*Andrew Yap passed away on 6 April 2008, leaving behind his beloved family and his whole lot of friends. Thank you to all for the prayers, but God is the Boss and He makes all decisions. Andrew has been called to be with the Lord. I bet Andrew is in a much better place right now. See ya, Andrew.*

Through MSN, Kevin Chan and a few other DJ friends related to me the message they received through SMS on Monday:

Andrew Yap, SMKDJ Class of 2005:

“Andrew Yap from DJ is in ICU. He fell and hit his head and his brain shifted. He’s still unconscious even after the surgery. Docs say he’s not recovering, please pray for him.” -Ee Fei

He added that this was not an April Fool’s joke.

Indeed it wasn’t.

So please pray for him for a speedy recovery. We need a miracle here. He is still unconscious.

Stefanie Lip wrote a prayer so please pray it or pray your own prayer:

In the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit

Dear Lord,

Omnipotent and eternal God, the everlasting Salvation of those who believe, hear us on behalf of Thy sick servant, AndrewYap, for whom we beg the aid of Thy pitying mercy, that, with his bodily health restored, May he be healed by the Holy Spirit and May You Shower Him with your utmost love and mercy. May he wake up from his surgery as he has not waken up since then.

Jesus, Your array of miracles, A true manifestation of Your Divinity, Draws the admiration of searching souls. Never let it be said, “Miracles do not exist!”. You are the living example of such actions. Bless us with the faith to always believe, To affirm the Supreme Power of Your miracles, Be they of a physical or spiritual nature. We believe that our friend Andrew will wake up and be healed by your healing hand.

In your most precious name, Christ Our Lord 

Amen.

Even if you do not know Andrew, God hears your prayer. Praying for him is the least we can do.

Bumped into this in Hazwani’s blog. Looks like most of us (me especially) do not read the New Straits Times =.=

Yes we have all heard about this guy with 20 A1s and 1 A2.

But A DJian has scored 15A1s and became Selangor’s top student! Congratulations to Chow May Suen! (Puan Yap’s daughter) May Suen is now officially the DJian with the most number of A1s in SMKDJ’s history! Congrats again!

Good time management the secret of her SPM success

PETALING JAYA: Good time management - that was the secret of Chow May Suen’s success when she was announced as Selangor’s top student in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.

The 18-year-old student of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Damansara Jaya scored 15 A1s.

“There was never any special formula, I just managed my time well - for studying and co-curricular activities,” she said..

Chow, who wants to major in pediatrics, is currently pursuing her A-Levels at Taylor’s College in Subang Jaya.

Her mother Yap Swee Pek, 46, who is teaching chemistry at her daughter’s former school, called Chow “very hardworking”.

-NST March 13th 2008

This post is in response to the post written by Kevin Chan, a former DJian who is currently working as a temporary teacher in SMKDJ.

Now, for the main reason I wanted to write this post, our very own disquieting headmistress - the Datin. Well, she IS my current boss, considering that I’m working in SMKDJ right now, but in lieu of all that I’m hearing from all around these days, I guess it would just be a cardinal sin to stay silent anymore. Thanks John, for making me see that a ‘tidak apa’ (heck care) attitude wouldn’t help anyone and it would only further undermine all our previous efforts in making DJ the prestigious school that it now is - our spirit of meritocracy and high standards.

Well, for the benefit of all DJ alumni and current students in DJ, these are the changes that Datin has implemented (or at least tried to implement) so far (this is by no means a comprehensive list, just some of the things that I remember):

1. Attempted to shut down the cheerleading squad.
2. Attempted to shut down our school’s strong Christian Fellowship (CF).
3. Made it mandatory that co-curricular clubs must have a certain number of Malays in their executive committee.
4. Took in a large number of Malay students into the prefectorial board without an interview. Note that other non-Malay students have to go through a rigorous selection and interview process before they are accepted as probationary prefects.
5. Reduced the number of periods a week for additional mathematics and increased the number of periods used to teach modern mathematics (which is largely regarded as an easier subject, unless you happen to come from a different planet), resulting in teachers making students stay back for extra classes. Didn’t we also use to stay back for extra classes back in the time where we had more add math periods?

Let me make this clear that this is by no means a puerile attempt at defamation, but genuine concern for the future of SMKDJ. I am in no way anti-Malay; my dear Hamlet is very much Malay and she can so testify to that, but the injustice in my alma mater these days just fills me and quite a few other concerned DJ alumni with indignation.

I believe that DJ has always stood out in so many things ranging from sports, debates, cheerleading to our overall school culture because we were fair.

Also read about Andrew’s Loh’s response to this issue. Andrew has also added points 6,7 and 8 based on current DJian feedback.

I have personally heard of all these stories myself from many people. It turns out that most, if not all, are true. Kudos to Kevin for speaking out vehement and doing something about it.

Well, so far a lot of discussion between DJians has been happening online about this. Ex-DJians, generate support and inform your little brothers and sisters in DJ to give feedback to Kevin or Andrew! Although I am strongly skeptical about the possibility of removing Datin from her post, we can at least define some boundaries for her to follow through the proper channels. DJ is supposed to be meritocratic! SMK Damansara Jaya is not just ANY school an outsider Pengetua can come and tamper with.

In the meanwhile, Kevin will keep us all updated about this issue!