Home Blog Page 1363

Surviving your first year

By
EIC
-
1

 

Photo by Mark Burnham

By Pearl Tanna
“Expect the worst and hope for the best” — this is my mantra regarding school. In my first year, however, I was out to make a new name for myself and prove that I could make it. I quickly learned that this is easier said than done. I didn’t really have anyone around that could help me wrap my mind around the immense changes of leaving high school and entering university. The only advice that I got was from a perky PhD student who told me that I needed to take five classes each semester in order to graduate on time (this is by far the worst thing to do in your very first year of university).

Follow this advice and you’ll breeze through your first year. Remember, learning from your own mistakes makes you smart, but learning from other people’s mistakes makes you brilliant!

Academic Advice

University courses are vastly different from high school subjects. First of all, you get to pick your courses and professors. This is both a blessing and a curse. In their first year, students often take either a schedule full of hard courses, or they sign up for all the slack courses, and neither one will really help you that much. You need to find a happy medium. Don’t expect to take all the first- year sciences and get away with the A+ that you’re used to. First year is designed to weed out all of the students who cannot deal with the stress, so relax.

It’s good to take classes outside your intended major; after all, this is the time to explore your interests. However, taking classes solely because you’ve heard they’re easy is just a waste of time and money. Do not take five courses if you can’t handle the workload. It’s fine to withdraw from courses if you do it by the deadline. Dropping out is nothing to be embarrassed about, especially if you’ve got a part-time job and other responsibilities. Instead, take a maximum of four courses for the first semester. Know your limit, and don’t try and push yourself past it. It will only cause you stress and will actually be counter-productive to your GPA.

Picking teachers randomly can also be risky. Use student sites, such as Rate My Professor, to find the teacher that best suits your learning style. That said, ratings aren’t the be-all, end-all. Use them as a guide, so that at least you know what you’re in for. I didn’t find out about this website until my third year, and it would have saved me from some seriously monotonic lectures that did nothing for my mind except put it to sleep.

If you thrive on competition, join a study group. This way, you make friends, you stay on top of your studying, and you have a safety net of people who will help you with the stuff you don’t get.

To save some cash, buy used textbooks. You can find these online (Craigslist, Facebook, Books2go, or Amazon), ads posted around the school, and in your school library. Use the bookstore as a last resort. School fees will keep on piling, so this is an easy way to save some money.

A lot of first years tend to pull all-nighters, cramming as much knowledge into brains as is humanly possible, and surviving on greasy foods. Big mistake. At the time, it doesn’t seem that bad to stay up all night, but it’s really a bad pattern to fall into. A few years down the road, it’s going to be hell, because you never learned to successfully manage your time, and staying up all night is no longer an option. I am completely guilty of all-nighters, but they left me feeling physically sick and mentally drained. It is the worst condition to be in when writing an exam. I ended up drinking and eating as much coffee and sugary foods as I could just before the exam to stay awake. Trust me, your grades will be higher if you manage your time well. A habit that many university students fall into is drinking excessive and unhealthy amounts of coffee at all hours. Consider subbing in tea, (a good choice is Yerba Mate, known for its lack of caffeine and abundance of matteine) for a healthier choice.

When it comes to studying, time is of the essence. Don’t try to read through all the content the night before an exam. You won’t get anything out of it and will waste what could have been valuable study time.

The SFU campus has a great fitness center, which is included in your student fees, so make good use of it. Exercise has shown to lead to higher grades by reducing stress, not to mention that you’ll feel more energized and confident. Know yourself: if you know you have really bad concentration at 8:30 a.m., either don’t schedule morning classes, or sit in the front, where you won’t be able to doze off. If you’re a completely forgetful person, like myself, pack your bag the night before so you have everything you need for the next day.

Carrying heavy textbooks and binders around all day is just asking for back pains. Leave your binders at home and carry around notebooks instead. You can also check out the campus library to see if you can borrow the course textbook from there while you’re at school, so that you can leave your copy at home.

University Life

After a hard day of studying, by all means, reward yourself with a beer or two. Be warned, though: it’s not called the “freshman fifteen” for nothing, and alcohol is an easy way to pack on pounds without noticing. Another way to control this is by packing your own lunch and snacks that you will need for the day. Not only are you less likely to eat fast, greasy food, you also save money.

If you don’t live on campus, save money by taking public transit instead of driving: not only is getting a parking space nearly impossible at SFU, sometimes you can meet interesting people on the bus. Keep in mind that busses have a tendency to fill up pretty quickly, so plan for the bus schedule and get there early.

Always ask questions. If your professors intimidate you, go to your T.A.s for help. They are paid to answer your questions. Think of them as tutors that you share with 200 other students.

One common regret is not joining clubs in first year. This is a great way to stay in touch with campus life if you live at home and to make friends doing something that you enjoy. University is a much bigger environment than high school, so if you want to make friends, you have to break out of your shell and talk to people around you.

Living on campus is an experience that is recommended to students at some point in their university career. I’ve heard mixed things: some say that it reduces stress and boosts grades, while others say that it’s not a great experience. Well, if you can afford it, try it. What’s the worst that could happen? If you don’t like it, at least you know.

Safety is another thing to keep in mind. If you leave the school late at night, call campus security, and they will walk you to the bus stop or your car. I’ve had incidences where I’ve left the school at 10 p.m. to take the bus, and didn’t get home until midnight. Make sure you carry a cell phone with you, and let people know where you are at all times.

You now have enough information to make your first year a little easier. If there is one piece of advice to take with you, it’s that stress will do you more harm than good. The life of a university student can be tough, but it’s definitely worth it. Some say that the high school days are the best of your life, but they don’t compare to this.

SFU Olympic Results

By
EIC
-
0

By Bryan Scott

SFU had five Olympians, two bronze medals in London

SFU had five athletes compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, England. They are Arjan Bhullar (Wresting, men’s freestyle 120 kg), Carol Hunynh (Wrestling, women’s 48kg), Jessica Smith (800 m), Jasmin Glaesser (Pursuit Cycling) and Teresa Gabriele (Women’s Basketball). All of these individuals competed hard and represented Canada proudly.
Carol Hunynh, from Hazelton, B.C., lost her chance to add another gold medal (coming off a gold in the 2008 Beijing games) by falling to Hitomi Obara of Japan in the semi-finals of the women’s 48kg division. Hunynh still left London a medalist after capturing the bronze by defeating Senegal’s Isabelle Sambou.
Jasmin Glaesser won the bronze medal in the team pursuit with her teammates, Tara Whitten and Gillian Carleton. They rode to a fourth place finish on the first day, but they qualified for the bronze medal race versus Australia. They rode hard to beat the Australians and take home the bronze medal.
Arjan Bhullar, from Richmond, finished 13th after a hard fought battle with Komeil Ghasemi from Iran; it was his first time at the Olympics.
Jessica Smith, from North Vancouver, finished her 800m heat with a time of 2:07.75 to qualify for the semi-finals. Even after running a roadrunner-like 2:01.90 in her semi-finals heat she finished seventh in the heat, failing to qualify for the finals.
The Canadian Women’s Basketball team and its SFU athlete Teresa Gabriele, from Mission, finished 2–3 in round robin play to finish fourth in Group B. Unfortunately, that meant meeting the powerhouse United States in the Quarter Finals after the crossover with Group A. As predicted, the Canadians fought hard, but lost 91–48, and bowed out of the tournament still happy with their performance.
Overall, it was an average Olympics for Canada. We had one gold medal, five silver medals, and twelve bronze. CTV estimated 6.4 million viewers tuned in the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games opening ceremony. Viewership stayed high, as evidenced by the social media explosion over the Women’s Soccer semi-final.
Rio 2016 is only four years away, and it is apparent that we have a lot to look forward to from Simon Fraser’s Athletes and Team Canada in the future.

Lions on top at halfway point

By
EIC
-
0

By Bryan Scott

Lions (6–2) look to continue their success as second half of the season rolls

The BC Lions look like a team that knows what they’re doing as they sit on top of the Western Conference and the entire Canadian Football League with a 6–2 record, other than two early losses to Edmonton (27–14) and Saskatchewan (23–20), the Lions have looked calm and ready, but able to pounce at the right time to grind out some important wins.
They look better than they did at last year’s midseason, when they were just climbing out of the basement of the league. This could be an indication the Lions are ready and eager to repeat as the CFL champs. Despite being the best team in the league, they do not dominate individual stats by any means. Keron Williams is the only one to lead a stats category with seven sacks in eight games.

They have relied on their special teams and the patience of Travis Lulay to pull out some late game heroics. Last week’s win over Winnipeg was no exception when Paul McCallum hit a 41-yard field goal with no time left to seal the deal 23–20. As the second half of the season comes around the rest of the team will need to pull together in order to secure top spot.

The Lions travel to meet the Montreal Alouettes (5–3, 1st in the Eastern Conference) to begin a home and home series, which will continue September 8th at BC Place. These teams do not like each other so it will be an exciting two weeks of football.

Where them jobs at?

By
EIC
-
0

By Paul Hurst

The insurance industry is a great place for recent graduates to look for a job

Many moons ago (264 to be exact), I popped out of the protective bubble of SFU and crashed headlong into the brutal reality of the work world. Within seven months of graduating with a psychology degree, I was an ICBC claims adjuster.  It was very much a sink or swim situation, as there was no training, and I was thrown into combat immediately. Nineteen years later I resigned to seek out a new career, as burnout had set in.

I’m very happy to be back in the protective womb of post-secondary education, but the insurance industry in Canada is desperately crying for skilled workers to fill positions like the one I left. Besides working for large corporations such as ICBC, there are many smaller organizations that are now, or will shortly be, looking for staff at all levels.

Insurance sales can be very lucrative. For a short time I worked as a marketer, supporting a sales producer. Adjusters often work for small firms. With some experience under your belt working for an adjusting firm, you can go independent. Being self-employed has some real perks: you get big tax writeoffs, and being your own boss means you can tell yourself to go fuck yourself and you likely won’t fire yourself. Underwriting involves actuarial skills, so if you are good at math, or have a business or accounting degree, I’d strongly suggest talking to firms that handle this.

As more people retire, the opportunities for advancement will increase. The largest shortfall is apparently going to be in the managerial ranks, but obviously other ranks will need staff too.

The most recent Canada census results show that about 23 per cent of all Canadians have a university degree. Unfortunately, a B.A. is a bit like the new high school diploma. It’s a minimum requirement for quite a few jobs, and obviously it makes it more competitive for everyone. So be glad you have one, regardless of your major or your GPA. Most employers, as far as I’m aware, don’t look at these.  I worked with adjusters who had marine biology and math degrees.

Once you get a job with a company in the insurance industry, generally speaking, they will (or should) pay for further specialized education. School never stops. The primary qualification in Canada is called the CIP, or Certified Insurance Professional. You need to complete 10 courses in the three main streams: Adjusting, Underwriting, and Broker. Normally you focus on one of these three. You can also take classes at BCIT, which offers a similar qualification. Having your CIP is pretty much mandatory if you plan to have a long career in insurance. If you are struggling to find work, and think you might want to go into insurance, then consider paying for at least one CIP class to show potential employers you have initiative.

Developing several long-term plans (Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and my primary plan: Plan 9 From Outer Space) is very important. If you don’t have a rough idea of where you might want to go, you ain’t gonna git there, nohow.

When tutoring turns into plagiarism

By
EIC
-
1

By Susan Currie

One student’s story of academic integrity in the face of the almighty dollar

I’ve done a lot to sustain my addiction to higher education: I’ve been a student caller, a maid, a cat sitter, a waitress, and a security person in a big yellow coat. Hell, I’ve had someone offer me one hundred dollars to publically kiss my feet and take me out for sushi, which I accepted (who wouldn’t?). I’ve done tawdry things to get myself through my post secondary education — those yellow security jackets still haunt my dreams.
Yes, when it comes to tuition payments my morals drop, but as I scrolled through the “Part Time” section of Craigslist and decided to try my hand at Tutoring, I didn’t think I’d be risking all that much. Not like I did when I replied to those “Sexy foot photos, no nudity, HONEST” ads.

The ad was for a part-time tutoring service, so I put in my resume and had a reply within days. I sat down in the illustrious Bread Garden where the interviews were being held and was asked the standard questions. When I got to the end of the interview I figured “Here’s another for the mediocre jobs list,” with no idea that the real interview was just beginning.

“You said you were able to tutor up to second-year university?”

“Absolutely.”

“That’s great.” My interviewer looked around and then back at me, “Sometimes our students, they’re really busy and they don’t always have time to do their homework — they don’t always prioritize English classes, and well sometimes they might ask if you’d be willing to. . . .”

“Oh, yeah, don’t worry, I’ve had friends who are TAs and I’m more than aware of how easy it is to catch someone who’s cheating. I’d inform the student of the risks, and tell them that those are not the services I offer.” I beamed, knowing I’d said the right thing.

Apparently not though. My interviewer’s eyes got wide and she looked side-to-side and then down, her mouth became smaller and thinner. “Well. . . .” she said.

“Oh…” I said, getting it, “Oh. . . . well . . . I’d still tell them how easy it is to get caught, but . . . if you wanted me to do that you’d have to pay me a lot more.” She smiled happily.

The moment I said it I felt dirty.

“We tell them it’s a reference, that they’re only to use it to reference off of.”
“Of course. So when I write their papers for them I’m not really writing them to be handed in.” She didn’t like that I said it out loud.

I negotiated the cost of pimping my brains. I left the interview with a contract.
What was I getting myself into? As I watched candidate after candidate file in I realized that almost every one of these individuals was going to have the same request made of them. The implications were tremendous. I’d be out of school soon and not working in the education system, so what would be the actual harm to me?

I realized that this isn’t an obese man struggling in the streets to kiss my pedicured toes — this is plagiarism. And unlike toe guy, it wouldn’t be a one-off deal.
When you get that dirty feeling outside of the bedroom you know what to do. Yes, it’s costing me potential dollars, but let’s just say: I’ll do a lot for cash, but I won’t do that. In my opinion, it’s just not worth it.

Making money ain’t so tough

By
EIC
-
0

By Rachel Braeuer
Learn, and grow rich from opportunities on campus

Student orientation is probably one of the least useful things I’ve ever signed up for on campus. The only useful thing I took away from the experience was the clip-folio. I could have found my classes or figured out there was more than one bus loop by myself. You’ll quickly learn, as the rest of us inevitably have, that your current plans for funding yourself will never be enough.

Scholarships and bursaries sound terrifying. To be fair, having to depend on competitive sources of income is terrifying, but they’re more plentiful than you’d think. There’s a main list of scholarships on Student Information Central, but that only represents a very small portion of all the scholarships available to students. Your department will have its own list of relevant scholarships and bursaries available to your faculty specifically. All you need to apply for a scholarship or bursary is your relevant financial information. As daunting as it all may seem, think of it this way: if you spend eight hours two days in a row applying, those sixteen hours could potentially pay off with thousands of dollars. That’s more than you’ll make in two days at any part time job.

Ok, so maybe a scholarship or bursary isn’t for you. Or maybe you just didn’t manage to get one. I haven’t since first year; it’s why I have a job. Actually, it’s why I have four jobs, but I digress. Finding a solid part time job is harder than it seems. The further you get into your degree, the more relevant volunteer work becomes. SFU’s Career Centre (which isn’t your high school career centre with a haggard old teacher pining away for retirement, loaded with cliches and pamphlets instead of analytically sound advice) will tell you this. They can help you get a resume together that you won’t want to burn when you stumble upon it in the future, and you can sign up for workshops with leaders in the industries and sectors you’re hoping to find a job in. If all you can find is volunteer work, take it and run. If you do quality work for free, eventually someone will see your value and pay you to do that work. Your volunteer liaison is more likely to find you a position than some big box company’s pimply team lead, anyway.

All of this self-starter, work-for-free business might seem daunting. Fear not, for the best is yet to come. The truth is there are a lot of real jobs on campus — jobs that pay well over minimum wage — people just don’t know about them. But they would if they checked their e-mail. Departmental forwards are obnoxious and plentiful. They get passed around so much the first 30 lines look like every good-luck-if-you-send-this-to-seven-people forwards your aunt is famous for. Scroll past that and you’re likely to find a student group or research cohort that needs people and understands a student schedule means fairly limited availability that changes three times a year with potentially no summer commitment.

Look, we can’t all pass the bar stool test, and even if we could we’re still no match for all of the fledgling actor/servers who are always available and better able to fake their way through lecherous drunk perverts and high maintenance assholes who counted six grains of rock salt on their flatbread when they clearly specified multiples of eight only. You can do better.

News Beat: September 3

By
EIC
-
0

Minotaur discovered in Robert C. Brown Hall

Last week, in an encounter that could only be described as unbelieva-bull, second-year history major Haru Kenji came face-to-face with a creature from Grecian legend: the minotaur.

Although sightings of a 700-pound half-man, half-bull creature roaming the labyrinthine corridors of Robert C. Brown Hall were reported as early as July, officials believed the reports and subsequent vandalisms to be nothing more than an elaborate joke. This suddenly changed when Kenji was able to capture over three minutes of video footage on his phone of the mythological beast goring a bulletin board.

When asked about the safety of the general population, SFU administration responded with assurances but seemed to lack any sort of concrete plan on dealing with maze-dweller.  As of press time, Hellenic studies majors were just happy that they were relevant.

 

Facebook tracks down final humans without Timeline

Nearing the one-year anniversary of introduction of Timeline to the masses, household name and social media giant Facebook proudly announced early last week that Facebook operations teams had successfully located the last instance of human beings that had yet to adopt their patented Timeline profile formatting.

The group of humans, a tribe of Maori nomads, was found wandering the jungles of Papua, Indonesia. Locating the group using infrared heat-seeking technology built into Facebook’s fleet of Zuckerblimps, agents of the popular internet company soon descended on the natives, smoking them out of the brush. Armed with laptops and a satellite connection, each Maori was signed up and on Timeline in a matter of minutes.

This marks the largest operation by Facebook since early March, when two penguin researchers that had failed to sign up for the features were discovered in McMurdo, Antarctica.

 

Makers of NyQuil and DayQuil introduce 4:30-in-the-afternoonQuil

In the private sector news this week, Vicks, maker of many popular over-the-counter medicinal aids, announced a brand new product slated to be on shelves by mid-October. Building off the success of their NyQuil and later DayQuil products from the early nineties, Vicks is proud to introduce the newest member of the –Quil family, 4:30-in-the-afternoonQuil.

The Peak sat down with Sandra Singh, spokesperson for Vicks to discuss the new product. “Now, we at Vicks listen to our consumer and this is what they wanted. A cough medicine for the time of the day when it’s bright enough to see, but you’d still turn your headlights on when you’re driving. “

“The new 4:30-in-the-afternoonQuil formula is specially designed for that hour’s commute home, non-drowsy, but let’s not go crazy here because, hey, you’re already off work. We definitely did not just fill the bottles halfway with DayQuil and top it off with NyQuil. Definitely not that. “

By Gary Lim

Mount up: Your guide to another semester on Burnaby Mountain

By
EIC
-
0

By Ljudmila Petrovic

If you’re a chump like me (that was a typo . . . I meant “champ,” of course) and took summer classes, then stop reading right now. You’re not going back to school, because you never left its hallowed halls.

Everyone else: you had a great summer, didn’t you? You soaked up the sun on the beach, maybe did some travelling, or you just relaxed and partied it up. Now it’s time to come back to school, back to lectures and over-priced textbooks, back to all-nighters (and not the rowdy kind) and bumpy, rainy bus trips up the mountain. I bet you have the back-to-school blues. At any rate, if you didn’t before, now you do. You’re welcome.

There are just some things that people like to complain about when it comes to going back to school, especially in the fall. Fear not: I may be the bearer of bad news, but I am also bringing you solutions to all your common qualms about the new semester.

“There’s no sun, it’s rainy, and I’m getting depressed.”

Sure, frolicking in the sun certainly puts you in a better mood than trudging through the rain, but what you’re missing from the sun is Vitamin D. The bad news is that vitamin D is found in very few foods, so you can’t use the “but I’m getting my calcium!” type of excuse that I use when I stuff my face with ice cream. Unless your idea of comfort food is cod liver oil, in which case you’ll be happy as a clam despite the lack of sun. Vitamin D can be found in several types of fish, including salmon, as well as in eggs, some dairy products, and bacon. This is, of course, a selective list based on personal taste. For everyone else out there, some studies have found that certain beers contain vitamin D. Usually, I would be critical of this kind of vague statement about “empirical” findings, but when a study is telling me that hitting the pub will give me my daily vitamin D intake, I’m not going to wonder where these findings are coming from. If nothing else, you’ll remember this factoid next time you’re drinking a pint, and you’ll laugh at how absurd my advice is. At least you’re not moping about the rain, so I think my job here is done.

“I don’t want to drag around three or four textbooks all day.”

You have several options here: First, you can hire someone to follow you around and carry them for you. There may be a couple of problems here, however. How many of us can afford that? And I’m not sure what labor laws say about this kind of thing. You could just not get textbooks. You can’t haul around what you don’t have. You’ll probably pass anyways, depending on the class. Or you could get one of those wheelie suitcases to take between classes. For bonus fun, you can pretend you’re at the airport, about to jet off to an exotic location, far, far away from Burnaby Mountain. Just kidding. This isn’t a real option for most socially competent people. Finally, the option that nobody wants to hear, but is realistically the best one: organize your time so that you finish all assignments and readings that require a textbook at home, so you don’t need to bring it with you. Really, most classes don’t require you to bring your textbook every week, and even if you happen to have one that does, there’s really no reason to be carrying all of your textbooks all the time.

“But what about my social life?”

Grades, sleep, and social life: choose two. We’ve all heard this thousands of times before, but that’s because it’s true. I’m sure you had a rockin’ social life over the summer, but now it’s time to prioritize. If an active social life is your priority, that’s fine, but it’s likely that other aspects of your life will have to suffer. There is, however, always the option of re-defining “social life.” Why not combine the two? The more responsible approach is obviously to make study groups, or to have study sessions with friends. You can get snacks, fun non-alcoholic beverages, and put on some Bach. Of course you shouldn’t speak to one another about non-academic related topics, because otherwise, you’ll never get anything done and you’ll be right back where you started. That being said, you can take study breaks, and just go wild on the gossip for about ten minutes. The more fun approach to combining studies and a social life — albeit the less productive one — is to do whatever it is you normally do with your social life, but accommodate it so that some academics can occur. If you normally lounge on the couch and eat chips with friends, then this is easy: just add a textbook to the mix. If you’re more of a party animal, this might be slightly more difficult, but not impossible. History drinking games? Literary analysis with cocktails? It can work, I’m sure. Note: no advice I could ever give will apply to the rare breed that do extreme sports as a hobby.

“But I don’t want to write papers!”

If you major in something that requires a lot of paper-writing, but you hate the process, then you went wrong somewhere along the road. That issue is so much bigger than me. If you’d just rather not, well, suck it up. Short of plagiarism (which isn’t worth it), there’s not much you can do to avoid this.

 

This comprehensive guide to back-to-school should make your return to the academic world as painless as ripping off a band-aid: it’ll hurt at first, but over time you’ll forget what a bad idea it is, and just keep on doing it.

Ski Ninjas: Booze

By
EIC
-
0

By Kyle Lees at Ski Ninjas

Myanmar, the U.N.’s new democratic darling

By
EIC
-
0

By Kai Yang Shiao
Photos by Mark Burnham
Where vote or die isn’t a glamorous campaign slogan

As Canadians, we take it for granted on a daily basis that we live in a liberal democracy. Unfortunately this luxury continues to elude the people of Myanmar. News headlines have expressed excitement at the ongoing political liberalization in Myanmar, from the widespread coverage of the release of political prisoners to the participation by Aung San Suu Kyi and her party in the by-elections held earlier this year. While it is necessary to recognize and support such historic changes, the world must also accept that there remain various elements that may well undermine the current status of democracy in the country.

In order to better understand such concerns, it is necessary to take a step back and examine the constitution proposed by the then-ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council. A constitutional referendum was held in 2008, and the proposal was subsequently approved in the same year. The military junta’s success may be largely due to widespread electoral manipulation and fraud: there were many eyewitness reports of eligible voters forced and bribed to vote in favour of the proposed constitution, and of ballots accepted even after the polling stations had already closed. Such events likely indicate a widespread opposition among Myanmar’s citizens, which can be easily understood by taking a closer look at what is inside the document that now forms the basis for Myanmar’s present-day political system.

At first glance, the document presents genuine intentions of building a political future in Myanmar based on democracy, outlining plans for a civilian-led government in the presence of a multi-party political system. However, elsewhere in the document are remnants from the country’s military past and hurdles in the country’s drive towards democratization. Under the 2008 constitution, one quarter of the seats in the both houses of the national bicameral legislature, Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, are appointed by the Myanmar Armed Forces. Another major sign of the military’s continued presence in politics is the provision that the Ministry of Home Affairs would fall exclusively under military control.

Though this constitution has many features of a democracy, the presence of the aforementioned provisions fails to uphold many core principles of thriving democratic political systems around the world.

One such relevant principle is that the armed forces, composed of public servants, should be subservient to a civilian-led government. Permitting the Myanmar Armed Forces to retain some involvement in both the executive and legislative branches of government effectively undermines this principle as well as the legitimacy of the country’s national legislative body.

[author_link]Username[/author_link]Another major compelling principle is that citizens of representative democracies should have the right to elect all seats in all houses of the national legislature. Though there are exceptions to this phenomenon, the overwhelming trend in most democracies is for citizens to directly elect all seats in the legislative branch. On the contrary, by allocating 25 per cent of its total seats in both houses of legislature to the Myanmar Armed Forces, the current constitution is giving approval for the continued role of the military in national politics.

The events surrounding the 2008 constitutional referendum and the current constitution should be a reminder to display vigilance against continued military involvement, which threatens to undermine an emerging democratic political system. As Canadians, we should constantly be thankful to have our voices reflected in our flourishing political system.

1...1,3621,3631,364...1,429Page 1,363 of 1,429

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024