Atrium- An Issue

Assalamualaikum all.

1. This post is to explain what is the real situation we are in now for especially those in the committee of Malay Cultural Week 2010, in response to your dissatisfaction over what had happened.

2. First of all, apart from this post, below are two other things. Number one, is the copy of letter I already passed to May Kuan at IMU Student Service Department. Second, is a poem I wrote just for the sake of doing it, nothing else, entitled 'Bila Atrium Mengaum'- which in English is translated as 'When Atrium Roars.'

3. There is nothing much that we can do after all. The Executive Dean has made a final decision, and even if we ask for grace period (so that the unexpected policy will not be effective too soon) it was never my expectation that actually the 'grace period' has long been granted and they had tolerated too much with noises students made at atrium in the past.

4. The climax was a quick knee-jerk reaction from the higher administrators in response to the terrible noise created on Friday until all that is left for us now is only the choice we already took this morning for MCW Opening Ceremony. No more events with musical performance at atrium, of any kind, for who ever and what ever society, and the best alternative, right after that is the IMU Driveway, with some kind of smaller makeshift stage. 

5. We can never run away from the fact that IMU is itself a very small place with limited spaces and cramp it all-kinda building. To make matter worse, as time passes, IMU is having more students, and therefore lecturers and staffs, leading to a more cramped timetable which, according to May Kuan, results in more classes and lectures, with many of them taking place even during lunch break!  She concluded that the reason for not letting any cars or transports into IMU Driveway is merely because it has been the ultimate aim of IMU President himself that IMU Driveway should be made a place for students to have musical performances or any similar events instead.

6. At first I was thinking of continuing several events which not at all involve any musics at atrium so that I can prove the worth of fighting over this issue. Things changed though. Based on my observation just now, I bet it is never that bad to have an event at such a place. On one hand, the turnouts were surprisingly satisfactory and somehow I felt that the place was a lot more comfortable in the sense that people who were there, they were there for the performance, and not for SSD or even CSU plus Dental clinics. Arguably though, I'd say we continue with this change and adjust accordingly- it is good to get out of comfort zone at times- hence my take to 'clash' with atrium and 'befriend' IMU Driveway ;-)

7. Maybe it's too long to dwell on further on this topic. I leave it for you guys to discuss and I am at all time ready to listen and speak out if it needs be, for the sake of doing the right thing, and for the sake of learning.

Thank you all for reading, may Allah bless us all ameen~

The Committee

Malay Cultural Week 2010

International Medical University (IMU)

___________________________________________________________________

Prof Victor Lim

Executive Dean

Faculty of Medicine and Health

International Medical University (IMU)                               27 September 2010

Dear Sir,

REQUEST TO RECONSIDER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW IMU POLICY

The above matter is referred.

2. The Malay Cultural Week (MCW) 2010, like the IMU Cup, is a huge annual celebration conducted by Malay Cultural Society (MCS) that involves many daunting tasks, hard works and time-consuming preparations. However, due to problems caused by some other programs previously, we are now tremendously affected by the new IMU policy of not allowing any musical performance at atrium.

3. We whole-heartedly respect the decision made by the administration but here are the reasons why we request for reconsideration. First, our program was approved many weeks before this new IMU policy came into effect. We therefore sincerely believe that we deserve some tolerance from your side to continue with performance at atrium or otherwise the whole preparation we made will be futile and worth not the time spent because this performance is a significant part of the event. We hence suggest that only event proposal made afterwards should then be entitled to the new IMU policy.

4. Apart from that, we were informed that the problem arose before because too many noises were made and to make matter worse, it was even before lunch break. We on the other hand, already consider this right from the moment we start planning for MCW, so our musical performances will not only be taking place during lunch hour, they also do not involve any loud and hard noises because we only promote traditional and cultural songs, which by right are all soft songs and which is why we believe the Chinese Singing Competition that took place at atrium last time was never an issue.  

5. We on behalf of all students however still feel obligated to apologize for the troubles made though it was not ours and we do understand the kind of inconvenience people especially from CSU and SSD had faced. But we rather consider this unexpected result as a knee-jerk reaction towards us thus we really feel that it is more than just and fair if we are given the chance to continue with our initial plan instead.

6. It is also worth noting that we received the news about the new policy on last Friday, despite our beginning of event on Monday the week after (today) which by any logical thinking, left us with not much of a choice. Therefore again, we really hope you would reconsider, maybe only for this time.

Thank you very much for your time and we appreciate them all with sincerest gratitude on behalf of the committee and all MCW participants.

Yours Sincerely,

……………………………………

(MOHD AMIRUL ASYRAF MOHD HANAFFI)

Assistant Project Director

Malay Cultural Week 2010

____________________________________________________________________

Matahari terbit manakan berdentum,

Tapi zarah cahayanya yang bercantum,

Lalu gelap jadi cerah,

Mata pun dah merah,

Satu malam tak beradu pun,

Bila fikirkan atrium tak lagi mengaum,

Biar bukan mudah,

Mudah biar terbiar,

Kerana hanya susah,

Bagi aura mengaum,

Dan susah daripada mudah,

Bikin atrium mengaum,

Kerana tiada apa sudah,

Selain tekad berubah,

Pelan asal jadi sejarah,

Tapi itu yang buat gah,

Kerana lemah jadi gagah,

Walaupun atrium tak mengaum,

Akhirannya semua habis pulun,

Untuk melihat biji buah

Semua masak dan habis ranum,

Biar sejarah mengajar santun,

Dalam susah ada untung,

Boleh belajar nilai agung,

Tanpa marah atau lompong,

Walau pasrah tapi kekal ‘strong,’

Akhirnya semua kata disulami santun,

Tamat dengan kalimah assalamualaikum 

Bila Atrium Mengaum

Ibnu Hanaffi 

(5. 33pm, 27 September 2010)

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The Day I Die (1990-????)

Death is permanent. It surely happens to all souls that feel lives. But in this post of ‘The Day I die,’ I on the contrary, will talk only about the days I have lived and to be lived, as I believe, it is my responsibility to do so when I am still alive, because the baton (to share about my autobiography) will be passed to someone else when I am already dead (obviously dead body can’t post on blog =p). After all, the best judgment is one that people make instead of us, and the best judgment is one that is made once we are dead. ;-)

A smooth and lovely sound of drizzling broke the silence of the dawn of the first day of Syawal this year, Friday, 10 September 2010. The day was just like the way it was in all other previous years except that the color of my ‘Baju Melayu’ (Malay custom garment for male) this year is turquoise. The normal routine was followed, breakfast, Raya Prayer and Takbir at the mosque, then ‘apology session’ with parents and family, plus not to forget visits to houses of relatives and friends. Everything was fine until near afternoon.

I had an unusual stomachache and it lasted even until after Friday prayer. It worsened and until we reached grandma’s abode, I could hold it no more. I vomited and was weakened badly throughout the day. At night, mom helped me eat and she spoon fed me haha and no it was not a funny part of the story until after I recovered and think back about it. Only 2 days later, I was back to normal, but skinnier of course. Sigh~ What a Raya it was.

The whole thing reminded me of where I come from and how I lived my previous life. There are too many things to write about my own tiny little world, but I better start writing about some of them so that whatever lessons it could give, it will remain that way even after I died- the same concept used to describe eternal beauty in Sonnet 18. ;-)

When I was 5, our family had a visit to state museum but something happened to me (which I bet remains a mystery until now) that I couldn’t even walk (half-paralyzed, if you will). I think that was when my dad realized that I need some kind of nurturing physically. Here comes another character, my eldest brother, Along (Ridzwan Hanaffi, on Facebook). We both are different in a way that he has everything that a real sportsman needs. His track record was excellent. Since in primary school, he was the champions in events namely cross country tournaments and long-runs, captains of soccer and futsal teams, bla bla bla you name it, and he had it all. All of which were inherited from my dad, a once takraw player who had experience playing even in Singapore back then in those P.Ramlee days. I, of course was quite the opposite.

Consequently, my dad brought me into the school’s football team, being a coach himself, and I was a captain too. I struggled hard in this new life endeavor and secured a number of commendable achievements I will remember all my life. Then it took me few years until I was enrolled to the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK), where I got to know my real talent.  I was in Form 3 (2005) when I had to decide between a debating team or a soccer team (after nearly 3 years in both teams), and yes I chose the former.

The real journey then began. My encounter with a group of legends (in both intellect and oratory skill) changed my life significantly. Cutting this short, some of them are still around now and never fail to become great inspirations while some others have gone earlier leaving behind a never-ending admiration unto them and exemplary achievements to be proud of. I feel so lucky to be in the MCKK debate coaching family now, and yet, there are many things to do to prove my worth being part of them. May Allah bless us all and assist us along the way, to maintain the legacy of intellectuality and charisma.

Long ago I shot my bow
Where it fell I didn’t know
Much later in a huge great oak
I picked it up still unbroke

- Al-Fatihah to the late (Arwah) Adlan Benan Omar (1973- 2008)-

I am whom I was and will always be me. I was hospitalized 2 times in the past, with one same reason- lack of rest. One was in 2005, when I was busy with debate training and the other in 2008, while having PLKN (National Service) training in Selangor, also because of a packed and hectic schedule plus continuous hard work. My other problem (according to my mom) is bad diet. I eat very little, or even if a lot, usually not enough to support my heavy-duty lifestyle. 

But I never want to stop. Once again as always, I am physically challenged. It helps me explore my limits and it makes me satisfied though at times I failed and fell. Ups and downs in life, they are true friends, true teachers.

Looking forward, I believe the future that lies ahead of me is even tougher and challenging. Now, my focus is to get a real grip as a medical student while polishing on other life-long skills by holding a position in Muslim Society (MSOC), a student’s association in International Medical University (IMU) Bukit Jalil. And next year, everything will be accelerated. A whole new debating team will be established to battle on behalf of our prestigious college, the king of schools, the school of kings.

By midyear in 2011, the post (MSOC’s President) will be handed over to a new one, and to keep a momentum of hard work and mind-squeezing lifestyle, I plan to challenge myself by joining the IMU English debating club. By right, that should also provide me some added values to coach the MCKK debating teams. If everything goes well then, I always pray to Allah the Almighty God, that in everything I do, I am sincere at it, and before I die, I truly hope that I can benefit many people, be it by directly helping them, or by being an inspiration to them, the same way some people have been to me.

One day, the day I die, I hope I have fulfilled all my promises and may I die with peace, faith and pride.

Amiin~

 

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Why Ibnu Hanaffi?

Me with mom and dad- MCKK Hassanal Bolkiah Award Recipient, 2007

Assalamualaikum w.b.t

Pseudonym refers to a ‘false’ name whereby the word ‘pseudo’ means false or fake (not real). It can be used in many places or events but personally I believe people mostly use it on the internet where we connect and communicate in this digital world- with the emergence of popular tools like Facebook, Twitter and blogs (Blogger, Wordpress), to name a few.

I myself have my own pseudonym, or a pen name, if you will, that at times make people confused, while some find difficulties looking for me on Facebook, and some others even forgot my real name! Well, that’s partly because I have other nicknames too, such as Aleng (MCKK-since 2003) and Amir (at home). One girlfriend (err.. I mean, a friend of mine who is a girl haha) also calls me with a different name- Am, hehe. Eh, and for preference’s sake, I personally love the name ‘Asyraf’ the most, which is least used by people around me anyhow. Asyraf is derived from my full name, Mohd Amirul Asyraf bin Mohd Hanaffi.

But here’s my most used pseudonym in my digital world- Ibnu Hanaffi. One question now arises. Why Ibnu Hanaffi?

Here are the reasons.

2 January 2010 marks the completion of the twentieth years of my life, full of love and fun, hardship and challenges, plus lesson-containing experiences. All this while, I believe I have achieved the best of things, much more than most, if not all of my brothers and sisters in the family have in their life, also kith and kin. Many things I possess in life are exemplary to them and I am looked up upon, for that matter.

However, there’s one thing that always make me feel compelled to always have humility (I hope I do), and to remember where I come from and how my life started back then in a small village in Seberang Takir- It’s my dad, Mohd Hanaffi.

Ibnu Hanaffi, is a phrase that means the son of (Ibnu) Hanaffi. Through my digital world, I know I can achieve and do a lot of things, and by having my dad’s name as an identity, I secure two things.

First, so that I always remember him when I strive to achieve high in my life. (One may argue that I must remember Allah first, which is undeniable to me because remembering a dad does not necessarily mean that I have to forget Allah). By remembering him, I sort of feel motivated because I always want to make him proud, because he in his entire life hardly indulges in wealth (materially- which is not necessary of course) but the real wealth he really puts much interest on is the success of his children- and I am one of his sons- hence why I want to make him feel proud.

Second, which may be quite similar to that of the above, is because he hardly achieved many things I achieved in my life- which is not necessary to be listed here. Therefore when people were to remember successes and the good side of Ibnu Hanaffi, let them think of Hanaffi, not Amirul, as a means to pray and appreciate the contribution of a dad, through his son- and that’s the way I prove that I love him.

Very simple isn’t it? Nevertheless, none can ever speculate that I have more love for my dad than my mom, because love is something really subjective and I love them both very much and I love them because I love them- only death will do us apart.

I think that’s all for now, and oh before I forget, long time ago, I have put up a post about my dad, which for the record, is the most popular post on my blog until now (judging by number and contents of comments I received for that particular post). You may want to check it out here.

Take care all, and love your parents always, as no matter what, they love you too.

Wassalam.

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