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)