Since the age of 19, SapphireDragon (Wei Jiet) has been an apprentice of the Faculty of Law in the University of Malaya. Initially intended to fulfill his destiny towards the “Light Side” as a doctor with healing powers of the Force, he succumbed to the irresistible temptations of the “Dark Side”. Very much like Siths, generations of future lawyers here are trained to thrive in brutal conflicts, favour victory over conscience and address their superiors as “My Lord”.
A staunch idealist of the realm of law, he has a natural attraction towards politics and human rights. Occasionally freaked out by thick legal cases where judges can be real beat around the bush-ers, he is still able to grapple with the sanity of calling himself a fan of reading. And yes, he loves writing too. He dabbles in debating, an art which constantly reminds how knowledgeably shallow and plain stupid he himself actually is – in a good way. So, all in all, there you go: the cliche package of the nerdy law student who can’t shut his mouth up.
He’s currently on hiatus away from law school, spending a semester studying Government & International Relations in the United States under the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program, which is sponsored by the US Department of State. He is thoroughly enjoying the breadth of academic options available in a liberal arts setting; substituting morning coffee with stimulating Philosophy classes, pondering Economics over lunch and frequent the awkward Social Dance classes in the evenings. Already a big fan of a broad-based education in higher learning, he finds it exciting how he can relate and incorporate those subjects so well into legal studies back home. He hopes that being exposed to both local public institutions and a US liberal arts college will enable him to offer useful insights in future articles on education.
Forming a new-found love towards international politics since his studies in the US, he also hopes to write on issues of geopolitics and political theory. His favorite areas include the rise and decline of USA as the world’s sole superpower, as well as the politics of the Republic of Indonesia. He hopes to publish a PhD thesis one day, which goes around something like “A March From Democracy To Monarchy: The Transition of The Galactic Republic into The Galactic Empire After The Clone Wars”. Finally, an ardent supporter of the Democrats, he finds it baffling that people would actually support the Republicans and hopes President Obama will be reelected in 2012.
He can be contacted at sapphirelwj@gmail.com.