Christchurch
This has playing in my head for weeks. I know certain personal thoughts are meant to be kept inside, or vetted out in a legitimate manner, at least. I may be playing with fire or creating new enemies as I continue to type this article, furthermore I’m about to post this on my public blog, something that I have never done before. Everything that I am about to type is from a neutral point of view. I do really hope I’m not about to offend anyone - if I do, I sincerely apologize. And of course, I do not expect any outcome from this article itself. Treat this as a read-through, if you like.
There are now three major clubs that represents Malaysian students in Christchurch. CMSA (Canterbury Malaysian Student Association), PETSOC (PETRONAS Students of Canterbury) and the newly formed UMNO Christchurch.
1. A Revision of Timeline
Rewind 5 years ago. There was only CMSA - meaning there was only one club that represented Malaysian students all around Christchurch. 5 years ago, PETRONAS and JPA started posting scholars over here in Christchurch thus increasing the density of Malaysian students. As more PETRONAS scholars arrived in the Garden City, PETSOC was formed. PETSOC was and is still devised to oversee the welfare of the PETRONAS scholars. The welfare mentioned includes accommodation, daily dinners, meeting with officers, etc. However, PETSOC was a subsidiary of CMSA. Meaning, it was still only CMSA.
2. A day before yesterday
More scholars arrived. PETSOC became an own entity, formed 4 years ago in 2003. Two clubs then. CMSA and PETSOC. PETSOC role was only to oversee her members’ welfare.
3. Our timeline
CMSA is still where it was. PETSOC has opened her membership to non-PETRONAS scholars. UMNO Christchurch was formed.
4. 5 years from now
I’ll wrap this up later.
Being a year in Christchurch does not grant me much seniority. I think I should speak now, with myself risked, because I am afraid when the time comes, I will no longer have the chance to speak. I really do hope that by all means I’m not showing any disrespect to you as I carry on typing.
I cannot possibly disagree that all three clubs play different primary objectives. Now let us look beneath the surface. They will be clashes in social and sports events. For instance, UMNO Christchurch has announced its attention to organized a Ski Trip this year. From what I know, CMSA organizes Ski Trips annually. So this year, we may have two ski-trips organized by two different bodies representing we Malaysian students. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to go for two Ski Trips as I am just a university undergraduate plus I’m not a ski-ing addict.
More clubs, meaning more gatherings. But will those gatherings put all of us Malaysians together? Possibly we have CMSA, as it generally represents all Malaysians. Again, let us look at wider perspective.
If CMSA and PETSOC organizes 8 events each per year, UMNO organizes 4 in Christchurch as many of her activities are held elsewhere. All together, we have 20 events. Based on university calendar, there are about 20-25 free weeks minus the study break and the upcoming Bersatu Games. 20 out of 25. Me, being a member of the three clubs, will really need some consistency to attend all the events. This is a stake of quantity vs quality. Personally, I will prefer to spend my time mingling with ALL Malaysians occasionally (maybe every month once or twice) rather than spending all my weekends to meet different groups.
Quality. I will define what it means to me now.
Flashback to Saturday’s UMNO-chaired Newcomers Orientation. Sorry people if I’m pointing my fingers, or else I am not able to adress my keynotes. The Bumi newcomers are among themselves, similar to the non-Bumis. Put their past schooling background aside, but having 3 clubs that increases quantity will do least good to increase the quality we direly claim. (Sorry people, I really did not want to highlight this, but this is what everyone witnessed that day. An undeniable fact.)
Flashback to the visit by Tok Pa, our Malaysians Higher Education Minister. It’s baffling to me, at least, that there were only two non-bumis who played a part in hosting (organizing, performances) the event and I was only roped in when one of friend had something else to attend. To me, this is not racism at all because I do not believe the good friends I know are such people, in fact they are awesome people who I look up to. The problem ito me is the chemistry which invented the event. Both bridges, just do not meet, although all parties have tremendous quality in them. (Sorry to the people, who I may have offended).
It was a great honour to me for being given the opportunity to produce the video presentation for the event. The toughest process was not the production. The toughest part was the photos. Hardly I can find pictures where I can see all Malaysians in one perfect family picture. Perhaps, it was one of the saddest feeling to me being a Malaysian while producing a video for a grand Malaysian event. When will actually all bridges meet?
This is not racism to me, it’s chemistry. Racism never occurs here among us Malaysians. In fact, the people that I know are all friendly and always helpful. Frankly, I absolutely enjoy their company, ABSOLUTELY. We just never find ourselves an opportunity to be one. When will our bridges meet?
4. 5 years from now (continued)
A Malay scholar and a Chinese scholar just arrived in Christchurch. CMSA, PETSOC, UMNO - which one to be active in? What will we have in the near future? JPASOC? MARASOC? I do not deny the possiblities.
Everyone wants to be comfortable, including myself sometimes. But again, why can’t we let the bridges meet?
Sorry CMSA. This may be a stab to you. I’m sorry if this is offensive. Non-Bumis will most likely join CMSA for most of their members are Non-Bumis. Bumis and Non-Bumis will stay away from CMSA for these very few reasons that I can highlight below.
- The inconsideration of alcoholic consumption of non-muslim members in social activities. Of course, every one has their own rights. But tolerance is an entirely different matter.
- When was the last time CMSA organized a Hari Raya get together for all Malaysians? Or wish the Muslims CMSA members Selamat Hari Raya via the CMSA-mail?
- When was the last time CMSA showed that it is welfare body overlooking the welfare of Muslims? For instance, prayer times etc. Of course, you have MUSA to operate on this - MUSA is a club for all Muslims in Canterbury Uni. But it really takes effort to create the sense of belonging. CMSA should at least oversee the welfare of Malaysian Muslims, regardless of MUSA’s existence.
- It’s a good being a big club having a lot of members. To me, strong ties are formed when people sit down and make unanimous decision. Boasting that many members, how many do really feel belonged to the club?
Sorry CMSA. I do not mean to offend. This is what I believe, at least.
PETSOC just opened her membership and UMNO was newly formed. A Bumi student will certainly feel comfortable and will be more active in both clubs mentioned. The non-Bumis will shy away from these two clubs - again, due to the comfortable zone.
In 5 years, what will we see? Just like in Sydney, Melbourne, UK and Auckland where its Malaysian Students Association are mostly non-Bumis while UMNO and PETRONAS affliated clubs are filled with Bumis. In Auckland itself, there is a clear division among UMSA, PETUNIA and UMNO Auckland.
Of course, it too far-fetched to predict what will happen 5 years from now. Many will say, "I do not bother. I did my best during my time in my respective club, it’s up to the next generation." Frankly, I will say this is sheer irresponsiblity. You do not build Rome to see it burn, nor you build Pyramids to see it collapse before you. You are laying the path for tomorrow. Sorry if I offended you, again.
I’m taking nothing out of this. I just want to see bridges meet, from all angles to prevent what has happened in Australia, UK and Auckland to occur on us. Of course, you will be wondering why we must we start first? If everyone waits for everyone to cross the brigde and meet - never will anyone meet. Just my long two cents.
Sorry to those people who I have offended. I sincerely apologize. No hard feelings yeah?
There is never racism nor stereotype among we Malaysians. We lack the chemistry. The chemistry that bridges us all. When will we meet?
lam, i have to agree
it may be hard to accept the fact but i do feel there is some right in your writings
Comment by mrsyah — March 13, 2007 @ 8:17 pm
^ agree with razwi
but, generally imo, people join a club when they want something from it, like me. :rofl: petsoc is unique for me, coz being a pet scholar = petsoc.
Comment by faiz selo — March 13, 2007 @ 10:47 pm
Just need to clarify a few things for you, dear.
First of all, it is a good read. And yes, like I preach to everyone, being the model students that we are, we should all speak up when we have something that bothers us. Nothing will ever come from talking ‘behind people’s back’ or keeping it all bloating up in your chest. Speaking up gives people chance to clarify things, and open up discussions that hopefully will help us find a solution for a better tomorrow.
Secondly, it is easy to look at negativities of things that are in front of us. But I have to reinforce something I learnt over the summer. When you look for the positivities in things, and good things in people (or clubs), it is amazing how much you learn and get out from it.
For me, CMSA will always be the major student body. No (and never) disrespect to PETSOC. PETSOC is a brilliant club (I am a member of PETSOC as well as CMSA). The passion is great, and they do look after their members well. But for the sake of unison, yes, CMSA is the major club. When you have other clubs like PETSOC and UMNO, it becomes a ‘healthy’ competition to CMSA. Now you are bringing up the ‘why’ these other clubs are formed. Is it because it is true that CMSA haven’t really looked after the welfare of the members? or not really respecting the muslim members? (I am not agreeing to this, just bringing up some of the things you mentioned) It makes CMSA re-evaluate what their purposes are, And how to tackle their members to keep everyone happy. If not, they will stay the way they are, never had a reason to re-evaluate.
We are lucky in Christchurch because we have always been very close to each other despite different races and backgrounds. To us, we are all Malaysians. And we have never had any intentions in dividing ourselves.
The opening of UMNO has always been a sensitive issue. The idea of it has come from a long time ago, but we have always been very careful of it. Despite us saying repeatedly that we have no intentions of being political etc, the ’stigma’ that it brings will always be there. That is why I had the meeting with everyone to discuss the why and how UMNO will operate even before we ‘opened’ the club.
UMNO has always been very careful not to step on other’s territory. The ski trip that we talked about, if you heard my talk closely, we discussed about collaboration. Working with different clubs gives you a different experience altogether. We did not have the intention to keep repeating other clubs activities. We have discussed collaboration when it comes to BERSATU games, Malam Malaysia etc.
Obviously, there are other more ‘core’ objectives of each club. Like I said repeatedly, UMNO is more towards leadership training, nationalisme and networking. Our activities will be based mostly on those, and we have a greater network all around the globe. Job opportunities, networking in Malaysia are among the things we can offer. As i said before, we are doing sort of our own ‘apprentice’ program where everyone has their own opportunity to become managers of different activities, and strengthen or learn their leadership qualities from each other. If you want to know more of this, do come and talk to me.
Keep up the good work, kiddo! and thank you for being a good Malaysian.
Cemerlang, gemilang dan terbilang.
~kakok
Comment by kakok — March 14, 2007 @ 6:30 am
Sorry kakok for the inaccuracies. I’m really sorry, again, if I did offend you, or anyone else.
Comment by Ka-Mun — March 14, 2007 @ 7:45 am
yo yo.. no need to apologise… like i said.. everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and have the chance to speak up! otherwise, how would i know what people are concerned about, right?
keep up the good work.. and cheerio!
love
kakok
Comment by kakok — March 14, 2007 @ 8:18 am
Well, this isnt the case of “the more, the merrier”, is it? =D
This was a well-written piece. Will make those who read it think, definitely.
The best club? A club which provides the most security, unity and sense of belonging to its members while working hard to reach its goals. It is when some members do not “feel the love” that they begin to turn away, sometimes even to establish a new club.
A certain club will only draw the attention and affection of a certain “group of people”. This has always been the case. In fact this IS the case. So what happens when there are too many clubs? There’ll be too many “groups of ppl”, regardless of the objectives/aims of each club.
Three student clubs is enough. More than that, then we’ll probably pave the way to division among Malaysians. This is certainly NOT what we want.
Heh, who knew too many options could be a problem? =D
Comment by neng — March 14, 2007 @ 10:53 am
Bro, nice read…
as for my opinion, i agree with everyone that have commented thus far…there’s no black n white answer, no right or wrong opinion, an opinion is what it is, an opinion. so there is a high probability i would agree with other comments, postings, etc that will be written in the future, with the condition of course that it is explained properly.
i guess what we as human beings can and should always work on is to focus on all the positivities of your peers (as mentioned by kakok), concentrate on that and help them (NOT USE THEM) to excel in what they’re good at..throw away the term “opponent”, “pencabar”, “enemies” from your dictionary, coz in reality (the way i see it, heh), these terms/concepts things does not and should not exist.
Sometimes we are just too busy in our own movie that we forget that everyone else is starring in theirs. That’s why its extremely important to see oneself as others do - as the supporting actor in ‘their’ movie. Do an inventory of all the people in your life, and ask yourself what kind of character you’d play in their movie. are you the loving, doting grown daughter or the distracted, absentee one? the sweet supportive friend or the needy, selfish one?
Put an effort as to how we can compliment each other, not how we can “conteng muka dengan arang” on the person sitting next to you. Unite in our similarities and learn to accept differences.
Since i’m the one writing this comment, i’m indirectly putting the challenge upon myself to be the “Best Supporting Actor”. I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind myself to practice what i preach, not be a hypocrite nor the “pandai cakap tapi xreti buat” guy.
There’s a reason why our ears are the closest ears to our mouth.
guess that’s my coins worth for now, again, nice read bro
“We make a living by what me get, but we make a life by what we give”
=aiman=
Comment by Aiman — March 14, 2007 @ 11:47 am
whoa…
thats a lot to read.
I didnt realize myself there were so many clubs for malaysians.
Yes I do agree with you about joining them all together.
After all we all want to meet each other right?
And I myself being not born in Malaysia, but have a Malaysian background would love to mingle with more malaysians. So the more the merrier I guess, as one of you have said above before.
Well, everybody has to learn to tolerate each other.
So why not start now.
Its great of you to be the first to speak up.
Congrats for having the courage to do so.
Comment by J — March 14, 2007 @ 12:35 pm