Roystance's Point Of View

Rajah Brooke, is an important name in the history of Sarawak. The name dwells in the mind of the people in the land of the hornbill every time the histories of Sarawak are being remembered. This also proved the significant of the white rajah character in the development of Sarawak.

Based on the history, he arrived in Kuching in August to find the settlement facing a Bidayuh uprising against the Sultan of Brunei. Offering his aid to the Sultan, he and his crew helped bring about a peaceful settlement. Having threatened the Sultan with military force, he was granted the title of Raja of Sarawak on 24 September 1841. After that, Brooke began to establish and cement his rule over Sarawak: reforming the administration, codifying laws and fighting piracy, which proved to be an ongoing issue throughout his rule. However, during his rule, Brooke faced threats from Sarawak warriors like Sharif Masahor and Rentap, but remained in power.
He ruled Sarawak until his death in 1868. His nephew Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke became Rajah after his death; he was succeeded on his death in 1917 by his son, Charles Vyner Brooke. Their territory was greatly expanded over the coming years. The Brooke dynasty ruled Sarawak for a hundred years and the Brooke family was intent on a policy of paternalism to protect the indigenous population against exploitation. This was proved when they governed with the aid of the Muslim Malay and enlisted the Ibans and other "Dayak" as a contingent militia. They also encouraged the immigration of Chinese merchants but forbade the Chinese to settle outside of towns in order to minimize the impact on the Dayak way of life.
During the period of their ruling, many things change including the academic aspect and the religion. During the reign of the white rajah, they also bring indirectly their religion along with them (Christian). As you can see, James Brooke invited a party of missionaries and the team was led by a person named Francis Thomas Francis McDougall. The main purpose of the invitation was to establish an Anglican church and fortunately, Francis McDougall was more than suitable for the job because besides being a priest, he was also a doctor. The Rajah gave the missionaries a piece of land on which to build their base. An allocation was made for a church which was to serve as pro-cathedral for many years. The stories does not ended here, in fact a school which named St. Thomas’ and St. Mary’s are built and this speedily won McDougall the affection and trust of the Native people who lived nearby. Nowadays, the schools are still called by the name of St. Thomas and St. Mary. The fact about being the oldest school in Sarawak is true and indirectly, this is what a Thomian can be proud of. Not long after the establish of St. Thomas school, another school was built and it was named St. Joseph. Both of the schools are good achievers in their academic and co-curriculum.

The other purpose that drove me to write this is to talk about the so called rivalry among the two schools. In fact, before I enter SMK St. Thomas, I already thought about it and I am curious about the root for the rivalry issue. However, the curiosity only became a mind playing issue because during my studying years in St. Thomas, many things need to be accomplish and these leads me to a busy life.
Years passed, and without noticing, now I’m in the University and the experience of becoming a thomian gives me the best memories in my whole life. In fact, the question about the root of the so-called rivalries is answered during my second semester in the University. I was in the library doing a research for my history assignment and I Stumbled upon a book which was written by an author from Kuching and now she is staying abroad with her families, and because of her love for Kuching, she wrote the book which contains history of Kuching. However, I am really sorry because I can’t remember the name of the author and neither the book title. I will tell you guys if I found the book in the library. According to the author, the rivalry between the two schools happens since the old days. She stated that it started because during the old days, there are rumors that claim about the student of St. Thomas are easier to get a job in the government sector. This rumor sparks a rivalry between the relationships of the two schools. Due to the rumor, the two schools usually competes each other in every aspect. At last, my question is answered. However, we must know that despite the rivalry issue, these two schools always help each other when ever there are things that required to be done together.
For your information, I wrote this article not to offend any sides but I just want to share what I discover to all of you out there. =)

Fran Merida, from the same Barcelona production line as Cesc Fabregas, helped Arsenal to defeat Liverpool during the carling cup match when he gave a super shot into the top right corner of Diego Cavalieri's net from outside the box for his first strike for the Gunners. The 19-year-old had been set up for the goal by Eastmond, the pair recreating their feats for Arsenal's youth team. The game also proven that the faith of Arsene Wenger towards his young guns is worth it and this is how Arsenal differentiate its strategy than any other clubs. From veteran players like titi, pires, Vieira, ljungberg, it seems that Arsene Wenger is now focusing more on developing extraordinary youngster in order to have a long term winning campaign. A very brilliant plan from the professor.

Do you think the advertising of Fair & Lovely demeaning to women, or is it promoting the fairness cream in a way not too dissimilar from how most cosmetics are promoted?What do you think of this question?I would like to share my view about it.
Firstly, let’s look at how Fair & Lovely promote its product. Its advertisement storyline created its very own agenda. We knew that the motives of the advertisement is to convince the consumer that if they use the product, they will be more accepted in the society and the result will also affected their relationship and career status. So, now lets answer the question which is ‘Is the advertising of Fair & Lovely demeaning to women, or is it promoting the fairness cream in a way not too dissimilar from how most cosmetics are promoted?’. In my opinion, my answer is ‘yes’.
I can strongly assume that Fair & Lovely didn’t aware about the storyline of its advertisement. For sure they are trying to create an advertisement which could vary themselves from their competitors but somehow they neglected the effect towards the women. One of the advertisements portrayed a helpless dark-skinned daughter which demoralized because she can’t bear the financial responsibility of her family, but after using Fair & Lovely’s cream, plain jane transformed into a gorgeous light-skinned women and in instant she got a good job and even can take her father to dine at a five star hotel.
I do think that the advertisement of Fair & Lovely demeaning to women but in country like India, it also raise issues on caste, race, and skin color. For the women which watch the advertisement, I can guarantee that their self confidence will shattered and they will doubt about their current social influence with their current look. Besides that, the advertisement also created a mindset which makes people think that appearance is more important than ability. Women do need to look after their appearance but we cant forget the inner self which contain ability, and spirit. Without ability, no one is useful, as if they are an empty can of Soda. Therefore, the advertisement is quite negative, since it supposed that the main qualification for women to get a job is the way she looks but not the capability within herself.

In my point of view, for Coke and Pepsi, it is a good move to participate in a condom distribution program in India, Brazil, and the United States. I dare to say this because by helping to promote the use of condom for sexual intercourse could help to prevent AIDS to spread widely and this method will of course get an attention from the world authority and organization. Indirectly, it could raise the social rank of both of the company from its competitors and of course the news will spread around the globe.

That is only the beginning. After that, when everyone has recognized the goodwill of coke and Pepsi, surely people will start to focus on their product which we all knew and that is, soft drinks. People will buy their product and this will increase the income and revenue of Coke and Pepsi. Besides that, the governments of the three countries will most probably recognized coke and Pepsi for their effort and maybe they will be given something in return such as an award for them in the country. When this happened, this is a proof that they have established their brand product, therefore it will increase the popularity and they could reduce their spending cost on publicity. Besides that, all business organization must not forget about their responsibility to the society. They also need to give back, and only take or receive from the society.

However, any actions to market condoms and associated changes in social behavior will require the most careful research in each country and in each market segment within the countries. So, before coke and Pepsi go on with the plan, they must conduct a detail research together with the governments, health institutions, and for-profit companies. This is to prevent them from doing things which is not according to the standard required by the ministry. This blatant error could only be avoided by doing enough research and it could also prevent Coke and Pepsi from having losses.

So, as a conclusion, I think it would be a good idea for coke and Pepsi to participate in a condom distribution program in India, Brazil, and the United States.