And why didn't the reporter highlight the fact that the PRC who was kicked out by NUS did not kena sue by MOE while the Sporean NSman, who did not do so well but still passed his exams, is required to pay damages to PeeAssA? WHY ARE SPOREANS, HAVING TO SERVE NS, ARE BEING TREATED LIKE DIRT-CLASS CITIZENS IN THEIR ONW COUNTRY? WHY ARE FOREIGN TRASH TREATED LIKE KINGS AND QUEENS? WHAT THE FARK IS HAPPENING? WHY ARE SPOREANS STILL TOLERATING SUCH GROSS BETRAYAL BY THEIR GOVT? ======
Coffee Shop Talk - NUS fark up, so is this China Student! Subscribe
From: MIW are Leechers! (sgsamster) 29-Dec 23:55
To: ALL 1 of 1
89322.1
It's not a tale of 2 cities, but a tale of 2 fools (one CHinese, the other MOE/NUS) for wasting tax payers monies. The Electric New Paper :
Former scholar turns campus vagabond
China student kicked out of NUS for failing exams. BUt he's desperate to stay
ZHANG Wei loved the lifestyle in Singapore.
By Ng Tze Yong
30 December 2005 ZHANG Wei loved the lifestyle in Singapore. So much so that he refused to return to China after being kicked out of the National University of Singapore. For 11 months, the scholar roamed the university campus in Kent Ridge, living the life of a vagabond. He slept in the open and no one seemed the wiser as to what he was up to. Campus security said they were not aware of his movements 'as there are always students around at all times of the day and night'. Two of his friends claimed they had no clue either of his vagabond life. Zhang, 21, even had the cheek to break into a computer laboratory to chat with his friends online. He was eventually caught and sentenced to three months' jail last Tuesday. His 'holiday' had ended and so too his dreams of getting a university education here. Four years ago, his future looked bright. Leaving his hometown in China's Hebei province, Zhang came here to study computing at NUS. He had won a scholarship from Singapore's Ministry of Education (MOE). But instead of spreading his wings, Zhang came crashing down. Though he had passed a bridging course, he failed three modules in his first year. In April 2004, he was informed that MOE was cancelling his scholarship due to his unsatisfactory results. Zhang started his third semester with his parents' money. Then, last December, after he failed another module, he was asked by NUS to leave the computing degree course. But Zhang was desperate to remain in Singapore. He told friends he liked the lifestyle here and also harboured hopes of resuming school. After vacating his hostel room at King Edward VII Hall, Zhang decided to wait till last month to appeal for readmission into NUS. But he had no money. So Zhang the scholar transformed into Zhang the campus vagabond. He stayed on the NUS grounds, sleeping in the public areas. At midnight on 27 Oct this year, in the darkness of an NUS computer laboratory, Zhang sat hunched in front of a computer screen, typing away. Occasionally, the clattering of his typing was broken by the chimes of new dialogue boxes springing up on his screen. The computer laboratory was closed. But Zhang had sneaked in illegally in order to chat with his friends online. Alone in a strange land, Zhang longed for his friends. He could bear his loneliness no longer. So that night, he sneaked into the computer laboratory at the NUS School of Design and Environment. KEPT MATRIC CARD Zhang had kept his matriculation card, which allowed him access to certain restricted rooms and facilities, although he was supposed to return it to NUS. Due to a computer glitch, his computer account was also left open. As the NUS computers were not installed with the required software, Zhang secretly reinstalled the Windows XP operating system, created a local user-ID for himself and assigned himself local administrator rights. Then he installed the online chat programs MSN Messenger 7.5 and IRC X-Chat. On Tuesday, Zhang, a tall, well-built man with thick hair, found himself in court. He was sentenced to three months in prison on two charges under the Computer Misuse Act. In his mitigation, Zhang said he wished to return to China soon and continue his studies. A friend from his residence hall remembers him as a 'reserved and soft-spoken person'. 'He did not take part in many hall activities. We seldom saw him around,' said Mr F S Song, also from China. While Zhang's case is an extreme example, it highlights some problems China students face in Singapore. Several The New Paper spoke to said they sometimes find it hard to get along with locals. Singaporean Derrick Phong, 23, remembers with a smile how he once scolded a university friend from China for walking around his hostel's common corridor in his underwear. 'Not every Chinese student is like that, but that incident shows how we sometimes find it difficult to live together,' the history undergraduate said. He estimates that out of every 10 Chinese students at NUS, seven find it hard to fit in. The reasons are many, but language tops the list. 'Singaporeans talk so fast and they speak in Singlish. We find it difficult to understand them,' said Mr W Y Du, a computing undergraduate from Shandong province in China. The 21-year-old also said that although Singaporeans are predominantly Chinese, they are much more Westernised. 'We find it hard to find topics to talk about with Singaporeans,' he said. As a result, many Chinese students end up staying in their own tight social circles. PSA sues for refund after scholar fails WHEN Singaporean Chong Kwong Ki started his computer engineering course at NUS five years ago, he had the world at his feet. A good student from a top junior college, Mr Chong was studying on a scholarship by PSA Corp. He had a career with a world-class container transshipment centre waiting for him after graduation. But two years ago, in the last semester of a four year course, his scholarship was terminated, reported The New Paper on 8 Dec. Mr Chong had failed three previous exams. As he was deemed to have violated the scholarship contract by failing his exams, PSA demanded a refund of the money, including tuition fees and book allowances, plus interest. That came to nearly $63,000. Mr Chong refused. PSA sued. FIRST CASE It was the first reported case in at least 10 years of such a dispute between a scholar and a sponsor organisation going all the way to the High Court. Last month, the High Court upheld a District Court ruling in favour of PSA and ordered the return of the scholarship money. Mr Chong, now a software engineer, faces a debt of over $50,000, plus a hefty legal bill.
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