Back to year 1998 and find out

TONE

our PY of July

TONE

   Sabaidee everyone, after hunting for PYs to be our guest of the month, we finally found this Hot Pepper guy from SSEAYP batch 25th. Let's find out things we never know about him...

1)    First of all, Tone, How would you describe yourself?

  I am a 20+ years old guy. People call me “TONE”, “TONY”, and “VIRA”. I was a member of SG-H (Hot + Handsome). I am a very serious person but I don’t understand that others see me as a FUNNY GUY. I am a social and easy-going person. I like to join clubs and societies such as Aikido, SAM (Singaporean Association of Monash University), and MESS (Monash Engineering Student’s Society). I go clubbing and have parties with friends (i.e. Lao people, other Asian people, and Australians).

2) Do you experience any culture shock in Australia? What are they? Can you give us some examples?

  Yes I did but I will tell few of them. 

  Firstly, it is about the way that students treat lecturers. Aussie students treat their lecturers as friends. If a lecturer does something wrong, students will tell him/her in front of that lecturer. The lecturer will accept that if it is true. I like it. People here are open-minded and they directly express their ideas. 

  Lastly, I found one of things that are different from Lao society. Neighbors usually do not know each other and they usually do not talk to each other. Well, I have been living in Australia for nearly 4 years and I never know a single person of people who live next door.

3) As a foreign student study abroad, what are questions your foreign friends like to ask you about Laos and how do you answer them?

   My friends asked where I am from. When I told them that I am from Laos, they asked me again that “Where is Laos”? I told them, Laos is a small peaceful and beautiful country in South East Asia. These are common questions that people always ask me. Most of my friends do not show any interests in visiting Laos. Oh well…. It’s about individual interests.

4) Tone, when will you graduate? And after graduate, what kind of job or things do you want to do? and why do you want to do those things?

 If I do not fail any subjects (Who knows I might fail one :p), I am going to graduate on 14^th

 December 2004 . My course is Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering (ECSE). My area of study is

 a) Electrical power engineering

b) Electronics engineering

c) Power Electronics engineering

d) Computer Systems engineering (software + hardware)

e) Automation and Control Systems engineering

f) Robotics

g) Telecommunication engineering

h) Biomedical engineering

 I have studied all above and I like all of them. I can work in all areas above but I prefer to work as “Power Electronics engineer” because Power Electronics is a mix of Power engineering and Electronics engineering. Power Electronics is a new technology. The demand of Power Electronics is increasing. Its controllers can solve “electrical power system’s problem and transmission line’s problem”.

5) Now lets talk a little bit about SSEAYP. How do you see the future of ASEAN and Japan’s cooperation through SSEAY Program?
　

   The cooperation between ASEAN and Japan will be strengthened gradually. Those, who joint SSEAYP, are great people and the future leaders of these countries. As I noticed, many Ex-PYs are working for their own governments. Who knows? Perhaps at least one of Ex-PYs will be a minister or prime minister of his/her own country. SSEAYP will bring understanding, solidarity, and unity in ASEAN and Japan. This will boost the bilateral or multilateral understanding between ASEAN and Japan. As a result, it will increase the economic activities, the economic strength, and human resource development in this region.

6) If you were asked to cook Lao food for your friends on board the Nippon Maru ship, what Lao foods are you going to cook and why?

   I have to tell you all that I love to cook. Look at me, I am a fat boy. If I was asked to cook Lao food, I want to cook “Lao Chili Sauces” such as Mushroom chili sauce, Fish chili sauce, and tomato chili sauce. The reason is that I love Lao chili sauces and it is 99.99% fat free. Then, I want to cook “Fish Salad” (Laab Pa). This is because I love to eat fish. And, I know that some PY’s are Muslim who cannot eat pork and some of them cannot eat beef. If other meats are not Halal or Halal meat (permitted to eat meat), Muslim friends also cannot eat. Fish is a universal food that every one can enjoy but vegetarians. For our friends who are vegetarians, I will cook “Soup Pak” (Lao Vegetable Salad – sorry if I described it wrongly).

　

7) In your opinions, what are things PYs should not miss to experience on board the Nippon Maru ship before the program ended and why? Any suggestion?

  Well, I think PYs should have “parties” at night especially at the sky veranda on level 7 of the ship. During batch 1998, some PY’s were having parties there nearly every night because the program schedule was tight. During daytime, we PYs did not have time to have social activities such as drinking, talking, and singing. This will strengthen the relationship between you and others. PYs should bring movie VCD and/or DVDs to play in the theatre in the ship. It is going to be fun. During batch 1998, we watched “Titanic” in that theatre. Wow, it was a good time.

8) Nowadays, drug addicted is a problem in many ASEAN countries. In your opinion, what are the best ways to solve drug problem. How do you tell our youth to say No to drugs? And what activities do you want our youth to involve?

  Drug is a very bad thing. There are several ways to solve this. We should corporate and work as a team to provide and increase the public awareness to young people to tell them that drug will never be a good thing. We should educate young people or teens to know how drugs can cause problems. Also, we should create activities such as sports, clubs and societies for teens and everyone to join. Also if possible, we should ban cigarettes because they are the first step to drug problems.  

  In Australia, I found something interesting is “helpline”. It is a 24-7 (24 hours per day and 7 days per week) service. Every one can call in to discuss drug problem. All interviews will be confidential.  

 These are just my ideas but there are many other effective methods to solve drug problems.
　

9) Tone, What do you expect your life to be in the next 10 years?

  “Next 10 years” is too far for me to expect anything for my life. Well, I can only wish that I could be one of great Electrical engineers and a “power electronics” or “power systems” researcher who has many research projects with some universities around the world.

10)  Do you have any messages for the 6-month anniversary of LaoPYs website?

         ********************** Congratulation **************************

   It was just 6 months but there were many people visited the website. If it is not called “success”, what else can it be called?

  Wow,  webmaster. You are a great webmaster. You have done a great job for the website. The website contains all useful information about SSEYP and Laos. It promotes SSEAYP and Lao culture and also tells what is going on in Laos and so on. Keep on doing good job. To readers, please tell your friends to visit this website. Well, I do visit the website once a day.  

  Lastly, thank the webmaster for a great opportunity for me to contribute my opinions and many thanks to readers who spent your time to read my interview. I would like to apologise if I have done mistakes.   

Thank you very much...

 TONE, Thank you very much  for sharing your opinion with us. We wish you good luck and achieve in your dream.

Webmaster