So, in Malaysia, the government is in power. It gets to make the calls. It gets to implement the Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960. This is a preventive detention law that empowers the Home Minister to order detention on anyone who has posed a threat to the national security, maintenance of essential services, and economic life. The origin of the law dates back to 1948 where the emergency laws were created to combat the Malaysian Communist Party. However, once the communist influence ended, the law stayed back and was vested within Article 149 of the Malaysian Constitution. Once detained, the detainee will be subjected to 60 days without any form of communication to the outside world. After the 60 days are up, the detainee may be released or detained yet again for a period of two years in the Kamunting Detention Centre. This time; however, family members are allowed to visit. Besides the denial of legal justice, the detainee will be subjected to torture which includes lengthy hours of interrogation and physical assaults. The two year term so to say can be renewed.

Democracy means the rule of the people. It is almost always executed by elected leaders. But when there is a discrepancy, people should be allowed to voice their stand. If this freedom of expression is infringed upon, then there is no democracy. The right to speak out is under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If you are a Malaysian, you will be terrified to say anything on religion, race, the Agong, and the special privileges for fear of being locked up and stowed away even if the problem were to be any one of these aspects. As I write this post, I am also careful not to say anything ignorant that might be misconstrued. The law was clearly enacted to keep peace within the nation but quieting people down can be disastrous. Disappointment and frustration are two major ingredients for unrest and tension. Hamas was born because they lost faith in the ruling party; Fatah’s fight against Israeli occupation. Sometimes, silent people may be more dangerous than buffoons who can’t stop talking. No terrorist organization was formed because a guy went up on stage and declared his dream of becoming a terrorist. It is done in silence. Suddenly, a volcano erupts and destroys everything in its path. Isn’t it better for the government to know what people think than being left to guess?

"Open source poses a threat to proprietary software"

Open source

Open source software has been rapidly evolving for the past few years, and has now finally reached the point where it actually poses a threat to established proprietary software. Not too many years ago open source was, in a way, known as a rebel movement in which only the elites took part. Nowadays, open source plays a large role in any computer community. Many mainstream applications today are open source, for example Firefox, Chrome, Audacity and VLC. The best of it is that most open source software is cross-platform, meaning that they will run equally well on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux. Linux, the open source family of operating systems, has also established itself as a viable desktop OS for end-users which is fast, stable, eye-catching, and most of all, free. The large selection of Linux distributions now mean that there is a suitable choice for all users ranging from the beginner to the programmer or multimedia professional. And, for the skeptical gamer, there is also a wide range of open source 3D games of all genres running on the powerful OpenGL rendering engine.

2009’s worst

"the Conficker worm hit 8.9mil computers in 2 weeks"

Security

With all the advances in computer technology, it is most unfortunate that security is still the worst aspect in computing. At about 30 years into the personal computer era, computer viruses and worms are still as rampant as ever, with their resilience being compared to that of the common cold. The widespread popularity of email and instant messaging has given rise to new breeds of cyber criminals with frauds, scams, and electronic spying. The worst outbreak in 2009 was that of the Conficker worm, also known as Downadup. 8.9 million computers were infected in the first two weeks of 2009 alone, and the worm is still constantly evolving. Clearly security has not been improving as much as the rest of the industry, and much has to be done to make the digital world secure, if possible.

Some of the best:

Lady Gaga’s shot to stardom

Whatever people may think of her, Stefani Joanne Germanotta undoubtedly breathed new life into the music scene with her funky songs and eccentric music videos complete with out-of-the-world outfits and unusual dance moves. Despite all the naysayers, Gaga has proven herself to be able to hold her ground, claiming awards for her singles such as Love Game and her album, The Fame. This lady with the poker face sure is not going anywhere for a while.

Black Eyed Pea’s domination

Admit it, most of us have, at one point or another, had at least one BEP song stuck in our heads. In 2009, the band rocked the scene hard with hit party tunes Boom Boom Pow and I Gotta Feeling. They broke the record previously held by Usher in 2004 for spending the most number of consecutive weeks (26 weeks in total for both aforementioned singles) occupying the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

Britain apparently really has got talent...

Susan Boyle’s sudden fame

When 48-year-old Susan Boyle appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, the judges were sceptical and the audience was dismissive of her. After all, she seemed like another one of those hopefuls whose dreams get crushed because they do not have any talent to flaunt in the first place. But she proved everyone wrong when she took the world by storm with her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream. Her compelling performance earned her overnight success and fame that eventually led to a record signing and a breakthrough in the music industry.

Taylor Swift’s booming success

If there is anyone who practically owned 2009 in the music world, it is Taylor Swift. Her debut album, Fearless, sold 217,000 copies in the first day of sales. A sweet, good girl image coupled with songs made up of pre-teen and teenage frustrations, growing pains, and puppy loves earned Taylor a spot in many fans’ hearts.

And some of the worst:

Michael Jackson’s passing

On June 25, the world mourned the loss of the King of Pop who was pronounced dead due to an alleged overdose of Propofol. A wave of shock and disbelief coursed through the music industry as celebrities and fans alike learned that the music legend had passed. Despite all the controversies surrounding his death, it was evident how well-loved Michael was among people from all over the world as messages and videos dedicated to him began flooding the media. RIP MJ, you’ll always be remembered for your talents and especially your ability to reach out, inspire, and love.

Kanye West’s public lash out

Oh, who can forget about Kanye stealing the spotlight from Taylor Swift as she accepted her award for Best Female Video at the Video Music Awards (VMAs)? Kanye was adamant that Beyoncé deserved the award more, thus successfully rendering Taylor speechless and Beyoncé embarrassed, and leaving the rest of us with raised eyebrows, wondering when this man will stop earning himself more criticism.

Threw "passionate and daring" performances

Adam Lambert’s challenge to boundaries

The eyeliner-wearing, leather-clad Adam came in as a strong opponent against the guitar-slinging boy-next-door Kris Allen in the eighth season of American Idol. Despite coming in second to Kris, Adam proved himself to be a great entertainer as he wowed audiences again and again with his passionate and daring performances but he pushed the envelope a bit too much in the American Music Awards (AMAs), where he shocked and offended audiences with his scandalously inappropriate performance of For Your Entertainment.

Chris Brown’s dark side revealed

When news got out that Chris had physically abused Rihanna, most people rushed to defend Rihanna while criticizing Chris, causing a media frenzy. Throughout the ordeal, Chris had to face a decline in his reputation as an artiste while trying to right his wrongs. Regardless, he took it like a man and faced the music while Rihanna saw soaring sales as she released Rated R to expose a raw side of herself to her fans.

New format, same content!

The Editorial Board is proud to announce that the Orion is now available for download on INTIONLINE.

The version uploaded on INTI’s CITS run webpage is a scanned copy of the printed version of the Orion. This is just one of the ways the Editorial Board intends to go GREEN while still reaching out to our beloved readers!

Head over to INTIONLINE’s announcement section and download the PDF file today!

Out of the many films of the year, the best and most memorable ones are, in no particular order:

"The must watch movie of 2009"

1. Avatar:

THE must watch movie everyone is talking about. It really does live up to the hype, with breathtaking scenery and CGI effects, a touching storyline, and a good cast. Watching the movie made me feel like going over to Pandora and living with the natives for life. How can anyone resist floating mountains and flying jellyfish?

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:

Combining fantasy, teenage romance, and morality issues together into one engaging film, this is by far the best Harry Potter movie. The conflicts faced by Draco Malfoy and Professor Slughorn were depicted perfectly, allowing us to feel the anguish and uncertainty they were experiencing. The movie doesn’t lose touch of its magical feel though. Loved it!

3. Up:

Pixar does it again. This is another great movie that is funny yet sad. The animation’s great, but most importantly, the story of an old man’s realization of his childhood dream touched millions of hearts. Lesson learnt? Don’t put off your dreams until it’s too late, but better late than never.

4. Zombieland:

Laugh-out-loud zombie movie. Listing out the numbered rules, the main character tells us how he survives in a world infested by zombies. Amidst all that gore and blood, he manages to find true friends and love, all in a very comical manner. The movie manages to turn scenes of vicious attacking zombies into hilarious moments.  Thumbs up!

Okay, the list of best movies can go on and on, including films like “Sherlock Holmes”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons”, “Bedtime Stories”, “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen”, and “17 Again”. However, moving on to the worst movies of the year:

"Abs were the movie's main attraction"

1. New Moon:

When a movie’s main attraction is some guy’s abs, you know there’s something wrong. Taylor Lautner may have an amazing body, but it still can’t save this movie from being a waste of time. Sorry to the legions of (largely female) fans out there, but the plot can basically be summarized into 20 minutes and that whole thing about sparkling vampires is just ridiculous. Only redeeming part is the Volturi scene with Dakota Fanning acting as a wickedly evil vampire.

2. I Love You, Beth Cooper:

Pointless movie about a nerd’s best night with a cheerleader. Enough that the characters are dumb, the whole storyline is completely devoid of any winning points. Can’t believe I wasted RM7 for this.

3. He’s Just Not That Into You:

I don’t even remember what this movie is about. All I know is a bunch of women having relationship problems, which sounded nice on paper but turned out to be super boring on screen. Two hours of crying, complaining and silent fuming did not give me a good time.

4.  District 9:

Even though this was applauded by many critics, frankly it just gave me a headache. I get that it’s very meaningful and everything, but they don’t have to make it so painful to watch. I guess it’s just not my kind of movie.

I didn’t watch that many bad movies, but from what I heard, “Jennifer’s Body”, “Treasure Hunter”, and some others also belong to the movie junkyard of 2009. Hope that this year will be filled with more good movies!

Manchester City – the richest club in the world – is fast becoming the biggest joke in town. Fresh from being rejected by Kaka, they turned their attention to Chelsea’s Didier Drogba. But that turned out to be pure speculation. Nevertheless, they managed to get their men; Shay Given for £8 million, Nigel De Jong for £19 million, Wayne Bridge for an undisclosed fee and Craig Bellamy for £14 million. Of all, the biggest joke was when they paid over the top to Hamburg for Nigel De Jong, a player the Germans signed for only £2.3 mil a few months back!!

Manchester City was condemned to their sixth away defeat of the season by Stoke City despite having a host of new signing to their side proving that they were unable to live up to the expectations of many. The hype surrounding all the new players that Mark Hughes brought in was almost close to negligible. Neither of the new signings was able to leave an immediate impact on the English game.

Another 1-0 victory against Middlesbrough showed that new signings were not portraying any sign of adapting to the physical of the English game just yet. This could have been the indication that Mark Hughes should not continue with his intention of purchasing expensive foreign players. Expensive players do not necessarily guarantee success.

Perhaps Hughes should in fact turn to his ex-gaffer for advice on how to transform the current status of the Manchester team from a mid-table one to a possible real tittle contender in the near future.

Millions of dollars have been invested by Sheikh Mansour into the club but the results are definitely not reflective of this. A couple of years back, when Chelsea was bought over by Roman Abramovich, the whole team had revolutionized rapidly under the tenure of Jose Mourinho who led the Blues to two Premier League tittles and a FA Cup. However, Manchester City has not fallen short of glory. The league has become more competitive and the pace of the game has significantly improved through the championship seasons.

Hence, success for football clubs does not rely merely on the amount of cash spent but on the acute leadership of the club’s manager and attitude of the whole team as a whole. Manchester City would not be able to win titles if they keep spending exorbitantly on players frequently. Such measures would only lead to adverse effects on the world of football and the financial prospect of the sport. It is no doubt absurd to sign a player for more than £100 million. It is not far-fetched to say that such an act would be considered outrageous.

A player’s morale would be hit hard if another player gets better payment just because of his fame. The world of football would be divided and we all know that unity is one of the key components in the strategy for a successful game. The true meaning of football will be obscured as more and more rich tycoons view the football arena as a playground for their ‘little investment’ game.

The financial credit crunch took its toll on several clubs, notably, West Ham United. Their Icelander owners suffered millions of loses which indirectly resulted in the sale of central players to retain some cash in order to ensure survival in such a critical economic nosedive. Therefore, it is paramount that a limit is set to prevent investors from turning the league into toys of their own so that the people get ‘real’ football not just a manipulated sport of sorts.

The great event proceeded with the speeches given by CEO of INTI University College Mr. Goh, who emphasized the value of enjoyment while studying in college, especially by joining events like the Orientation Night; followed by 13th INTIMA President Yuvaroshine Nathan, who congratulated the Social Board for living up to the motto of the 13th INTIMA “Unity in Diversity” and Organizing Chairperson Dixon Siow, who thanked everyone in a number of languages. Souvenirs were then given by the Organizing Chairperson to the guests of honor as a token of appreciation.

Aptly named ‘Rhythm of the Cultures’, Orientation Night started to the soulful drum beats of the Indian drums followed by the Chinese solar drums and subsequently an eclectic combination of both cultures and rhythms.

As the curtain was drawn open, the models donning Indian traditional costumes were cheered by the high-spirited crowd with continuous waves of screaming. The models vying for the coveted spot of the next Mr. INTI and Ms. INTI, strutted down the walkway confidently. The stage was literally transformed into a scene from a Bollywood movie when the models of opposite sexes paired up as couples. The enthusiastic audience was clicked away with their cameras of all sorts. It was literally a fashion show! Contestants were clearly all out to woo the hearts of the audience and the judges.

The catwalk sessions of the models were interspersed with cultural performances by various clubs in INTI University College. Students were treated to multifarious performances of various cultures: the mystical music performed by the Indian Cultural Society, Erhu performance, spirited performances by IMPAC, Babyforce, Capital F Band and Dance Academy Club (DAC), guitar and harmonica performance by Daymlen, Harmonica duet, choir, popping by motion ED, and singing performance by students Low Ping and Lim Chia Hong, and even a magic show performance by “The I’s”.

During the second catwalk, the contestants donned African themed costumes and were greeted by screams from a jovial crowd. The contestant’s unique individual tastes were fully revealed when the they cat walked in their handpicked clothes, in the third catwalk session.

Next, came the Question and Answer session where the contestant’s responsiveness was put to the test through challenging queries posed to them by the emcees. Among the questions asked were: “How do you see today’s modeling industry?”, “Why did you decide to be a part of the Orientation Night”, “What do you think is the ideal body size?”, “Why did you choose INTI?”

The top 6 finalists who made it to the final round were then announced.
The male finalists’ talent show promptly followed. Johan bin Sulaiman (M3) gave a rendition of “Mungkin Nanti” by Peterpan. M4 entertained the crowd to his amusing singing, whereas M5 left the crowd in awe for belting out 4 tunes in 4 different languages: Tamil, Malay, Chinese and English.

The female finalists proved themselves that night to be no less impressive and expressive than their male counterparts. Precious Lesetedi (F3) touched the hearts of the audiences when she dedicated an inspiring poem to the refugees of war-ravaged countries throughout the world, entitled “Peace for pieces”. Vivian (F4) demonstrated her mastery in Yoga postures. Last but not least, audiences were treated to Kang Run Zhi’s (F5) sizzling and dazzling belly dancing.

After the contestants had their final round of catwalk in hip-hop themed clothes, final results were announced, with various honors, awards and prizes given out to the winners. Former Mr. INTI and Ms. INTI handed over the reign to the newly crowned Mr. INTI and Ms. INTI.

Orientation Night came to a close at about 12 AM with fervent fans and supporters of the winners dancing away jubilantly in celebration of their heroes and heroines’ victory. What an awesome night!

Final results of the night:
Mr. INTI: Wendy (M4)
Ms. INTI: Precious Lesetedi (F3)
Mr. Photogenic: Thamesh (M1)
Ms. Photogenic: Kang Run Zhi (F5)
Mr. Congeniality: Thamesh (M1)
Ms. Congeniality: Precious Lesetedi (F3)
Mr. Talent: Wendy (M4)
Ms. Talent: Precious (F3)

If you are a wrestling fan, be it a proud one or a closet one, you will love The Wrestler. Some may think – why watch a movie about a fake sport to begin with? Well, you will be surprised about this one.
The Wrestler tells a story of a down and out wrestler, who is trying to find his way in life. The story shies away from the glamour of sports entertainment and is instead focused on how wrestler Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, played by Mickey Rourke, gets by everyday through earning minimum wages and doing something he loves – wrestling.

In the first scene itself, the movie shows the hardships a wrestler has to go through as Randy comes back home after a house show (wrestling event) to find out that his trailer is being locked by the tenant because of overdue rent.
He has to juggle working at a supermarket during weekdays and wrestling during weekends with just barely to get by.
The story hits a turning point when Randy suffers a heart attack and has to retire from wrestling.

After a heart bypass, Randy realizes that he is all alone with neither family nor friends except for a stripper named Cassidy played by Marisa Tomei. He tries to patch things up with his 20 something daughter, whom he left behind when she was younger. However, trying as he did, he kept repeating the same mistakes and failed to connect with her.

All the heartbreaks of everyday life takes its toll on Randy until he snaps and quits his job at the supermarket and decides to return to the ring for one last match.

Cassidy tries to stop Randy from fighting his final match due to his feeble heart condition but he simply answers her, “Out there, everyone hurts me, here is where I belong”.

Randy wrestles his arch-nemesis; Ayotollah for his finale match using his signature move. The movie basically illustrates the challenges that a wrestler has to go through. Many people may think that the movie is a sham, but it truly shows how professional the wrestlers are. Behind the antagonistic persona, wrestlers do in fact look out for each other.

I really feel for Randy as he tries to make amends for his past mistakes but to no avail. It shows how professional wrestling ought to be. The movie’s success is largely due to Rourke’s performance and it somewhat did the professional wrestling industry some form of justice.

The big guys are given a fair and balanced portrayal for a change. At the end of the day, who does not love a heartwarming movie about a guy working things out in life? Even if it involves huge sweaty guys beating the living day lights out of each other?

Check out The Wrestler in cinemas soon.

Law is more than just a legal set of rules, it is the very foundation that society rests on, the embodiment of the human conscience and as such it can be easily said that all laws affect college students because all laws affect all men. Obviously though some laws affect college students more than others, with the passing of the Universities and University College Act in 1971 which delegated the authority to all bodies of higher learning to create and enforce their rules, mere school rules transformed into a much more binding set of rules recognizable by law. There was a lot of opposition to the passing of this law and rightly so, it took away a huge chunk of the basic human rights for college students which was:
• the right to a fair trial,
• the right to form associations,
• the freedom of speech and,
• the right to be judged by their peers.

The constitutional right to an education doesn’t play a huge part as it may seem to at a first glance, powerful words but not much of a meaning behind it, not to a college student in any case. The right to an education largely concerns a basic primary education but on a constitutional sense perhaps the greatest right that affects a college student is his/her right to the freedom of expression, Article number 10 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia states that:
a. every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression
b. all citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms
c. all citizens have the right to form association

However an additional clause, “(3) Restrictions on the right to form associations conferred by paragraph (c) of clause (1) may also be imposed by any law relating to labour or education,” causes the entire article to disintegrate, once again the Universities and University College Act of 1971 comes in to play which states in Article 15 that students have no right to associate with either a political party or a trade union thus effectively cancelling the right to form an association. The said act also gives the head authority of the University or University College the arbitrary power to fine students as well as impose any other punishment deemed fit by them generally without a trial. So if you don’t see me for a while, you’ll know what happened.

What it is:

INTIMA (meaning ‘essence’ in Latin) is the official student government in INTI University College that bridges the student body and management in the institution.
What it does:
• Protects and promotes students’ welfare, rights, and privileges
• Helps students be heard.
• Connects students and the management of INTI University College
• Encourages interaction between students from all programmes and promotes students’ interests and activities.
• Organizes and coordinates activities of all Affiliates (all students’ clubs or societies and boards in INTI University College) and ensures that conflicts of interests do not occur among the Affiliates.

How it works:

• INTIMA connects with students through INTIOnline and student forums which are open to all students to voice out their opinions and suggestions.
• The executive committee members meet every week to bring up issues such as office functions and to discuss upcoming events held by clubs.
• INTIMA executive committee members meet the management every semester to discuss current issues brought up by students.
A more personal take on INTIMA by Yuvaroshine, President of the 13th INTIMA:
General feedback from students:
• Better Internet connection.
• More frequent bus trips to INTI College Subang Jaya.
Challenges of being in INTIMA:
• Juggling responsibilities as executive committee member and student.
• Reaching compromises to satisfy students while serving as a channel to the management.
• Having the commitment and discipline to carry out responsibilities.
Interested in becoming a part of INTIMA?
• Drop by the INTIMA office (beside Student Affairs Office) and speak to the executive committee members.
• Participate in Service Cell (subcommittee of INTIMA) to learn more about INTIMA and how it works.
• Join the committee and just tag along to get a feel of what they do!