dealing Malaysian government can be .......???

Sometimes giving them too much information can be a disadvantage instead of an advantage...

Sometimes they don't even know what they have and do not have...

Sometimes they ask for all sorts of things or require all sorts of process that even they themselves would like to skip or avoid...

Sometimes it's your own mistake...

Sometimes it's an error of judgment on their part...

Sometimes ...sometimes...sometimes...

But I consider this a temporary setback! I'll go around it somehow, Insya Allah.

Crazy

2009-11-29T07:28:00.004+11:00

The editing of a chapter can drives anyone crazy, and facing a sv like mine while editing can drives you to the brink of insanity. Sometimes you wonder...is this guy trying to slow you down?! Yes..No..Yes & No...Arghhhh!!

Anyway, all my editing process has been 'ding-dong belled' for several times already. For some of them I lost count of which draft version they are. I send them for review, he did it in less than a week, I fixed it, send it back...and walla! he found new ones to fix…and the cycle goes on & on. Even the comas and semicolons and what not will need fixing. Sometimes he’d ask me to incorporate new points, which meant more time and more re-editing. Will I ever finish all of this on time?

Well, at least I proved to him, I can still work up to the last days of my pregnancy. He was rather skeptical based on his past experience with expectant mothers being student. Anyway, soon everybody will be on holiday or holiday mood. The university will be in total shut-down for 2 weeks and in leisure mode up to the end of January, which means an almost zero movement (from others, including all the svs and administrators)….ahhh time flies again! Who wouldn't be nuts thinking about it.

Statistics for Stat Dummies - like me ;-)

2009-11-22T19:06:00.006+11:00

For the past 2-3 days, I have been fiddling with one paragraph in my overview chapter which basically states - the divorce rate in Malaysia is high and has been escalating for some time. I have given some basic statistics to 'prove' that contention. (Rasanya sedap2 dah ayat2 ku itu..hu..hu..hu)

My supervisor later returned the chapter to me, circling the word 'high'. I had to actually sit down with him to discuss 'what's wrong with that?' I just don't see it, because in my opinion numbers don't lie (people do, though).

He said the word 'high' is an emotional word. Since I am not a tabloid writer it should be avoided, unless I can actually show that it is. How do I do that?

Well, according to him, quoting one year off the statistic is not enough. It does not show a trend or pattern. It does not show the numbers in a comparison perspective either. So how do I know it's high or it's escalating? huh...

While my brain was think "apa aku nak kelentong ni?", well he beats me to it and said, "Fadzlina, I am sure you can get more stats than this. Don't be bone-lazy (or is it the other way around?)" huh..kena balik kat aku..

That and the fact that once I have those statistic, I must know how to use them. Help! Lemau betul. I hate statistic or whatever looks like the letter "E" terbalik.

So I just slept on all his remarks for one night and spent the last few days looking for the stats and tried to understand them, so that I can actually quote them accordingly. Hahh! So much time spent just fixing one paragraph. Tu baru satu, you know...many more awaits my response. Duh..that's how my sv "squeeze" me to work. Yep, felt like a dummy most of the time, but once I got it, it's EUREKA! Well, at least for that paragraph ler...:-P

Research Postgraduate Festival

2009-11-10T12:06:00.006+11:00

My school's Annual Research Postgraduate Festival was held for a half a day yesterday at the John Scott's Meeting House in La Trobe University. It was a nice venue, with the main chamber overlooking a small lake/pond, with ducks and the magpie birds peeping at the windows once and awhile :-P, plus the aircondition = wonderful!

Professor Annette Street officiated the program. She stressed on the importance of such program so that we are able to hear what oher people is doing - to learn 'how they think about their work and why they chose to do it that way'. It's basically good exercise in sharing and thinking.

It was also something she said that really leaves an impression, at least to me...

"We are here/ paid to be here TO THINK"

Leaves me thinking..."Have I been doing that lately... or have I even try to do some thinking all this while? Am I just 'doing' everything like a mechanical contraption? Have I actually learn anything?!"

Lawrie's Last Class in LTU

2009-10-31T11:53:00.008+11:00

On Friday I went to my SV, Lawrie's last class in La Trobe. The Mediating Family Conflict paper will no longer be offered next semester. Such a loss. Lawrie had served the university for more than 15 years. He has since moved on to working with the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) but will retain his adjunct position with LTU.

Interestingly, he designed the content of the paper to be slightly different every semester. If he’d come out with new findings or a new video or new ways of mediating conflict in family matters, which he always does with his colleague from outside the university, usually with Dr Jennifer Mcintosh or the AIFS, then he’ll include them in his class. You never get bored, even though he’s soft spoken, because aside from the interesting videos he showed in class, all the students participating in the class shared all their daily experience in dealing with conflict (most are psychology based, of course). It was a breath of fresh air compared to ‘most’ of the law papers I’m used to in my first 2 degrees. You don’t get that disapproving look and judgmental evaluations of every other statements you made during discussion time. I believe I was more at ease in his class.

The phasing out of the course started with the closing of the Conflict Resolution postgraduate programs in the Law Faculty, mostly due to staff movements to greener pasture and with all the budgets cut, the situation have gotten even worst. The postgraduate program, initially managed by Lawrie’s good friend Tom Fisher was a joint program with the public health sciences program. But since Tom’s ‘semi’ retirement along with more and more staff leaving the law faculty, it’s only ‘logical’ for the law faculty and the public health department to phase out the program.

Conflict resolution ‘people’ are not ‘typical law’ kind of people. I guess there’s a lot of ‘creative’ differences arising from such collaboration. Throw in the money problem…it’ll get even more complicated. So people tend to move on…or move along…if you know what I mean L. As Lawrie mentioned on Friday, lawyers tend to throw in all their latin jargons at parties in family conflict, but at the end of the day it meant nothing to them (parties). What matters is how are we supposed to help those families go through their phase of conflict with the least amount of disruptions as possible. Some may not agree with him, because in legal ‘nature’, the question of ‘my rights’ will always be the prevalent point raised and that’s what the lawyers thought they should be fighting for. But in family conflict post separation, that is secondary especially when the parties have children. The main issue should always be the children and helping them adjust to the situation post separation.

All this remind me of my research problem and the solution I am suggesting...seems so far away from being implemented. But this is only the beginning to a better condition in Malaysia, Insya Allah.

P/S: News...I got a call from someone doing a similar topic with mine on Thursday. Feel like jumping over the moon. Will keep on praying for better outcomes for both us then :-)

E.g. of video demonstration for the last few classes...

Are you afraid of your own shadow?

2009-10-22T21:10:00.005+11:00

After passing my one year mark, I found that in PhD life you are bound to find people who are 'reluctant' to share their experiences in their research undertakings. It got even worst, if you are doing something in the same area. Perhaps they are afraid that their ideas will be taken up by others. Well, it's a genuine fear.

But then again, it is a PhD endeavour. Unless, you copied the thesis word per word (which would be plagiarism anyway), it's highly unlikely that anyone taking up on your idea would actually produce a thesis as similar as yours. There's just so many things that needs factoring in, that would make one thesis slightly different or way off different than another, even if you are doing the same area.

Sharing your experiences and a whole lot of useful information actually lift up the spirits of your fellow PhD mates. They know that they are not alone and at least they are heading in the right direction. Sometimes motivational words are not enough, you'd need to have some technical advice so you don't fall into the same pit that previous candidates did.

I believe in the concept of 'rezeki'. Perhaps, I faced lots of trouble doing my research, but by sharing with others my experience and warning them against these pitfalls, I maybe easing some of their pathway towards their PhD. What's wrong with that? And Allah is all knowing. One day, my assistance will come, maybe not in this PhD timeframe, but some other time. Insya Allah :-)

One by One

2009-10-14T19:18:00.004+11:00

Alhamdulillah, today I received an approval letter from the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court for my request to gain access for interviews and any information/data regarding mediation practice in Malaysian courts generally. Albeit the approval is slightly overdue, since I am already back here in Melbourne, but it's also very important now for my ethics approval before my full fledge data collection next year (which is 3 months away..huwaaaa!)

So now, one by one I am receiving the cooperation I needed for the study. Insya Allah, the other 2 major government agencies will also give their approval soon. As for the non-government department, similar steps will be taken to get their approval - although they generally love to cooperate even without any official application. But one major issue with them is actually to arrange for a specific time to meet and be interviewed. Perhaps, I have to diversify my interview methods to include phone interview. I have to think about that then...

Stalled

2009-10-03T12:16:00.003+10:00

Since arriving, I have not been able to look at my research at all. I keep doing housekeeping & office cleaning/sorting, but that's it. Am too tired to move around and longing for my second pair of hands to come back soon...;-) Luckily, the semester is having a break, so I can dodge my SV for a while. Still, my clock is counting down 'loud' and 'clear':-(

Perspective, Hearsay & Context

2009-09-15T22:56:00.004+10:00

I am at UKM to get another current perspective of Malaysian family law and the issues affecting it from an academician view, after several attempts to get one from the practitioner met with a deadlock. However, PM NAMA has been working with several committees of the relevant government department, so her views may be a bit generalize, but an accurate generalization of the current situation. Instead of being too 'right' or 'left', she believes in getting a practical solution to problems based on what is on the plate as much as possible and if it’s impractical suggest a solution that make sense practically and legally.

She stressed on the fact that in establishing the context of the problem, I must not based my argument on hearsay but on proper statistics and if there’s none, conduct my own survey on the current situation. It means more time needed to be spent establishing and proofing the research problem rather than head straight on the solution that I plan on suggesting. :-(

She was right when she said that postgraduate students needed to do some groundwork before embarking on their chosen area/topic and their PhDs. But truth be told, a lot of us, including me, are groping in the dark because my young career background has not exposed me to a lot of contact and network. We have various reason for choosing to do PhD, choosing the area and the topic we ended with. Whatever it is, at the end of the day, we hoped to find some light perhaps the harder way, but finally finding our way …home.

Formalities

2009-09-07T12:57:00.004+10:00

If you want to improve your formal letters writing skills, Malaysia is the place to be. So far I have and 'need' to send almost 10 letters of various forms of request and permission, even if some of the people you request to see don't mind seeing you or some of the documents you requested are not even confidentials.

That does not include thinking of what kinda 'sweet talk' sentences you need to include in those letters....Arggghhh it reminds me of SPM all over again! Nasib baik aku lulus dgn jayanya...ha..ha..ha.

It's a mental exercise, even with templates because you need adjust and edit the contents to suit the person/people you sent the letter to...silap haribulan, you might address them as merely Dato' instead of Yang Berbahagia Dato', or worst addressing them as Tuan, instead of Puan (when clearly the person is a she)...isk..isk..isk... I almost did that. Nasib baik perasaan...Ok, back to letter writing activities ;-(

Continuing Progress

2009-09-04T17:54:00.001+10:00

Finally, the day to be in Putrajaya finally arrived. I literally dragged myself out of bed, after dah terlelap earlier on. Bad move, it’s a nightmare finding a parking spot! Should’ve have gone there at 6.30 & slept in the car instead he..he..he (I bet, tah2 in Ramadhan people actually come directly to the Office Complexes after Suboh) Luckily I was early. I spent 20 minutes looking for a spot that’s not even a legal parking space. But Alhamdulillah, with the size of my car, I got a very nice spot just a few metres from the AGC.

Today's plans were:

to continue exploring ideas and establishing personal and professional contacts;
to seek out suitable documents;
to establish what is the policy (govt) development in regard to my area of study.

I initially had some reservation before I dropped by the AGC. I read all sorts of prayer, just to make the process of getting the relevant information easier (and my life too he..he..he). Alhamdulillah, rezeki sungguh…syukur tak terkata, I actually managed to do all the above tasks. In terms of documents, someone has paved the way in getting them, and I would be next in line, Insya Allah in accessing them as soon as I write them an official letter.

I got more contacts than I could handle in this 2-3 weeks and I am now privy of the development in my area of study. The documents would actually support all this information. Now, I need to push myself harder…in order to get some more appointments & information with all these recommended contacts. Ya Allah, Kau permudahkanlah urusanku dan kawan2 seperjuangan lain. Cepatlah habis…Insya Allah, dah tak sanggup rasanya hidup begini..isk..isk..isk.

Preliminary Investigation - Progress

2009-08-23T21:00:00.014+10:00

Before I left for Malaysia, my sv has conveyed all his expectations from the preliminary investigation plan. We met briefly for a supervision discussion before we both went overseas and amongst his expectations was to use the time in Malaysia:

to explore ideas through personal and professional contacts;
to seek out suitable documents;
to establish what is the policy (govt) development in regard to my area of study;
to ensure that the EPU approval process is under control, so that when I lodge my application things go according to plan; and
to get my Malaysian co-supervisor involved in getting a local perspective for my topic and area of discussion.

It is expected that when I return, I'll have a much clearer idea of who I should be interviewing and the issues that should be discussed. So far, I've made some progress in getting all the above expectations fulfilled before my return back to Melbourne soon.

Malaysian co-supervisor:

My Svs were very happy with my choice of co-sv in Malaysia. She recently got promoted to Associate Prof and her Malaysian networking is very much advantageous to my work. I have met AP Dr. NAB before, but this was our first personal discussion with each other. She was more than happy to accept me as her student, due to the win-win situation involved in the arrangement of supervision and the area I chose was very much her cup of tea. Unfortunately, up to the day I met her Latrobe University has yet to send her a formal appointment letter (buek malu jo) Regardless, we continued with our discussion.

In regard to the topic, although I’m sure of the focus, but contents wise, she stressed the importance of highlighting the Sulh program as part of the background context of the thesis. She also gave a valuable insight on how to include the information received from key informants in the thesis through the methodology chosen, thus avoiding the thesis from looking patchy or without a flow.

According to her, two important elements of a PhD thesis, contribution to knowledge and originality must be present, which made me requesting her to highlight some of the recent PhD topics in Family law under her supervision. It seems that socio-legal research is an ‘in’ thing at the Law Kulliyyah nowadays. Hence, what I planned to do is generally an encouraged research plan.

AP NAB also recommended that I interview several key people and bodies, including the ex-Director General of JKSM, ex-Judges from the Civil Family Division, Registrars, Judges from the family law section and Mediators, and also the Legal Aid Bureau in order for the information received from them to contribute either in terms of context or content to the thesis. She also agreed to read and comment on my draft chapters, (which is an excellent thing for me, as she would be another set of eyes and views for me) and wished me all the best in my PhD endeavors.

Exploring Ideas and Contact:

I’ve also managed to meet Mrs. ZS, a court appointed mediator of the WPKL Syariah Court to discuss the practical aspects of the Sulh program practiced in Malaysia (well, at least in KL) and the differences of the model applied in comparison to the one in Australia. One major difference is the fact that the Sulh program has no screening process prior to its intake or first mandatory session. However, the program acknowledges that if either or both parties failed to attend the first session or if either or both parties started to make allegation against each other, then the session will not progress passed the first session and the case will be transferred for trial and decided by a judge in court.

She admitted that although the aims of the mediation session was to achieve a mutual agreement or agreed settlement between the parties but in some cases (or more) the parties seems ‘insincere’ in their joint decision making and agreement, because they either wanted to avoid more time and cost wasted in court or to avoid from the other party contesting the custody arrangement of the children. Some reasons for contesting includes when the father disagrees with the amount of maintenance requested of him. In such cases, mothers thus, would bargain the amount of maintenance in order to avoid such contest from the father of the children. In most instances, according to her, women are at a disadvantage.

According to her, considering that the program has not even reached its 10 years mark, (in fact the KL program was officially established in 2004), a review of such program is yet to be a necessity. Thus, any need for improvement is yet to be acknowledged. Furthermore, although the major aims of sulh/mediation is said to be improving the relationship between the parents post separation and help settle disputes amicably, but such aims was not the initial aims of the program. The program was establish to improve the efficiency of the court, which is what the program is generally achieving nowadays in the Islamic Family Law system in Malaysia.

In terms of training, the trainers from Australia setting up the training module for the Sulh program basically employed a negotiation or facilitative settlement model. She agreed that some training in Psychology would actually assisted the mediators in dispensing their mediation tasks. Interestingly, mediators in the Sulh program would also avoid the issue of burnout, because since they are appointed with a general title and grade, they would not be in the profession forever. They get to rotate to another post under the same grade or upgrade to another post in a higher grade in the system. I am not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing in term of improving the quality of the profession.

Anyway, the discussion gave me a better idea of the running of the program in KL currently and hopefully would put my future thesis discussion in better perspective, Insya Allah. Thanks again to Mrs. ZS for her time.

Exasperated

2009-07-22T19:13:00.008+10:00

Having a 'meticulous' eyed SV can also be sooo 'tiring' and frustrating. As of today, I am exasperated with him. All this while he kept repeating the same thing over and over again, albeit in a different way. Sometimes it makes you feel 'dumb' and 'numb'. At times, it is sooo annoying. At another time it does not make sense...not because I don't understand what he's saying, but it's like he's asking me to save the world or something...ahhh maybe I myself don't make sense.

But today I just hammered through my POV, because I am stressed with the upcoming months' plan and haven't started doing any preparation for that...no one to blame except me and still, it makes me slightly impatient. I don't need those pep talks of a 'thesis is like building a bridge'. I know where the risk and danger lies. I am a government sponsored student not a self-sponsored rich brat on a vacation to gain knowledge.

And the thing about me is, I am always annoyed when people tell me the same thing more than 3 times at a time - my husband included and children excluded (well sometimes, included too). At any occasion or situation, first time to me is usually an advice, second time a reminder, third time is to hammer the advice down and from then onwards if you keep repeating them, it just makes me want to take out my 'tanduk' and charged someone (or perhaps the one that has been doing the talking) ...sabar...sabar...

Maybe it's just hormonal imbalance, my SV and me [or maybe it's just me;-)]. He is a nice guy by the way and he does give good advice. But he loves to repeat them so much. It's like a cover up or something for situations like 'I haven't been reading what you wrote, so I'll just recycle what I said last time' or for 'not actually understanding what you are writing because I am not the content expert, but still I need to say something so I'll just recycle what I said last time'. Penat tau! Is it bad to think that way? Yeah...but SVs are human beings too. They have their ups and downs and expertise = 'ego' to 'protect'. So it's likely that there are days they make sense and you don't and there will be days when they don't but you do. And I am waiting for the days, when we both make sense to one another, Insya Allah. ;-)

A Long July

2009-07-15T12:43:00.006+10:00

I have been unwell almost the most of June. For a while it was just me, then it was the whole family. Simon at one time was knocking my office door several times a week, only to be told by the rest of the gang that I have not been around for a while. It has taken me some time to explain, what's with me and my winter blues, and then the whole family and me being humbled by the weather. It was not a pretty sight and sound :-( Only one (of several) kind of reason make sense, and I was sure he was not expecting this particular reason I am giving him. He took it very well, though. And then I am left to proof to him that I can do this regardless.

So then come July...one the longest I've felt for in ages. It's the 15th today and I spent 11 of them at the office, working! A feat I have never been able to establish before, mostly due to Aliyah's school schedule. I was hoping next year by the time she enrols into formal schooling and us moving out to a new home, there will be some form of order in my weekly schedule.

My two and a half chapters have finally taken shape. Another feat I thought will never materialized. Anyway, Simon brought me back to ground with his meticulous 'bad cop' style editing. It will take ages to satisfy him and I admit now that having those chapters is just another long journey towards my PhD. But he knows I am on borrowed time, and I am sure eventually a line needs to be drawn somewhere. 'The most perfect' is only ALLAH...and regardless my flight has already been booked. Lompat tikam here I comes...anyone needs an Aussie Fridge magnet?

Pressure Test

2009-06-02T18:07:00.007+10:00

Simon was originally not agreeable to my plans, he felt it's more of a personal drive than professionally motivated. Tu lah susahnya kalau you are too close to your supervisor. Sometimes they can really get on your nerves. Some other times dia boleh membebel like your mother. ha..ha..ha. Anyway, he's right! But I had good reasons, and now that he knew them all, so he kinda understand & will accomodate the plan officially. Good on him (and for me), for always thinking on all the meticulous intricate details for some of his short-minded student.

But like the 'Masterchef' program, I am now left in a pressure test to impress, to prove myself to him. Less than 2 months, and at least 15,000 words. As Bob the Builder always ask "Can we fix it?" ha..ha..ha..By hook or by crook "Yes, we can!" May Allah gives me the patience & intellect to hurry up, Insya Allah.

The Connection

2009-05-15T18:58:00.002+10:00

I'd finally found the theory to connect my studies 1 week before my meeting with Lawrie today, Alhamdulillah. Last minute as usual, I emailed him the draft ;-). Fortunately, unlike Simon, Lawrie rarely complaints..hu..hu..hu. Well at least I made progress.

As for the study, all this while, I know what I am doing but I just can't connect the literature with the methodology, because I am doing a combination of doctrinal & non-doctrinal study, which is rarely done. It's a beginning. But I see now that all the frames & foundation are there, I need to start filling them up with bricks & cements and so on...Arghhh...need to stop mind loitering!

Ethical Clearance

2009-05-08T00:42:00.010+10:00

This week's legal research seminar highlighted the issue of getting ethical clearance for your research. The discussion made me realised a few things - (1) You should never in absolute rely on hearsay from others, because they might have gotten it (the information) wrong & (2) You should always find out who's the right person to talk to in any issue & find out the correct information directly from them.

In general, the discussion stressed on the categories of risk in research that must be cleared by the university's or faculty's ethics board before one can proceed with the research:

Neglible Risk - Research involving neglible risk (no foreseable harm towards the partipant & the researcher), is just merely informing the uni of the research that's going to be conducted
Low Risk - Research involving low risk caused only discomfort to the participant
More than Low Risk - This kind of research is distressing to the participants

The category of risk will be decided from the research proposal and whether it's approved by the Faculty's or University's Ethics Committee depended on the category. Usually, research involving Neglible Risk will be dealt with by the Faculty and the rest would be by the University Committee. Only the risk determined that, not the geographical area of your research.

Ethics clearance is only needed when the research involved human participation. But there are three types of information that you can gather in your research without getting any ethical approval:

A chance or casual conversation, informal talk with someone that actually helps in you understanding your research
Collection of materials held in public records
Getting information from a certain person holding a certain position or profession in regard to the mechanics of their office & their functions in running the office

However, once you start venturing into asking opinions from any of them, then you must get an ethics clearance.

Since, fillling up the forms and getting the approval is a meticulous process, you must not give the committee any reason to return the application to you for further details. So you must:

Be thorough.
Use lay language.
Not leave any of the questions blank - note 'not applicable/NA' where appropriate.
Note how the data is secured and protected for the next 5 years
Use a 'catch all' strategy where necessary - for example listing a longer list of nominated interviewees, listing down a few additional questions. Well, it depends a lot on how you do your sampling & your research design, of course. But better be safe rather than wasting your time ammending your application later.

Last, when in doubt...always ask for direction...from the 'right' person.

Komplen!

2009-05-08T00:05:00.002+10:00

Our university has an Ombudsman (That’s a good point, since not all universities in Melbourne have one). Today, (one of ) the Ombudsman himself, Mr. CP gave a short briefing on the functions of the Ombudsman. It’s a an independent body who hears complaints from the all the homo sapiens population of the university and try conciliate all forms of complaints & grievances based on the university regulations. By independent here I mean, they are not answerable to anyone except the University Council (Hmmm…doesn’t sound too independent, does it?). This year alone they have received 75 formal complaints, the most being last year, at 158 cases.

Anyway, going to an ombudsman with your complaints should always be a last resort. Mr. CP insisted that most of all difficult behaviour stems from a misunderstanding (well, that sounds about right). So it’s better in seeking a solution closer to where the problem started rather than heading straight to the Ombudsman.

For example, when I asked what are the forms of complaints addressed to him involving postgraduate issues, Mr. CP stated that it’s mostly about problems in regard to supervision, a clash of personality and sometimes allegation of plagiarism & fraud. When such issues arise, the complainant must ensure that he/she has exhausted all the relevant authorities in his/her school before filing a complaint with the ombudsman. So one must first see the Course or Research Coordinator, then the Head of department, next in line is the Dean before finally going to the Ombudsman. But according to him, whatever the problem was, we must not ignore or suppress the matter hoping it’ll go away on it’s own. We don’t actually have the luxury of time (and cost) to do such thing. We must act as soon as practicable.

So the next time you have any complaints or grievances, you know where to go…

Academic Coffee (Tea) Session - The 3rd

2009-04-25T23:02:00.003+10:00

My family & I attended the VMPGA Third Academic Coffee Session today conducted as usual at the Malaysia Hall, starting from 2.15 p.m. to almost 5 p.m. The presenters were:

Rohani Mohamed (Ph.D. Student, University of Melbourne)
Title of thesis - Secondary Mathematic Teachers Assessment Practice

Wan Fauziah Wan Yusof (Ph.D. Student, Victoria University)
Title of thesis - Characteristics of Board of Directors Members, Board Effectiveness & Corporate Governance

Hoo Chiew Ping (Ph.D. Student, La Trobe University)
Title of thesis - The United States and Northeast Asia Security : The Dynamics of Korean Peninsula on Regional Strategic Stability.

Mohd Hanif Yaacob (Ph.D. Student, RMIT)
Title of thesis - Investigation of Nanostructured Tungsten Trioxide for Gas Sensing Application

I am really interested in the first two presenters, Kak Rohani & Kak Wan, because they focused on interviews as one of the methods of data collection. Kak Rohani had just received her green light from her ethics board. She discussed thoroughly the obstacles that she needed to face and the steps she took in order to get the approval.

Kak Wan had recently returned from her data collection in Malaysia. She interviewed all the top managing directors of public listed companies back home. Her data analysis was done in Excel instead of NVivo, very much suitable because her thesis is not exploratory. Well, it actually made her work much easier. She also mentioned some of the issue facing her when trying to get a ‘few’ government officers to be interviewed, such as bureaucracy, lack of response, no response or just being passing around. Hmmm…takutnya!

Most of everyone that attended also discussed on the problem in getting the approval to do research by EPU and what should we expect when applying to them. Hmmm…ngerinya! Semoga aku dapat menghadapinya sebaik mungkin…Insya Allah.

The Non Depressed Version of Literature Reviewing

2009-04-24T14:16:00.006+10:00

I ended the week going to my two usual weekly seminar. All this classes, seminar & talks are a chance of a lifetime. I probably will never get the same opportunity again…listening to all these Caucasian giving their talks ..ha..ha..ha. But seriously, it don’t really matter who gave the talk, or even if it’s the same topic over and over again but given by a different scholar. You’ll be amazed how much different it can make, with a slightly different perspective at a slightly different time during your candidature.

For instance, yesterday’s topic at the Postgraduate Seminar is about “How to Write a Literature Review?” by Dr. Howard Nicholas. It was very insightful. I personally think that of all the talks I have attended on literature review, this one enlighten me the most. I have attached herewith the slides of the talk. Click on it, to see a zoom version. I had actually recorded the talk, but due to copyright and size issues, I don’t think I am able to post it online. If anyone is interested to hear Dr Howard’s talk, please email me & tell me how do I past it around personally. The size is just too big to go through email.

New Direction

2009-04-20T17:30:00.005+10:00

As I arrived today at my supervisor's office, his door would already be ajar, as always before any meeting appointment, anticipating my arrival. Unlike previous earlier months, I no longer dread the days of my meetings with him. Every time, every meeting would unveil something new. Furthermore, Lawrie is an interesting academician. As with today, as I entered his office, I saw that he had already outlined what he thought of my latest query on his whiteboard, outlining the direction of my content.

It has not caught me by suprise, although I don't actually anticipate it, but the new direction actually lifted a lot weight off my back or brain to be specific ;-). He advice that I dropped every other jurisdiction in my research and just focus on Australia, learn from their Family Studies experience and address the issue of the viability of adapting the model in Malaysia. Wa..lah! A Comparative Study with a twist. The twist would involve me getting some form of qualitative data from key stakeholders back home.

The best part is I don't need to rewrite everything, since I could just use the current literature review and expand from there. But now I have a proper 'containment' to the whole content and context of the study. Wonderful! Hmmm...if only I could now focus my mind...

IQRA'

2009-04-16T15:04:00.004+10:00

Baca..baca..dan baca lagi! Hmmm...kan best kalau semua artikel ni macam novel Daniele Steel @ Judith McNaught ker...mesti cepat aku faham, siap boleh buat hologram image dlm kepala lagi..;-))

Huwaaaaa....kenapa aku ada kat sini?!! Apa yg aku 'sedang' buat nih?!! Bertaubatlah...IQRA'

Honorary Co-Supervisor

2009-04-13T18:52:00.003+10:00

Alhamdulillah today, finally got the reply from Dr NAH in Malaysia. I have requested that she become my honorary co-supervisor, in order to get an overall view and advice on my research, as she is one of the experts on Family Law & ADR in Malaysia. She has no objection to my request. Now, I have to proceed to make it official. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly, Insya Allah.

SARDARJI is Back

2009-04-08T12:51:00.003+10:00

Sardar's back...courtesy of Kak Rosnelim. Thanks Kak Ros ;-)

Sardar: I haven't slept all night in the train.
Friend: Why?
Sardar: Got upper berth.
Friend: Why didn't u exchange?
Sardar: Oye! There was nobody to exchange in the lower berth.

A Sardar went to a bank to open a S.B. A/C.
After seeing the Form he had gone to Delhi for filling it up. You know why?
Form said: 'Fill Up In Capital.'.

Sardarji standing below a tube light with a open mouth.
Why? Because his doctor advised him: 'Today's dinner should be light !'

One sardarji professor asked a plumber to come to his college.
You know why?
Because he wanted to check where the question paper is leaking.

Santa! Your daughter has died!
Depressed, Sardar jumps from 100th floor.
At 50th floor he remembers I don't have a daughter!
At 25th floor he remembers I'm unmarried!
At 10th floor he remembers I'm Banta not Santa!

On a romantic date sardar's girlfriend asks him: 'Darling ! On our engagement will you give me a ring?'
He said: 'Sure ! What's your phone number?'

Sardar found the answer to the most difficult question ever.
What will come first, chicken or egg?
O Yaar, what ever u order first will come first.

A teacher told all students in a class to write an essay on a cricket match.
All were busy writing except one Sardarji.
He wrote:'Due To Rain, No Match!'

What does a sardar do after taking a Xerox?
He will compare it with the original for any spelling mistakes.

Why can't sardars dial Nine-Eleven (911) at emergency?
They cannot find the eleven on the phone.

Sardar and his wife buy coffee in a shop.
Sardar: Drink quickly.
Wife: Why?
Sardar: Hot coffee Rs 5 and cold coffee Rs 10

Sardar at an Art Gallery : I suppose this horrible looking thing is what you call modern art?
Art dealer: I beg your pardon sir, that's a mirror!

Sardar news: A two seater plane crashed in a graveyard in punjab.
Local sardars have so far found 500 bodies and are still digging for more.

Sardar visits Chinese friend dying in hospital. Man says 'Chin Yu Yan' and dies.
Sardar goes to China to find meaning of friends last words.
It is 'You are standing on the oxygen tube!'

Sardarji was standing in front of the mirror with his eyes closed.
Wife: What you are doing?
Sardar: I am seeing how I look while sleeping

Hope all of u enjoyed it, now go back to work!

Running After Daylight

2009-04-06T14:45:00.005+10:00

By 3 am yesterday, daylight saving in Melbourne ended. Besides the obvious fact that now the time difference between Melbourne & Kuala Lumpur is back to 2 hours, it also means that day time is getting shorter and the days are getting colder. With less sunshine and longer nights, the climate of Melbourne's cooler months will be very harsh indeed, even for Victorian themselves.

That also mean that I have to spent more time at the office trying to warm myself rather than do any solid work. It's very difficult to type with gloves on and at the same time trying to sit still. I guess I have to book a library carrel throughout winter. My office is quite big & it doesn't seem to be able to keep the warmth very well. Maybe I should bring a portable heater to work. Victoria really needs to overhaul how they build their building in the future. Most of them are not meant for temperature below 5 degrees. What a dreadful thought...

A Change of Heart?

2009-03-28T19:01:00.005+11:00

Last few days, I had a change of heart regarding my topic. I fear for the delays I'm going to face dealing with red tapes back home. Everything is "Sulit" somehow, emails left dangling and one off communication doesn't seem to give you a soothing heart. Ahhhhh...bummer.

So I prayed for a sign, read up here & there. I evaluate my abilities and skills. I ponder on this point & that. And finally I knocked on the doors of my supervisors (or is it the other way around?)

Well, both my supervisors seem to understand what I'm planning on doing. The key question is do I understand what I planned to do? I think I do ;-) I thought I had it all planned (in my head, that is)

So they believed that I should stick to the original plan, then. I just have to brace myself and prepare to accept the fact that bureaucratic issues is part of the research endeavour. Haaaa easy said than 'faced'...isk..isk..isk. Please God, give me patience, endurance and 'super-diplomatic' abilities!

Halo...PhD

2009-03-24T22:32:00.006+11:00

I dedicate this song to my Phd...isk..isk..isk...

HALO

Remember those walls I built
Well baby they are tumbling down
And they didn’t even put up a fight
They didn’t even make a sound

I found a way to let you in
But I never really had a doubt
Standing in the light of your halo
I got my angel now

It’s like I’ve been awaken
Every rule I had you breaking
It’s the risk that I’m taking
I ain’t never gonna shut you out

Everywhere I’m looking now
I’m surrounded by your embrace
Baby I can see your halo
You know you’re my saving grace

You’re everything I need and more
It’s written all over your face
Baby I can feel your halo
Pray it won’t fade away

I can see your halo
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
I can feel your halo

Hit me like a ray of sun
Burning through my darkest night
You’re the only one that I want
Think I’m addicted to your light

I swore I’d never fall again
But this don’t even feel like falling
Gravity can’t begin
To pull me back to the ground again

It’s like I’ve been awaken
Every rule I had you breaking
It’s the risk that I’m taking
I’m never gonna shut you out
Everywhere I’m looking now
I’m surrounded by your embrace
Baby I can feel your halo
Pray it won’t fade away

I can see your halo
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
I can feel your halo

Everywhere I’m looking now
I’m surrounded by your embrace
Baby I can see your halo
You know you’re my saving grace

You’re everything I need and more
It’s written all over your face
Baby I can feel your halo
Pray you won’t fade away

I can see your halo
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
I can feel your halo

P/S: Watch the backdrop clip. Interesting...

Inputs

2009-03-20T08:18:00.012+11:00

Last evening, I spent almost half my day in talks & discussions.

The first one was a talk given by Professor Ron Adams on 'Managing your supervision'. I'm sure everybody has been to a version of one [hopefully;-)], so I won't repeat all the obvious advice.

An important point from his talk I got was PhD is just another project, albeit a long one, (and the fact you are own your own makes it even longer & tedious, of course). So as any other project you have to learn to manage it. And that includes your supervisor!

Another is this:

Knowledge

Duration

The diagram represents your knowledge against your supervisor as time passes by throughout the Phd. The Red line representing your supervisor, and the blue line the student.

According to Ron, there will a point in time down the line that you will have a better overview of your topic than your supervisor. This is where it gets tricky to handle your supervisor(s) & their 'ego'. So you'll have to be prepared for that time and handle your supervisor 'delicately'. There's a whole lot of PR control in PhD actually, but you must be honest too, but not that 'honest' so as to declare you did nothing much toward your Phd last few days, weeks or months. That would be rather suicidal..he..he..he.

The next was a discussion on 'Writing at the Doctoral Level' at the Law Department by Dr Robyn Thomas. Again one of the points Robyn highlighted & I kept hearing over & over again, even by Prof Ron, was you have to start writing, NOW!

Robyn also simplified a Phd thesis as a 'point of view', put in a persuasive argument. So if I keep track of what is my overall point of view, I'll get this Phd done in time for my fourth child...he..he..he.

Momentum

2009-03-16T13:21:00.004+11:00

All the "TM"s in Melbourne are giving me the momentum to speed up my work. Itulah hikmahnya...God Speed! Can't wait to get this over with so I can move on with my life and do all sorts of research.

Ya Rabb..please give me patience & persistence.

P/S: What's a "TM"? Well guess...if you are not one, I am sure you know what it stands for...he..he..he. But if you are part "TM" and part not "TM", email me, I'll tell you what is it..

Nak Termuntah!

2009-03-14T14:21:00.002+11:00

Ya Allah berilah aku kesabaran...Nak termuntah aku tengok tulisan2 atas kertas2 ni semua! Kalau muntah ada 'isi' ok lah jugak ;-). Ni muntah sia2 jer...yucks!

As of today masih ada 15 paragraph yg masih 'merah' lagi. Minggu depan SV-SV ku semua dah nak balik dan nak jumpa dgn aku...isk..isk..isk.

Rasa cam nak tido je. Cow men nga!

Opportunities for Post-Graduate Education

2009-03-11T14:29:00.003+11:00

Item 27.

The Government will take this opportunity to encourage more Malaysians to pursue Masters and PhD courses. The Government will undertake to finance tuition fees and research grants up to RM20,000 for every student pursuing PhDs locally. For students in the Masters programme, the Government will provide up to RM10,000 per student.

A total of 500 places will be provided for studies at PhD level and 10,000 at Masters level in public institutions of higher education as well as at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Multimedia University (MMU) and Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP). The programme is open to all Malaysians and selection based on merit. The Ministry of Higher Education will implement the programme.

Comments: Hmmmm....

Library Training 2009

2009-03-09T13:31:00.006+11:00

I continued my library training today. I missed the one from last year because I arrived one month after the semester commenced.

Some might argue what's the point, you can always learn to find things at the library on your own...Well, I beg to differ though. There's so much more to learn from the workshops. In fact today I learnt several new things that I didn't know existed (after 7 months here) in the library homepage.

The Borchardt Library's collection is marvellous actually. Even if it's not in their collection, at a few click of some tabs in the library website, you can have any books throughout Australia delivered to you (at the library). The range of databases oo la..la.. are unlimited. You only need one Id & password, that is your student identification number and you can access all sorts of databases all over the world. The library's collection and services are a far cry from what I'm used to back home....beyond comparison indeed.

Hmmm....I wonder if I can retain my priviliges once I graduated.

Penyeragaman Tindakan Ganti Rugi bagi Pensyarah IPTA yang ditaja melanjutkan pengajian

2009-03-05T21:56:00.015+11:00

Intipati Keputusan KPT 6 Januari 2009:

Mesyuarat Ketua Setiausaha Negara dan Naib-naib Canselor/Rektor telah bersetuju bagi menyeragamkan tindakan ganti rugi bagi pensyarah2 IPTA yang ditaja untuk melanjutkan pengajian. Maka perkara2 berikut telah dipersetujui:

1) Unsur penalti perlu diadakan bagi memastikan komitmen calon sentiasa berada pada tahap komitmen yg tinggi

2) Bagi tujuan penyeragaman, perlulah dibezakan antara calon yg GAGAL setelah terbukti berusaha sedaya upaya mereka dan calon yg dikategorikan sebagai CUAI, sama ada yg tidak menunjukkan kesungguhan @ mempunyai masalah displin sehingga membawa kepada kegagalan mereka

3) Bentuk tindakan pula dibezakan antara pensyarah berjawatan tetap dan tutor/felo yg belum dilantik ke jawatan tetap (like the UiTM TPM @ Fellowship scheme in USM)

Bagi kategori GAGAL tindakan berikut akan diambil terhadap calon:

Pensyarah Tetap
(i) Diarahkan kembali melapor diri bertugas dan diberi peluang menyambung pengajian di universiti tempatan secara separuh masa sehingga berjaya mendapatkan PhD dalam masa 2 tahun tanpa sebarang penajaan
(ii) Tempoh kontrak perkhidmatan bermula dr tempoh melaporkan diri
(iii) Tiada tuntutan ganti rugi dikenakan dlm tempoh 2 tahun semasa calon menyambung Phdnya secara separuh masa
(iv) Jika masih gagal selepas tempoh tersebut, maka tindakan ganti rugi boleh dikenakan berdasarkan kepada perjanjian, tetapi tidak termasuk gaji yg dibayar semasa tempoh penajaan. Walau bagaimanapun, pihak yang meguatkuasakan perjanjian perlu memberi pertimbangan bahawa tindakan tuntutan tersebut adalah lebih berbentuk pengajaran dan bukan hukuman.

Tutor/Felo/Pensyarah Sementara
(i) Diberi peluang menyambung pengajian di universiti tempatan secara separuh masa sehingga berjaya mendapatkan PhD dalam masa 2 tahun tanpa sebarang penajaan
(ii) Tarikh kuatkusa tempoh kontrak perkhidmatan digantung sehingga beliau berjaya dilantik ke jawatan tetap sama ada sebagai pensyarah atau apa2 jawatan di IPTA berkenaan
(iii) Tiada tuntutan ganti rugi dikenakan dlm tempoh 2 tahun semasa calon menyambung Phdnya secara separuh masa
(iv) Tuntutan ganti rugi akan dikenakan berdasarkan perjanjian tetapi tidak termasuk elaun/gaji yg dibayar semasa tempoh penajaan.

Bagi kategori CUAI tindakan berikut akan diambil terhadap calon:

Pensyarah Tetap
(i) Dikenakan tindakan ganti rugi mengikut perjanjian
(ii) Jika didapati calon yg 'cuai' ini boleh dikenakan tindakan tatatertib, maka proses tindakan tatatertib berdasarkan akta & peraturan yg berkuatkuasa perlu diambil
(iii) Jika seorang pegawai dikenakan tindakan tatatertib dan dijatuhkan hukuman, tindakan tuntutan ganti rugi spt di atas hendaklah terus dilaksanakan

Tutor/Felo/Pensyarah Sementara
(i) Ditamatkan perkhidmatan dan dikenakan tindakan ganti rugi termasuk gaji/elaun yg diterima semasa pengajian

Comments:
It's 'good' when policymakers are trying to make objective rules. But just like doing your Phd, the implementation of this rule is always going to be bogged down with subjectivity...At least at the end of the day you know where you stand.

A Search with Index

2009-02-25T14:40:00.010+11:00

I finally get to meet with Dennis Warren our Law Librarian again, after several days of being in 'limbo'. The need to backtrack all my articles searches have left me wondering whether I should include a review methodology section at all.

But since I have already started it, so I might as well learn from it and try to make the searches be as systematic, explicit, comprehensive and reproducible as possible.

All this while I have been using either Google Scholar or HEIN. Dennis is not too keen on both of them, simply because one is merely a search engine and another is a database that do not have an index.

So it looks like I have to start over, using databases that have appropriate indexing so that I would not be wasting time being bogged down with hundreds of materials that is basically irrelevant to what I'm doing.

Maybe all this while I have been avoiding Indexes because they look kinda boring in appearance. But with the right technique, they save you a lot of time, actually. That's one lesson I learn in this Phd journey, perhaps the long way...;-)

Sardar Jee

2009-02-24T20:47:00.002+11:00

Boss: Where were you born?
Sardar: India ..
Boss: which part?
Sardar: What 'which part'? Whole body was born in India .

2 sardar were fixing a bomb in a car.
Sardar 1: What would you do if the bomb
explodes while fixing.
Sardar 2: Dont worry, I have one more.

Sardar: What is the name of your car?
Lady: I forgot the name, but is starts with 'T'.
Sardar: Oh, what a strange car, starts with Tea. All cars that I know start with petrol.

Sardar joined new job. 1st day he worked till late evening on the computer. Boss was happy and asked what you did till evening.
Sardar: Keyboard alphabets were not in order, so I made it alright.

Museum Administrator: That's a 500-year-old statue u've broken.
Sardar: Thanks God! I thought it was a new one.

At the scene of an accident a man was crying: O God! I have lost my hand, oh!
Sardar: Control yourself. Don't cry. See that man. He has lost his head. Is he crying?

Sardar: U cheated me.
Shopkeeper: No, I sold a good radio to u.
Sardar: Radio label shows Made in Japan but radio says this is 'All India Radio! '

In an interview, Interviewer: How does an electric motor run?
Sardar: Dhhuuuurrrrrrrrrr. .....
Inteviewer shouts: Stop it.
Sardar: Dhhuurrrr dhup dhup dhup...

Tourist: Whose skeleton is that?
Sardar: An old king's skeleton.
Tourist: Who's that smaller skeleton next to it?
Sardar: That was same king's skeleton when he was a child.

6 Months - Periodical Progress Report

2009-02-19T21:14:00.004+11:00

I submitted my 6 months progress report to Simon today for his approval before posting them to UiTM & KPT tomorrow. The report was carefully worded, to mask the fact that 'byk lg kerja aku tak buat' ha..ha..ha. Phenin..phenin...

Frustrating Search

2009-02-16T16:20:00.007+11:00

My articles database search number does not tally today. One of the articles out of 370 of them went missing in the midst of transferring all 370 from the HEINONLINE database to ENDNOTE.

Only ONE! And it cost me hours looking for it. From the library to the office, still na.. da! Still 369 jugak. Ahhh...bosannyer! So I decided against putting them in ENDNOTE to avoid further complications, since I know some of the articles are duplicates of what I already have in the ENDNOTE library. Huwaaa...sakit tengkuk & lenguh jari jemari tekan 'mouse' mencari article nan satu tu. Hmmm, nampaknya I have to 'kelibet' them one by onelah in order to find it.

Well, I guess that's just another day in a postgraduate life.

Academic Coffee (Tea) Session

2009-02-15T14:08:00.012+11:00

The 'Academic Coffee Session' was actually an idea brought forward by Dr. Mohamed Ali Abdul Rahman, the education attache here in Melbourne for the past 2 years. So when it finally took off with this first session, he was more than pleased. What more this February will be his last month here in Melbourne. His contract ends at the end of the month, and by early March he will be serving his new post back home with the ministry.

Although attendance wise it's not very encouraging, (it was expected, though) the discussion went very well indeed and all three presenters, Hafilah, Anang & me gets valuable insights from those present, especially Hafilah who is in her second year now. Where as Anang, in his third year is coming up with an excellent new innovation in data processing by networking and waiting for it to be patented soon. Kudos to him!

This event will be a monthly avenues for Malaysian postgraduate sharing their experience in their research endeavours. It's not formal and not as nerve wrecking as those presentations you did in the unis or conferences. And you can speak in both language, English & Malay. So hopefully, more will join the session in the months to come. There's always coffee later, but the funny thing is we had tea, instead.;-)

Anang trying to simplify his technical jargons

A Final Momento with Dr Ali [our very own Anil Kapoor;-)]

All the best to him!

Response

2009-02-14T21:29:00.004+11:00

I sent my working progress late thursday evening. Simon came Friday afternoon, and in less than an hour scribbled his response in the literature review chapter. A whole lot of them!

HUWaaaaa..it took me ages to write those 10 pages, and just under an hour for him to give his commentaries.

I don't feel so lost anymore, just overwhelmed. His quote "I think it will do you a lot of good to 'stick'(IOW, have me as your advisor) with me, you will a learn a lot more." Quality begets quality...

Work in Progress

2009-02-12T13:46:00.003+11:00

Dear Simon,

I am hereby attaching my current literature review; a work in progress. It's a long way from completion, but I need some overview whether it's the best way of going about it. I feel kind of lost (in transition..translation..);-)

Many thanks,

Kind Regards,

Fadzlina

Illusion of Time

2009-02-07T11:48:00.006+11:00

When you thought, you have all the time in the world, do you perform better? Or you have this illusion that there'll always be tomorrow...

I thought that I have no such illusion, but deep down that's just what's happening, hence the lack of momentum. Worst, quality writing takes time, sometimes it comes in an instant, sometimes it takes days. You need to understand what you're reading, put them in context of your research and tries to design them in the most accurate, scholarly words possible, avoiding plagiarism along the way. It is painstakingly exhausting. Plus of course, when there's a whole lot of other things you'd rather do, than reading, thinking and wrting!

Writing the theses, requires a balance of quotations, paraphrases and summaries with my own fresh 'visions'. It's not suppose to be a mere repeatation of the idea of others that I stich together with a few sentence of my own.

I think, I work faster when there's more things to do, from several perspectives, that is. Phd and Phd and Phd are just one perspective. Anyway, my supervisor relayed that whatever the task is, you must always multiply the time by 3. That way, you'll know that there's no such thing as 'there's always be tomorrow'.

Note Writing vs Typing In

2009-01-27T12:29:00.009+11:00

There's just so many ways of doing Phd theses out there. Some would do their data collection, then start writing, some start writing right from the start, some would write a bit then collect data and continue on writing.

My style would be the third one. At least that was how I design my research. So now is the phase where I must write...write...and write. Well, that's easy said than done, actually. Do you know how many hours you must spent to write a solid paragraph or two? Give the claim a reason, evidence and when necessary a warrant. On top of that, I have over 2oo++ references in my Bibliography, and I have to meddle through all of them to find the evidence to my claim, so that my reason for making such claim would sound plausible. No wonder procrastination is a favourite past time of PhD Candidates.

Anyway, I've discovered that I can no longer do note taking everytime I read an article. I think note taking for the first few months when you are still contemplating your research topic would be a good practice. It keeps a chronological overview of what you are trying to do. But once you have pass that phase, discard the note book and start typing in whatever points that is relevant from the articles you read.

Design a mechanism of where you type them in, perhaps based on themes, the table of contents, the outlines and so on. It saves you a lot of time and headache later on. If you don't know how to paraphrase them yet, then just type in a direct quote and identify them as such clearly. You can always come back to edit them later. It also gives you a motivational boost, seeing how you work is being assembled systematically in front of your eyes instead of seeing a pile of articles on your workstation that has nowhere to go...yet!.

Other than that I think, we'll just have to pray that Allah gives us Ilham and makes us Istiqamah in this PhD journey and life in general.;-)

Literature Review

2009-01-17T09:56:00.003+11:00

How do you actually do a literature review?

I think it's not so much about the review that gives me the headache, but arranging where and how I put them in writing in the chapter and linking them together. And knowing myself, I can't write anything, until I can see the frame of the chapter, the logic of them all, the flow, the overall picture. So I spend lots of time developing a signpost for every chapter so far. I am no expert nor highly philosphical, so pretending I am one and writing like one is out of the question. The least I can do thus, is to put everything in order (at the very least try to), before a proper review is done.

There are lots of advices out there, but at the end of the day, it all depends on what you are researching. Some goes by chronological order, some categories, some themes and some like me who must go on a combination of all three. Tell me about going crazy...and the thing is, this would only be the first draft. I will keep seeing this chapter over & over again throughout 2 more years...talk about wanting to throw up! :-(

Good News...Bad News

2009-01-08T15:56:00.008+11:00

Good News:

I finally came up with a mock table of contents (TOC) sprawling up to 14 Chapters (Semangat tuh!). It looks kinda impressive [puji diri sendirik, minta maaf lah yer, kawan2.;-)]. Lawrie was very happy with it, though he thought I would have to cut down on some areas. But he believed more is better, so I'll be able to cut down rather than make up something. With this TOC, I will be able to write with a proper perspective and theme in mind.

My theme would be: Advocating a Caring and Justifiable Dispute Resolution System, a More Balanced Approach in Settling Custody Disputes. So all my writing now will have to build up on this theme, rather than write aimlessly, although I have earlier on chosen an area and topic . There's a whole lot of differences, between an area, topic and theme (perspective). Can't explain though...but if you don't get it, you'll never be able to finish writing in 3 years.

Bad News

Laurie broke the news today...by making an introductory statement before we initiated the meeting today:

"Please don't panic...I'm leaving Latrobe come June this year."

Well, it was easy for him asking me not to panic...my heart was racing like "Viewed" (the horse that won the Melbourne Cup last year), thinking.."O No, I am being abandoned, here!"

"Where to?" I asked.

"AIFS. They offered me a full time post, there." (Actually, Lawrie spent twice a week there as a consultant researcher)

Well..maybe not so bad, after all. AIFS is still in Melbourne CITY. He explained how the future arrangement will be. He sounds convincing enough, so it's kinda relief. I can't imagine any other situation. Please...everybody else, don't die on me!

I still feel bad though, such a loss to the uni. Pity how unis nowadays run like a commercial ventures and along the way lose their original aims and objectives and good academicians too.

Where are you?

2009-01-04T20:05:00.006+11:00

Courtesy of PhDComics.com

EndNote X2

2008-12-26T12:42:00.010+11:00

After five months, and when it seems that my endnoting activities could not cope with my "article-printing" activities (but not actually manage to read everything, yet), I finally resort to EndNote X2. The previous version X, was rather 90s in its appearance. It's rather stable, except for its Cite While You Write (CWYW) feature. X2 looks refreshing and it has better features which makes managing my references easier than X.

Nevertheless, one of the problem with me using EndNote is, its inability to use footnotes/notes in almost all its styles output. In law research and writing, footnoting is almost a must. Luckily, Australia has already developed its own legal citation guide (AGLC) and style output to be used with the Endnote software. But you need to rig it yourself (with some basic instructions) to make it work.

I have been looking into it for the past week, and it seems that it's working and I think I am getting the hang of it. However, in order to speed the software up, I deleted almost all the syles output in the styles folder, except for the ones I think I'm going to use. Furthermore Latrobe Uni provided their students with a free CD of the program for personal use, so I can easily reinstall any of these styles in the future. Once, that's done, it runs much faster with Word. Imagine, there's thousands of styles in the program, no wonder it's so slow.

Anyway, the rule is never to totally rely on the program, it has its flaws. Sometimes the flaws comes from you in entering the data. Another important rule, is always to back it up, in 3 DIFFERENT places (your C drives is not counted as a different place) in both the ens. file and the rtf.file. Print the list of bibliography everyday after you updated it.

Australian Institute of Family Studies

2008-12-18T21:49:00.010+11:00

In line with our studies which involves family law matters, Kak Hidayah suggested that we both dropped by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS). Unlike most federal bodies or agency in Australia which are situated in Canberra, AIFS is actually located in Melbourne City.

The Institute conducts research and communicate their findings to policy makers, service providers and the broader community about factors that affect family welfare in Australia. They also have a mini library covering almost all the latest issues on family studies in Australia, with some international materials.

We met with Carole who showed us around and assisted us despite the fact that we came without an appointment. We browse the library & the catalogue and were given lots of "freebies" which weighed down on us because we basically have to walk with them around the city.

(Another plus point about AIFS is, it's located on the highest floor of the building - Level 20,
thus having a nice aerial view of the city.)
Melbourne city is as usual FASCINATING!

Meeting: Reflections

2008-12-11T17:36:00.004+11:00

Just finished my fourth meeting with my supervisor, which last as usual 2 hours. But the things we discussed could have an impression on me for hours afterwards, that is if I chose to ;-)..ha..ha..ha

Alamak! Canne ni. I am sooooo slow. Sampaikan when he asked me "So when should we meet again?" I immediately think mid of January. Alas..he'd say something which have the overall meaning of Don't you want to get the ball rolling ...faster. Which make HIM set the date to be the week after new year. Huawahaaaa, no new year celebrationlah nampaknyer..isk..isk. Well, I don't deserve one anyway..not yet.

Anyway, today's meeting is important in the sense that he agreed on what I wanted to do, so I can start writing a more focused literature review. Another point is to always remember that in every sentence you write, every claim you make, there must be a reason for saying so, backed by evidence. Sometimes, the claims needs further warranting and sometimes I need to acknowledge questions, objections and alternatives & response to them with further argument backed by evidence.

It is soooooo meticulous!

Enough said, I think I;ll go back now & eat some Apple Custard Crumble..nyum..nyum.

Unscrupulous Education Agent

2008-12-01T19:45:00.009+11:00

Are you thinking of pursuing your postgraduate degree anytime in the near future? Then, please avoid being caught in the web of unscrupulous Education Agents.

There's a whole lot of education agents out there, especially for Australia, the UK & US. They make various claims, free service for this, review of that, matching of interest with supervision, assistance in doing this & that. But remember, at the end of the day, these agents gets their commission $$$, and that's it, they are out of your life.

They may have a legal existence, but they can be as 'unscrupulous' in the tactics they employed to drive desperate prospective postgraduate into their services. Some use all their networking in the system, to get you a place, regardless of topic & supervision interest. As they would claim, desperate times, call for desperate measures. Once they have employed this desperate measures, they somehow coerced these desperate prospective students into accepting a place.

I almost get caught in it. But feeling something fishy about the arrangement, I backed out of it. And I know a few people who actually did not and could not. In a postgraduate degree of unstructured nature, which spells big time uncertainty, you would want to avoid starting on the wrong foot. But these agents, who claimed they cared, actually could not care less. Some students had to spend time later, to change their topic of interest or field and worst, even the supervisors themselves. These education agents, come highly unrecommended.

So PhD Application 101:

Always try to find your own supervisors. Look up their publication list. Besides looking for topic, also the dates of their last publication. If they are fairly very recent, that's a good thing. Because they are still in the education networking system actively, (not on sabbatical leave, retiring or dying) and that means their interest are also up to date.
Avoid being desperate in the first place, by starting the application early on, even before you received funding for your study. This is actually easy said than done, almost everybody gets desperate one way or another, at any one point throughout the application for a place. Why? Well, for starters even in the years of the email, yahoo messenger, etc... some potential supervisors, simply don't reply! Even if they do, they are either not interested in the topic you intend on doing or not interested at all.
Once you have been in contact, keep on doing it from time to time, before your application is finalized. You can actually learn a lot from the communication, their style, their patience with you and all, gives at least a future prediction of things are going to be when you finally get to work under them.
Again, if you are desperate and time is running out (due to various reasons) and have to resort to agents make them give a few suggestions, instead of only one. And try to establish contact regardless.

The Philosophy Behind My Research is...

2008-11-23T23:12:00.002+11:00

Reading Yanti's post makes me wonder what is the philosophy behind my research....Which leads me to try to understand the term itself.

The word philosophy is said to be of an Ancient Greek origin: φιλοσοφία (philosophía), meaning "love of wisdom".(Philosophia, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus)

The Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College further defines it as:
1. orig., love of, or the search for, wisdom or knowledge
2. theory or logical analysis of the principles underlying conduct, thought, knowledge, and the nature of the universe.

In a simplified version of it, 'philosophy is the attempt to understand the world (but at a very high level, which is what tends to make it abstract). Philosophy is more concerned with seeing the forest than with knowing the details of individual trees (that's the job of the sciences). Yet it's also concerned with making sure that we've got our intellectual and ethical foundations well-laid. After all, badly-laid foundations won't do a good job of supporting anything that's laid upon them.

So the job of responsible philosophers is (among other things) to lay the best possible foundations for our understanding of our world, to provide "the big picture" that's left out of more specific areas of knowledge, and to help us understand clearly what values should be most important to us.’

Hence, in my understanding, philosophy is a two-fold concept; a quest to understand the world, in other words, (new) knowledge and laying the best foundations in trying to do so by relying on systematic and analytical approach to discover that knowledge.

So what is the philosophy behind my research, then?

POST MORTEM - WEEK 2 (7 Secrets)

2008-11-18T13:20:00.013+11:00

Week 2 just confirmed week 1's activities. Lucky me, Monday evening, I was saved by a Seminar - 7 Secrets of Highly Successful PhD Students by Hugh Kearns & Maria Gardiner. I think most postgrad students would have heard of this course.

Hugh giving some explanation.

So I tried changing my routine Tuesday morning, instead of going straight to the office, I went somewhere else to do some reading & logging down my thoughts for the first 2 hours , then head to my office. Guess what, got lots of things written down. A whole lot might be crap, but at least it's a visible crap to look at and improve on later on.

Some very important tips from the seminar I got were:

2 hours working rule

When you first start working every day, you have to spend the first 2 hours on work (reading & writing), before you open your EMAILS, or better still before you go ONLINE! In other words, DO NOT EVER..EVER..EVER go ONLINE before the first 2 hours of quality work is done.
In order to sustain that 2 hours, you need perhaps to follow that (10+2)*5 technique or the 30 minutes Unschedule technique or any other technique that suits you, so you have proper breaks & all. But you must not take too long a break, 5-10 minutes would suffice. Please factor in that break time in your 2 hours too.

Writing Log

Have a writing or thought log besides your workstation at all time. Jot down everything related to your research, because you might not remember them in the future. You can always polish those ideas later on.

Meeting Tips

Meetings with supervisors must be regular and have a specific agenda or else you'll ended up chatting and lost the original reason for the meeting.
Email them your understanding & reflection of the outcome of the meeting, because they might not have the same idea as to what's the conclusion of the meeting. This avoids future misunderstanding & miscommunications.

Feedback

Ask for specific ones from your supervisors, not a general question of "What do you think about it?" "Is it any good?" Be specific if you wanted an anwer of more that a tick or "It's fine" or "It's RUBBISH!".

5 Things You Learn As A Postgraduate Student

2008-11-10T17:19:00.005+11:00

Karen Hall a Graduate Education Officer from UWA, in Perth stated in her research workshop for graduate students that she had never expected to learn these 5 things as a postgrad.

Well, as a postgrad student myself, I couldn't agree more with her that:

Being pragmatic about what you need to know & planning on how to find it out is more important than knowing everything
Supervisors are not psychic - and this could be both a Good & Bad thing for you
Warnings about taking breaks from staring at the computer screen & stretching do actually apply to you too
Procrastination can take you to very & various strange places
Finishing is as scary & daunting as not finishing

POST MORTEM - WEEK 1

2008-11-10T10:22:00.001+11:00

Well, finally week 1 is over. The UNSCHEDULE timetable proof what I feared most... I don't spent enough time on work. It other words, lebih banyak 'melengung' drpd buat kerja! I know that, even before I started this program, but to see the total number (or lack) of hours being splattered on the schedule, is rather disconcerting. It makes you want to work more. So that's the point of the program. I'll see how it goes this week, then.

Salvaging myself (and my PhD) - Week 1

2008-11-03T18:08:00.010+11:00

While trying to minimize my procrastinating habits (lots of procrastinating involves looking for tips & solutions) I found this book in the library. It takes me some time to actually start reading it (more procrastinating there...). The author emphasizes on a funny schedule, where you actually planned for play & pleasure and focuses on work for only 30 minutes at a time. I'm going to try it out for 2 weeks and see how it goes. But I reckon the book's worth some time of your life, especially if you are a hardcore procrastinator (like me?).

3 months up! The Next Phase

2008-11-01T22:59:00.009+11:00

Yup..It has been 3 months. My second official meeting yesterday with my supervisors brought me into my next phase. The conclusions were as follows:

Topic – Checked (but not cemented in concrete)

Conceptual Problem/Premise - Checked (must backed with literature)

Conceptual Significance– Checked (including literature review?)

Method - Still looking, some ideas was to look up models of mediation (must choose based on literature review & detail readings and include them in the interview with key stakeholders) (I remembered there’s one thesis in the library that did a method like that, so must go look it up)

Literature Review - Must include general view of mediation, leading to mediation and mandatory ones.

Issues/themes for literature review:

Why is it that certain communities are not attracted by mediation when it's voluntary?

Are mediation more successful with certain types of communities or culture? Or is certain types or models of mediation more suitable with some communities and not with others?

Are certain communities much more susceptible to state intervention (authorities/power)? Are they related to certain communities being reactive rather than proactive? How do we know that? Any research to relate them to Malaysia’s community in general?

It's pertinent to move on now. Simon needs the 2 chapters - background & literature review- before middle of next year. And I need to see Laurie at a more short interval. I have to set a dateline & get cookin...or I'll be toasted myself.

The Craft of Research

2008-10-29T11:32:00.004+11:00

If you don't know where to start (or how to) your research, I highly recommend this book. It's not field specific, but not too broad either. It has a simple & friendly tone to it, making it an easy read and it will not bore you to death ;-) (important, since you have only 3 years to do it). Look it up in your library, or keep a copy (recommended) since it assist throughout your research, up till your writing up phase.

The 2nd Malaysia Round Table Discussion

2008-10-20T21:53:00.006+11:00

I went to the 2nd Annual Malaysia Round Table, organised by the Centre for Malaysian Studies, Monash Asia Institute, with the support of the Malaysian Students Department and the Victorian Malaysian Postgraduate Association, in Monash University in Caulfield today. The round table is actually more like a paper presentation session, providing a forum for Melbourne-area postgraduate students working on Malaysia from all disciplinary backgrounds to share what they have been researching.

On the train - on the way to Caulfield

There were interesting topics, imagine some of them were about pantun translation to English, disorderliness in our Parliament, the problems of Malaysian historical movie and various others. Even got some very good advice from one of the speakers. Maybe due to time contraints, there's no "real" session of research-experience sharing of the presenters with the participants.

Next time, I planned to be one of the presenters, Insya Allah.

My First Presentation

2008-10-16T18:01:00.002+11:00

Yesterday, I went through my first presentation in my English Language Skills class. It was ok. The presentation itself was fine, couldn't say I was doing an excellent job, just the normal class routine I usually did back home. (In fact hours before the presentation, I was busy browsing reviews for GPS navigation gadgets..he.he..he)

I know what I wanted to do, just needs some convincing by others. So I was hoping the presentation would do just that. The audiences seem interested in it, and actually gave some positive feedbacks. But most of them are not from the family law background, so it's difficult to say whether I am actually on the right track.

But my tossing around time is almost up, have to keep moving now, hopefully in the right direction, Insya Allah.

Managing your time

2008-10-03T10:04:00.002+10:00

Courtesy of UWA:

Make active decisions about your long term priorities (if your Masters or PhD is not in one of the top 2 or 3 priorities in your life, it probably won’t get done)

Learn to say “no” if something is not contributing to the highest (long-term) priorities you have.

Be fastidious about your time. Keep a time log for 48 hours, and know how you actually spend your time. When planning work, think in 10 minute blocks; the (10+2)*5 technique may be useful here.(http://myresearchspace.grs.uwa.edu.au/blogs/karenhalls_blog/archive/2006/12/05/10-2-5.aspx)

Remember the “80/20” rule. 80% of your results come from only 20% of what you do. Identify and give high priority to the “20%” tasks. Distinguish between what you MUST do, what you should do and what it would be “nice” or “interesting” to do. Identify tasks that can be delegated to someone else and eliminate tasks that don’t contribute to your priorities at the moment.

Use time management tools
a. Have a master list of all the things you need to do. Buy a spiral notebook, and use it as your catch-all system. You can then prioritise tasks and allocate them to different times, days, etc in your calendar and daily list.
b. Calendar (yearly planner, diary)
c. Daily list – this is your blueprint from the beginning to the end of the day. Check it against your priorities, 80/20s etc. Never work without a daily list, and prepare it the night before so that your subconscious can work on it while you sleep.
NB: People who work from lists are 25%more productive than those who do not. The time management matrix below is a useful template on which to build your daily list.

Always allow yourself 30% more time than you think you need for any task. Very productive people are not in a panic, but allow enough time to do the job right.

More information at:
http://myresearchspace.grs.uwa.edu.au/forums/post/260.aspx

O Phd; Where Art Thou?

2008-09-22T17:56:00.010+10:00

Today will the 60th day I'm here in Melbourne, the 54th day I started (sitting at my desk cum office) my Phd and the 23rd day of my first Ramadhan in a foreign land. As of today, there are already 6 eid open house invitations, which is an alarmingly amazing rate compared to the number of pages of my research proposal.

Which brings me to the next question? Why am I actually here?? For the past few months I have been sidelining my PhD creative thinking in order to deal with artificial matters. And the way I see it, there's no way some of the "matters" actually matter when it comes to completing this monumental task basically (most of the time) on my own.

Some people argue for the journey and experience you face while attempting it, while others opined that the end result is the upmost important. Well, when you failed to finish in time with the excellence required from you, you'll always argue along the line of the former. Let's just face it, it's not there, nada. You've failed, pullstop! And nobody wants to be in that situation.

Well everybody wants both; the experience and the success. Only a hypocrite will say otherwise. Worst, you are on borrowed time and expenses; directly and indirectly. So where do you draw the line? Time and clever maneuvering will certainly play a role. Family support is also very important, the stress of it all, managing both at the same time and trying to strike a balance. Another skill is the ability to actually "public relation" yourselves out of situations that you'd rather not be in, in the first place.

I see a long road ahead of me, with ups and downs. Knowing myself, I am not very good at keeping my thoughts to myself, which I think sometimes (most of the time back in Malaysia) gets me into a whole lot of trouble. But I am actually being truthful to myself, so why must I care what others thought of me. But then again...from past experiences, I have learnt that you must carefully choose your words and ways of communication, or else you'll caught yourself an unlikely adversary. That will be an impediment to my PhD journey, which I'd rather not encounter. I am also very bad at ignoring things, which I must learn to master, for fear of yet again dealing with things that matter the least, after all things considered.

So where is my PhD..I think the most important DECIDER is Allah swt. So I'm praying very hard that HE's on my side.

P/S: Hari ni teringin nak makan sambal udang petai...isk..isk

Seminar - Thesis Examination..Tips (PART 3)

2008-09-15T21:04:00.002+10:00

Forthcoming...

Remember:

You Are In Postgraduate Studies

Because

You Have Already Succeeded In Your Endeavours So Far.

The Victory Is In Defeating Yourself.

Wayne Bennett, Coach, Brisbane Broncos.

Uncertainty Crisis

2008-09-10T15:14:00.004+10:00

HELP! I can't pin a scope. The whole system needs a revamp. But I can't do that in 2 and 1/2 years. I read one material and saw another, and later read that one and got stuck on the design, which led me to the first material again. And knowing Malaysians' attitude towards research and (non) assisting research, I'm basically stumped, unless I come up with a design that works. I am in a loop...and my time this week is almost up!

UPDATES

2008-09-08T10:08:00.003+10:00

Well the meeting has been postponed to next Monday, 15 of September!

Phew...that gives me extra time to update the research proposal that is fast taking shape. That also means I have to complete it before the Tulip Festival Trip.

Talk about an incentive to work faster & harder...

P/S: I'll continue with my second part of the Thesis Seminar once I'm back from the festival.

Seminar - Thesis Examination..Tips (PART 2)

2008-09-02T10:54:00.020+10:00

Do Not Give Your Examiner Any Easy Excuses To Growl About Your Thesis!

Some of the excuses are:

Proofreading.

Try This Little Poem For Size:

(Found On The "Caffeine" Coffee Machine)

Spellbound

I Have A Spelling Checker,
It Came With My Pc;
It Plainly Marks Four My Revue Mistakes I Cannot Sea.
I've Run This Poem Threw It,
I'm Sure Your Pleased Too No,
Its Letter Perfect In It's Weigh,
My Checker Tolled Me Sew.
(Anon.)

Silly as it is, such rubbish is all too common and an observant examiner will "Murder" you for that. Exceptionally common mistakes are those that confuse.

The mistakes were very obvious in this case:

I Have A Spelling Checker,
It Came With My Pc;
It Plainly Marks Four My Revue (For ... Review)
Mistakes I Cannot Sea. (See)
I've Run This Poem Threw It, (Through ...)
I'm Sure Your Pleased Too No, (You're... To Know)
Its Letter Perfect In It's Weigh, (It's... Its Way)
My Checker Tolled Me Sew. (Told... So)

Overdoing Yourself

Don't try to sound clever or important! (Leave that to the Politicians).

Avoid Verbosity:

Examples -
The wider range of examples which is at present being studied will also be necessary for evaluation of the practical utility of the method." (From a Paper submitted to the Journal Of The Chemical Society)

Actually means (Something Like) - "Doing more to see if they are of any use."

Avoid Tautology:

Examples -
"... In exactly the same way as described previously..." Should merely be stated "As Before"

"... Yellow in Colour ..." Should be merely stated as "Yellow - Yellow is a colour"

".. At 4 A.M. in the morning " A.M. already meant "In The Morning" Should merely be at "4 A.M."

Basically you are required to write correctly and succinctly, employing appropriate terminology, and you should not be perceived as "Grandstanding".

Seminar - Thesis Examination..Tips (PART 1)

2008-08-28T23:04:00.027+10:00

Firstly, WHAT ARE THE EXAMINERS LOOKING FOR?

Note of course the REQUIREMENTS FOR PhDS.

Substantial and original contribution to knowledge.
Competence in the design and conduct of a project; makes a contribution to knowledge.
Appropriate methodological skills and understanding of them, including any shortcomings they may have.
Appreciate the relationship between your work and that of others in the field.
Ability to communicate clearly, concisely and authoritatively in the discipline, at a satisfactory level of literary presentation.

THESE DO NOT MEAN THAT IF YOU PAY YOUR MONEY, DO YOUR TIME DUTIFULLY, AND THAT GUARANTEE YOU WILL GET YOUR DEGREE!

SO, THESE ARE WHAT THE EXAMINERS ARE MEANT TO PERUSE IN YOUR THESIS.

Secondly, HOW DO THEY (GENERALLY) GO ABOUT IT?

There is no "right' or "wrong" way to write a thesis, but there are numerous hints that you should follow. So put yourself in the position of an examiner. You find the package in your mailbox, and open it. What would be the first features that should strike you?

The followings are important to note:

Size
General Impression

SIZE

Examiners are nominated because of their expertise in the field; or because they are generally quite familiar with the area of your research. Usually, they are also very busy people, so mostly they do not want absolutely everything explained/defined in the minutest detail. But they do appreciate new concepts/methods being described clearly. They want to see a thesis, not an encyclopaedia! So please do not exceed the word limit.

GENERAL IMPRESSION

Although first impression is not the end of the world for your thesis, a good overall general impression does help in making the examiner much more tolerant towards the whole thesis. So make sure of the following:

Is it properly bound and labeled? Not "el cheapo"! Also identifiably yours.
Are diagrams, graphs, figures, photos, etc. Properly reproduced; and clearly, adequately labeled? No hand-written scribbles!
Title page and university designation correctly formatted? Is it the work that the examiner expected to receive, or has it changed somewhere along the line?
Are the references properly gathered together and formatted according to normal practice in the field?
Does the "contents" pages accurately reflect the contents?

IT MUST BE NEAT, TIDY AND PRESENTABLE. IN OTHER WORDS A PROFESSIONAL JOB.

Next, the examiner will do A FIRST (REASONABLY) FULL READING

This will confirm or (contradict!) The first general impression he/she got from the overall thesis.

Examiner would look for:

Abstract clear and concise? (acknowledgments)
Chapters in a sensible order?
Objectives of the research clear and up front?
Methodology stated?
Results stated?
Conclusions stated?
Publications arising stated?

First Meeting - 8th September 2008

2008-08-28T21:45:00.005+10:00

Simon has set the meeting with me & Lawrie on Monday the 8th of September, at 11 am. Waaahhh...the clock is ticking. First impression might not be the end of the world, but it means almost everything at the moment. Hence, no fooling around for the next 7 days!

Lawrie might not be as understanding as Simon, or maybe he is, but that remain to be seen. Still, I don't want to look like a fool, of course. So, tick..tock..tick..tock. Here goes nothing..

Some light...

2008-08-27T17:35:00.003+10:00

Today, I went to see Dr Judith from the language department. I'm supposed to bring along my proposal, but of course 'nada'. Instead I chose to express my concerns over my overall reserach area.

Guess what..at the end of the meeting, I'm actually enlighted by some of the things she said. And I have a starting point already! UN convention. I'll go along that line till I have all the dotted lines connected.

Simon later agreed that If I wanted to do a comparative study that there should be some rationality behind it. It doesn't have to be Australia at the other end. (Wait till the sponsors hear that) At the end of the day, the issue is whether that's enough..and that is yet to be seen.

Performance Appraisal

2008-07-06T20:19:00.002+10:00

It's that time of the year, but made earlier because of my study leave...

Academic Writing Workshop

2008-07-01T16:18:00.004+10:00

Today, I'm supposed to attend a 2 and 1/2 day "Academic Writing" workshop. The contents & speaker are excellent, but my mind was not really relating to the programme. I do have less than 9 days to clear my office & settle my house for the movers.

On top of that, I do feel the urge to socialize a lot, since these few days will be my last here. Next week classes will start & I won't get to catch most of my friends for a chit chat.

But I do anticipate to write a book soon...on Introduction to Legal Research. In fact I have a manuscript already. But it needs to be updated & properly referenced. I wonder if I could do that along with my PhD. Well..you never know. Maybe I could. Have to cut down on socializing, then...duh..

EXAM QUESTION

2008-06-25T17:48:00.004+10:00

There are a lot of things I needed to do today, and setting 2 sets of exam questions is not one of those things. More so for government & politics paper. I'm leaving soon and this paper is still taunting me!

Is it really necessary for lecturers to set examination questions? Shouldn't it be left to the likes of tutor to set them? Maybe students should not sit for exams at all..but then again, some argue how do we actually assess the progress of our students. How about projects then? Hmmm.. very subjective...

Actually there's no use arguing. Simply said...I'm just so not inspired to have anything to do with examination questions right now. Maybe in the next three years, I'll feel much better about it.

PhD..Title

2008-06-22T14:32:00.003+10:00

Current status..basically blurry.

Literature review had been everywhere but still...the field is just too enormous. I can't simply put my fingers inside the literature & pick one. Well, maybe not yet...

OPTION TIME..

2008-06-22T14:03:00.005+10:00

Hari ini ada taklimat opsyen pencen. Semua pensyarah (dan staf2 lain) kena pilihlah nak kekal pada umur persaraan 56 @ nak sambung sampai 58.

Bagi aku, keputusannya adalah amat terang lagi bersuluh. Bak kata kwn2 yang lain kalau adalah opsyen 45 @ 50, pasti aku akan pilih yang terendah yang ada. Bukan malas nak kerja..kerja tetap kerja. Sampai mati pun aku akan tetap bekerja, cuma jumlah shj yang akan membezakannya. Kualiti kerja sepatutnya bertambah baik sesuai dgn pertambahan tempoh bekerja ( Sepatutnyalah...)

Aku pilih nak bersara pada umur 56, supaya aku bebas membuat perancangan masa depan aku dan keluarga tanpa terikat dgn pekerjaan rasmi. Lagipun, simpanan yg datang bersekali dgn pencen bulanan pasti memudahkan perancangan tersebut.

Pencen bagiku tak kiralah brp pun umurnya bukan bermakna pencen bekerja...tu takde pun dalam kamus istilah kehidupan ku.

The Power of PROCRASTINATION

2008-06-19T16:19:00.003+10:00

Duh... that's basically what I'm doing right now. At the end of the day, I have to choose whether I should go on like this and forget about the PhD...or take a risk (a calculated one) and just go to Melbourne regardless of what other people says.

After all if you ended up with the PhD one day, what else can they say...

A Lawyer in the Making

2005-11-16T15:17:00.002+11:00

The school-mistress was giving her class of young pupils a test in natural
history.
“Bobby Jones,” she said, “tell me where the elephant is found?” The boy hesitated a moment- then his face lit up.
“The elephant, teacher,” he said, “is such a large animal it is scarcely ever lost.”
-From the Rail.
In a case tried in Fall River before Judge Bell, Dr. George L. Walton of Boston appeared as a witness for the defence.

The Plaintiff claimed that he had been severely injured by a car leaving the rails, and that he had suffered as a result of this injury for over two years, and was still suffering.

Dr. Watson testified that he had examined the Plaintiff and that in his opinion the symptoms that the Plaintiff complained were within his own control and were not genuine.

Upon cross-examination Waldo Reed of Fall River took each symptom separately and made each into a question which ended with – “Do you believe that to be a genuine symptom doctor?” and to each question Dr. Walton said “No.”

The star question was reached and Reed’s voice trembled with emotion as he asked Dr. Walton when pressure was applied to this man’s back between his shoulder blades tears came to his eyes, “do you think this to be a genuine symptom?”
“No,” said Walton.
“Dr. Walton, can a man make tears come to his eyes without cause?”
“Hum,” said Walton, “I have seen lawyers do it in court.”
-Daily Law Journal cited in 20 Green Bag,431

The Legal Dilemma

2005-11-16T15:10:00.001+11:00

At an examination for admission to the Bar of Ohio, the examiner propounded this question:
“A great many years ago, there lived a gentleman named Lazarus who died possessed of chattels, real and personal. After this event, to whom would they go?”

The student replied, “To his administrators and heirs.”

“Well, then,” continued the examiner, “In four days he came to life again; inform us; whose were they then?”

“I am not a lawyer but I see no difficulty in the inquiry. Lazarus died and was buried. Since he died, his property, as he left no will, invested in his heirs. The law gives no man the right to die for four days and then to come to life again. Legally, Lazarus could not rise. I have no do doubt the Supreme Court would decide that Lazarus who rose was not the Lazarus who died; he was a new Lazarus. The new Lazarus would of course feel within himself that he was the old Lazarus and could go around bothering his legal friends talking about his legal wrongs; but every lawyer would leave him as quickly as possible saying in parting; “It’s a hard case; but if your heirs can prove your death and they came in legally under the statute, there is no way to make them disgorge. All you can do is this- you’re a young fellow, about sixty, hire about as a clerk, try to save something from your salary so as to go into business again. Building up a great estate and perhaps your heirs will recognize your identity."

-Gleanings.

Lawyer: A True Story

2005-11-13T20:09:00.001+11:00

Why Lawyers should never ask a witness a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.....
In a trial, a small town prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand.
The witness was a grand motherly, elderly woman.

He approached her and asked, "Mrs.Xavier, do you know me?"

She responded, "Why, yes I do know you, Mr. Cage. I've known you since you were a young boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you."

The Lawyer was stunned.
Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked,"Mrs. Xavier, do you know the defense attorney?"

She again replied, "Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Lucas since his youth, too. He's lazy and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women, one of them was your wife. Yes, I know him."

The defense attorney almost died.
The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench, and in a very quiet voice, said, "If either of you guys asks her if she knows me, I'll throw you in jail for contempt." ........