Multi-racial Muslims under one roof

For the first time, I was very surprised to see people from all over the world in one mosque. There are Arabs, Africans, Asians, Europeans and many more. They also believes in different mazhab because there are slight differences in the way the perform prayers.

Friday Sermon (Khutbah Jumaat)

Most of the first sermon will be delivered in Arabic language. In the second sermon, the khatib will translate it into English or Malay language. There was one Chinese khatib who deliver the sermon in Mandarin once.

Actually, this is the problem because I’m not very good in Arabic. I only can understand basic and common Arabic terms. So, most of the time, I will fall asleep for the whole sermon. But if the khatib uses English, I’ll try to listen and focus.

Prof. Dato Dr. Sano Last Sermon

My friend was asking me to help her taking a picture of khutbah because she is doing conservation design thesis for minbar. So, fortunately, on Friday 28th February , I manage to take a picture of Prof Sano while delivering his sermon. I’ve tried to understand what he was saying because he looks very sad and almost cried. Then in the second khutbah, he conclude his khutbah in English. He mentioned about brotherhood in Islam is the vital aspect in the success of Muslim. It was his last sermon because Prof Sano has become a Minister of Religious Affairs in Republic of Guinea. Click here for the khutbah review.

The ladies also perform Friday prayers

When I’ve tried to search about Prof Sano, I’ve landed on Mdm Martinelli’s blog. I’m impressed with her because she also perform the Friday prayers. SHAS Mosque has provide second floor for the ladies. From my observation, most of them are oversea students. Its hard to see Malay female students performing Friday prayers. I wonder why they refuses to do so. I just want her to experience the Friday sermon and prayer. I hate it when girls condemning guys for sleeping during the sermon. Why don’t experience it yourself?

After prayer: Solat Sunat and Assembly

Just like in other mosques, usually there will be Solat Jenazah Ghaib and Solat Hajat after the Friday prayer. Besides that, some students will gather outside the mosque for a peaceful assembly. Most of the time, I don’t join the assembly because I was praying at the front rows (between 10-15 rows). I was surprised when listening to the shouts from the crowd, proclaim the takbir and others. The picture above was taken few months ago, where students showing their support for Palestine during the Gaza carnage. Credits to FBI for the picture.

Using Multimedia for Sermon

Last week, the Friday sermon was aided with powerpoint presentation. But the screen was too small compared to the size of the mosque. I hope in the future IIUM SHAS mosque can implement the usage of multimedia to deliver sermon which can solve the problem of language barrier. A lot of mosque in Malaysia has already set up LCD projector but why we don’t have it here in IIUM? Some of the mosque that I’ve visited with this feature are Masjid Wilayah Jalan Duta, Masjid Muadz Bin Jabal Setiawangsa and Masjid UPM. Do you know other mosque that has this feature too?

Credits to Idhambeady for the mosque picture.

Election 'Pooling' Day? Spotted at IIUM Mosque

KAED students don’t care about election

From the number of votes on the last election, I can say that only 803 students had casted their votes. My assumption was like this.

50 students (each studio) x 4 batches x 5 departments = 1000 students

Actually, there are more than 1000 KAED students but when I’ve asked my friends, they don’t really care to vote. I was like, “Hey, its your final year and your last chance to vote, what are you waiting for? Just vote ‘cos you have nothing to lose!”

AED Constituency for SRC

2006 – Bro. Ashari & Bro. Kawa
2007 – Sis. Nik & Sis. Hana
2008 – Bro. Fadhli & Bro. Syakir
2009 – Bro. Fariz & Bro. Azwan

Screenshot of the e-voting system

Pro-Mahasiswa vs Pro-Aspirasi

I’ve started to familiar with these term when I’m started to follow the campus politic in 2008. Pro-Mahasiswa is WUFI (We Unite For Islam) and I can say that they are the supporters of PAS (but not all support PKR). On the other hand, Pro-Aspirasi candidates are those who support UMNO and BN government. Both parties have different ideologies and that’s the reason why they fight.

Manifesto

Personally I can tell which candidate is sponsored and self-sponsored (neutral) based on their manifesto fliers. Usually, the sponsored one (Pro-M or Pro-A) will have a colourful manifesto (but such a waste when its poorly designed). But candidates who don’t have any sponsor will have to use their own money for their campaign. That’s why most of their manifesto is in black and white photocopy.

Clubs & Societies may influence students’ political views

There are some clubs in IIUM, that may influence the political views of a student. For instance, most Maaruf Club members are Pro-M and most GPMS members are Pro-A. But for me, AKHI Club is not a political based club. All of us mixed together with no regards of political views in order to achieve our objective.

Taaruf Week

After six times joining Taaruf, I can say that there are only a small number of WUFI or Pro-M students that joined as a committee. Other committees are neutral and some might be a Pro-A because they have a good connection with the administrators.

Harapan vs Teropong

These are the official newsletter that is actively distributed during election campaign. Harapan comes from Pro-M and Teropong comes from Pro-A supporters. Harapan has their official blog here. But all I can say is that, these two flyers are totally unethical. They will keep on fighting and attack on each others. Its hard to tell which is a fact, fiction or rumours. But I enjoy reading both as a joke.

Well, its quite a long entry. I’d like to mention again, these information is totally based on my observation, experience and some flyers throught out 4 years in the university. And finally, I just don’t care about who wins, Pro-A or Pro-M. As far as I concern, not all candidates manage to fulfill their manifesto anyway.

I’d like to apologize for any harsh word and please correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks.

Basically, the new rebranding its all about changing TV1 into a multilingual news and information channel (say CNN) and TV2 into an entertainment channel (maybe Star World or Star Movies).

Warta Perdana at 9pm

But the hottest topic right now is regarding Warta Perdana, the prime time Malay news. It has been changed from 8pm to 9pm. Many people are not satisfied with the change. Even the minister had asked RTM to discuss with Media Prima (TV3) regarding the news issue.

Personally, I think it is good that Warta Perdana is aired at 9pm. 7pm to 9pm is where we should spend the time for Maghrib and Isya prayers. Not watching the television and procrastinate our prayers.

News Presenter from IIUM

Actually, I just want to say that I was quite surprise to see one of my friend, Bro. Gaddafi has finally become the news presenter. I think he has been working with RTM since he’s got graduated last year. The screenshot below is taken on 8th January 2009.

Its not easy to be a news presenter. He was in the late nite news before he made it through the prime time. But I think its quite funny to see a funny guy like him reading the news. He has to be serious and keep smiling through out the whole recording.

I guess he can be the next popular news presenter from IIUM after Izwan Azir Saleh from TV3.

P/S – Can’t wait to see my batch joined the TV industry.

1. Taaruf Week IIUM Official Blog

This is what happen when a blogger joined a program. I’ve wanted to create something new about Taaruf. Since blog is the easiest way to communicate and share stuff with others, I’ve created the blog through Blogger using http://taarufweekiium.blogspot.com. I think its quite fun to post few entries in one day. Its easier to share photos with the new students too. I think I’ve fall in love with Picasa too.

2. Scrapbook style e-Backdrop

e-Backdrop is the digital backdrop design that is projected on the LCD screen throughout the program. I’ve got inspired by Saffawati, Aisyahrozi and Anisawrus blog layout. Well, its my first time doing scrapbook artwork and not bad isn’t it? I like the iTouch because it looks cool to put all the songs in one gadget.

3. Bai’ah Ceremony e-Backdrop

Since I’ve redesign the main backdrop, I also have to redesign the bai’ah backdrop too. Nothing much as I’ve only changed the background, put the iPod shuffle control button and also the 2008 students batik shirt. Credits to Zilah for looking for the wood background.

4. Mission Possible Launching Ceremony Gimmick Video

Finally, I has become the main lead for the gimmick video for the launching ceremony. The story is all about a guy who bought a DVD game. When he tried to install the game, a message appeared on the monitor and requesting him to deliver the DVD to the Auditorium where the launching ceremony took place. In this video, I’ve designed the Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) during the fighting scene and also the digital holographic screen. Now I know how hard to do a fighting choreography. Credits to Spa-Q for shooting and editing the whole video with all the background music and cool sound effects.
Watch Gimmick Video Part 1 : Part 2

5. Catering Committee Knowing You Knowing Me Video

3 years ago, committee members were introduced using Flash. But then, creating a video is much easier and more interesting. After the catering committee discuss about their storyboard, I’ve went to shoot and edit the video. Initially, it suppose to be a Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan ‘UIAM’ but then, it looks like a drama. Well, I enjoy this video too because the song Irwansyah – Kutunggu Jandamu really fits into the video. Watch the video here.

6. Multimedia Committee Knowing You Knowing Me Video

After preparing KYKM videos for other committee, it seems like we don’t have much time to shoot for our video. I’ve suggested to create a simple music video using the song Bunkface – Situasi. Well, we don’t have a clear storyboard and we don’t have to act seriously. We just shoot the video while we are doing our work inside the operation room. I’ve started to edit the video from 5.45PM to 9PM before we screen them at 10PM. Click here to watch the video.

So, that’s all 6 multimedia works that I’ve done for this program. I hope I can join again Taaruf Week for the next April intake, for the real last time before I’ve graduated.

The latest i-Remaja, September 2008 featuring Sharifah Amani as the cover girl. This issue mainly talks about the month of Ramadhan, experiences, favourite foods, break fast at mosque, fasting in oversea and many more.

Actually, Bro Roslan article had also published in Kosmo on 3rd June 2008. Here’s the screenshot. You can read the whole article at Kosmo! website.

I was interviewed by Bro. Roslan one month after the trip. That’s why he mention my name in his writings. Credits to Ibnuariff for those pictures. I was wearing the black Roaring South t-shirt with ESPN baseball cap. I’ve bring that shirt for the study trip to Singapore last year and also in Cambodia.

I’ve only been to two countries so far. Japan will be next in my wishlist.

P/S – I missed joining community service program in UIA and I miss all of them too!

KAED Fest giant banner - credits to Zliah

The best thing about being a sub-com is that, I can do the work that I like. Unlike being a head com, I have to go for meetings which is totally tiring and took lots of my precious time. Head comm needs to deal with administrative works and they have most of the responsibility. Yet responsibility increases our maturity.

I’d like to thanks to my head com, Sis. Ain for accepting me as one of the committee. I know I don’t contribute much for the program. But I know. Everyone has played an important role in a certain event, no matter how big or small it is. Quran even says that, if you perform even the smallest deed, you will be rewarded (99:7). The main thing here is the sincerity in doing our responsibility.

In the mean time, I just want to have a glimpse on what the improvement for this time KF. Not everything will goes according to your plan. But the controversial issues back then is totally regrettable. I thought they should have anticipate in such incident.

Since the event is over, please produce a good report as a reference for next KF. I hope that KF will become bigger and better from now on. I really hope that KF can win the Best Programme under the Students Award some day.

P/S – always envied of the success of Engitex

Event : KAED Fest 2008
Date : 28 July – 3 August 2008
Venue : KAED Building, IIUM
Theme : Live It · Be It

Check out what I think on the previous, KAED Fest 2007 and KAED Fest 2006.

So far, students told me that the promotion inside the campus is superb.

How about the program? I’ve just can’t wait!

I’ve experienced using the eco-pack when I went to HS cafe on 13th June 2008. I don’t know when it begins. I hate it when I have to pay extra 20 cents. When you buy a Nasi Goreng Pattaya for RM4, and suddenly you have to pay for RM 4.20. The university should subsidized the eco-pack. Not giving the pressure to students anymore.

There’s nothing political here. I believed it’s one of the achievements of the SRC for this year. I still remember one of their promises, is to spread the awareness of not using Polystyrene packaging anymore. This is because the so-called ‘white coffin’ can cause cancer due to the plastic materials. So, they have collaborate with the Food, Facilities and Services Department to kick off with this campaign.

Another main issue here is the ‘Sistem Lupus Sendiri’ which is a ‘Self Decoy Zone’ system. Its a very simple issue where students are required to clean up their mess own their own. Come on guys, you’ve grown up. Why still have to wait for the janitors to clean up your mess? Unless you spill it on the floor, its their job. Helping each other is a good deed. If you are working out there, this is the system that most companies will apply. Unless you eat at mamak stall who cares?

Here’s the link of FFSD and SRC.
Food, Facilities and Services Department
Students Representative Council
Credits to EATware packaging for the picture above.

Kafeteria UIAM diarah guna bekas Eco-Pack

Oleh Basir Zahrom
DALAM usaha melahirkan generasi bebas toksin dan meningkatkan kesedaran mengenai alam sekitar, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) akan menguatkuasakan penggunaan bekas makanan ‘Eco-Pack’ dan ‘Sistem Lupus Sendiri’ di semua kafeteria dan medan selera di kampus terbabit mulai Ogos depan.

Timbalan Rektor UIAM (Hal Ehwal Pelajar dan Alumni), Hamidon Abdul Hamid, berkata pada peringkat awal ia akan diperkenalkan kepada beberapa kafeteria dan medan selera, sebelum dilaksanakan menyeluruh.

“Semua pengusaha kantin diminta tidak menggunakan bekas polisterina dalam kegiatan penjualan makanan dan sebagai alternatifnya, pelanggan diminta makan di kafeteria menggunakan bekas ‘Eco-Pack’ dengan harga tambahan sebanyak 20 sen atau membawa bekas makanan sendiri.

“Saya yakin tambahan 20 sen tidak menjadi beban dan jika warga kampus membawa bekas makanan sendiri adalah lebih baik dan menjimatkan,” katanya selepas melancarkan program penggunaan Eko-Pack dan Sistem Lupus Sendiri di UIAM, baru-baru ini.

Mengulas mengenai Sistem Lupus Sendiri pula, Hamidon berkata, ia diperkenalkan bagi melatih warga kampus lebih bertanggungjawab terhadap kebersihan kafeteria dan medan selera.

UIAM adalah universiti ketiga selepas Universiti Sains Malaysia dan Universiti Utara Malaysia mengambil langkah memperkenalkan bekas makanan mesra alam itu di kampus masing-masing.

Sementara itu, ketua Jabatan Kemudahan, Pemakanan dan Perkhidmatan Bahagian Hal Ehwal Pelajar, Noriah Ismail, berkata bekas Eco-pack yang diperbuat daripada fiber tandan kelapa sawit itu lebih selamat kerana polisterina putih yang digunakan selama ini mengandungi banyak bahan kimia berbahaya yang boleh menyebabkan kanser.

“Bekas polisterina ini juga memberi kesan kepada alam sekitar kerana memerlukan sekurang-kurangnya 500 tahun untuk reput, manakala jumlah tenaga yang tinggi untuk memusnahkannya.

“Sebaliknya, Eco-Pack boleh dikitar semula dan selepas tiga bulan jika tertanam, ia akan bertukar menjadi baja,” katanya.

This article was taken from Berita Harian Online, 24th July 2008.

9th April – Wednesday

Everything is ready and prepared for the mission. I stayed at Faiz’s room for the night and spent the time watching just a few movies. I have to sleep early because we will be leaving UIA by 3.0 am and for sure I don’t want to be late. Thanks to Faiz for sending me to S-DEV office, the meeting and departure point for the group. After loading all our bagage into the bus, we left UIA as scheduled (3.0 am). Once we aboard the bus, everyone is fall asleep again and woke up when reaching LCCT about 5.40 am. We checked-in our bagage right away then performed the Subuh prayer before we checked-in at 6.30 am. Our fligt from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap by AirAsia took off at 7.15 am as scheduled. Very lucky, there’s no flight delay.

On board, we are informed that the filght would take about two hours to reach Siem Reap. There’s nothing much to do in the aircraft, while watching the cabin staff carrying out their duties then I remembered about Aya Ueto’s “Attention Please” and Takuya Kimura’s “Good Luck”. We landed at Siem Reap International Airport at 9.15 am and was greeted by our host Imam Musa. We were then taken to D’Wau Restaurant to have our brunch where they served Malaysia’s cuisine, such as variety of Nasi Goreng. Oh yeah! Our tummies are not ready to accept the local food yet. The weather is hot and according to the weather forecast, it may reach up to 35° Celsius.
After taking the brunch, we proceed our journey to Dam Sbai, Battambang. According to Imam Musa, the journey would take about four hours because there’s so many road works on the way. However, we stopped at Sisophon Bus Station after 3 hours journey to have some refreshment and to relieve ourselves at the public toilet. My goodness! The toilet is beyond my expectation. It is indeed in a very poor condition. There was only a small kolah and gayung as well as WC. Now that’s what I call “Water Closet”. We continued our journey there on.

At 3.15pm, we arrived at Imam Musa’s house and started to unload our luggage. Female participants stayed in Imam’s house while male participants stayed in the Dhiyauddin Mosque. We had a very warm welcome and we enjoyed our meal from the host. I remembered what Dr. Dinon once said, “We can eat their meals but don’t look how the food is prepared. Otherwise we just cannot take it.” All I can say is that the level of hygiene and cleanliness awareness is quite poor among the villagers. You can see flies everywhere. There’s no proper dustbin and the kids are littering around the village.
Just to share an amusing story. There are some tablighs from France and Algeria staying at the mosque. Tabligh is an Islamic preaching group. After Maghrib prayer, as usual they do the tazkirah in Arabic, which most of us could not understand. However, Ustaz Shukri (the local) who sat beside them translated the tazkirah to Khmer language while another ustaz translated to Bahasa Melayu for our sake! Syukur!

After having dinner, we had our first coordination meeting. We were divided into three groups and my group was responsible on the ‘Special Task’.

10th April – Thursday

Today is our second day in Cambodia. We have a lot of work to do. Since I’m in the Special Task group, we are required to paint Muhammadi Mosque and prepare the numbering system for the medical team. Briefly, the medical team will be carrying out a circumcision ceremony. The Education team would entertain the kids with modules. Research & Development (R&D) team would conduct a survey and giving out donation to the poor villagers.

Muhammadi Mosque is located just across the river from the Dhiyauddin Mosque and can be reached either by roads which takes about ten minutes or by boat. The boat is operated by a lady to ferry people to cross the river. Our task is to clean and paint the exterior part of the mosque. Its tiring however we enjoyed doing the task.

Another big event in the late afternoon. Imam Musa informed us that there would be an aqiqah of a cow at the Muhammadi Mosque. So we all gathered at the mosque to see how the aqiqah is carried out. To my surprise, there was only three persons to slaughter the cow and everything was done within five minutes. Its really amazing, compared to Qurban during the Eid Adha at our places where many people involve in the activity. Tell you what, from today onwards we have beef served everyday for every meal, from breakfast till dinner.
Our next task was to assist the Medical Team to carry out the circumcision exercise for the boys. As we are told, many parents could not afford to circumcise their boys at the clinic. That was why they really appreciate our mission. We helped the Medical Team to organise the activity based on first come basis and control the situation. Our mission managed to circumcised 32 boys today, though there was some technical problem with the laser instrument and the doctors have to perform the circumcision manually. The scenario of this activity is very much different compared to our boys back home, where most everyone is excited to be circumcised. Here the boys are scared to be circumcised.

What a day ! full of activities. After dinner we had meeting to prepare the next day activity as well as post-mortem for today’s activity.

11th April – Friday

The Special Task of our group includes the R&D for the standard of living of the villagers. Our visit to Dam Sbai village was guided by Sister Filin. She took us to the Islamic Local Development Organisation (ILDO). It is a community centre to develop skills among the villagers such as sewing. The skill acquired would help them to improve their economy for the better living.

Today we managed to conduct the survey on eight families and visited six houses. The objective of the visit was to donate some telekung, kain pelikat and cash for the poor families. I felt very sorry to see them in such conditions.
I noticed that the traffic management is very poor. It seems as if there is no traffic law enforcement. Road accidents happen everyday. Even today we had a Jenazah prayer after Friday prayer. As commonly practice by most Muslim, each jemaah received R1000 (about RM0.80) from the family.
The next event is the officiating of our program at Dhiyauddin Mosque by Ustaz Hamidon, Deputy Rector of Students & Alumni Affairs Division IIUM. Due to poor setting up of PA system of the mosque, we could hardly concentrate on the speeches given by Ust Hamidon, Mufti and the local governor. Each of the speeches were being translated either from English to Khmer or Khmer to English.
At last, at almost 4pm, then we had our lunch. The medical team continued the circumcision activity and altogether the team manages to circumcise 36 boys today.

As for dinner tonight, we have ‘Lembu Naik Bukit’ which is beef fried with margarine. ‘Naik bukit’ means that when you eat, your stomach will get full. That’s why it is called ‘naik bukit’! As usual, after dinner, we carried out a post mortem for today’s activity and discussed the preparation for next day event. on preparation for the next day.

12th April – Saturday

Today, my group was assigned as the ‘Education’ team. Basically our job is to entertain the children with some simple educational modules while they were waiting for the circumcision. In the morning, we conducted a telematch of four interesting and fun games. Since communication is a problem for us, so we applied the sign language with some basic commands in Khmer to teach the children.

Next, we showed Ice Age 2 movie using the LCD projector. We also taught them nasyid. Thanks to Bro. Aswad as the only cultural unit member who came along with us to Cambodia. After lunch, we had colouring and flash card session with the children. I noticed that the children prefer doing the colouring than drawing. To end the day, we had another telematch and futsal later in the afternoon.

Bro Rozaidi challenged us if we could organise a telematch with the children. Well, we we took up the challenge and we organised the event successfully. Big clap to our team! It was a tough day and yet full of fun and joy. Honestly and sincerely, I’d like to thank AKHI Project because of the experience I gained in managing the children through such programmes. Even though there’s barrier in communication, I still could carry out the the programme lively and smoothly. If only they could understand a little bit English or Bahasa Melayu, it would be a lot of fun and better understanding.

The English language is not a free education in school, but parents have to pay extra fee. Since most of the villagers are of poor family, priority is given for food compared to circumcision or Engligh language.
Later in the afternoon, my friends and I took a boat ride along the river. I saw a lot of rubbish along the river bank. From my observation, there’s no environmental and hygiene awareness among the people.

Tonight, after the Isyak prayer, we visited Imam Musa’s brother in-law who had an accident that day and stayed about 100 meters away. Since we are doing the social visit, Imam Musa also took us to another villager’s house nearby who has been ill for sometime. Road accidents are something that is very common happened and the locals do not take heed for it. Cambodians apply left hand drive, like the Americans.

As usual, after the dinner, we carried out a post mortem and decide on preparation for the last day of the official mission.

13th April – Sunday

My group was assigned for R&D task again and I’m considered lucky to be in this group. The reason is that, my group is the only group has the chance to be in R&D team TWICE. I went to Cambodia with the objective to study and learn about their culture and society. Since I’m a designer, I also consider about designs an indigenous architecture from the visit.

This time, we went further into the rural areas as it took an hour journey from our station. More donations were handed over as we visited more houses. Its very tiring because of the hot weather. But since this is what I want from this program, I determined to finish it. Just wanna share something about the house design in that village, the ground floor has a massive height but the second floor looks standard. Besides that, most houses in Cambodia have at least a hammock. It’s a common sight seeing hammock either outside or inside their house. Is hammock ergonomic to our body? I don’t think so.

After that, we went to another village which is located about two kilometres away from our hotel. The village is located along a riverbank. During raining season, the water level will rise and they will have to stay on the second floor of their houses. I wish I could come again during the raining season because I want to see how they live in that condition.

Today is the last day for our mission in Dam Sbai. Our group has finished the R&D task for the day. The medical team managed to circumcise a total of 174 boys for the whole four days and that was a record. Even the doctors said that they love their job and would missed it once they returned home. It’s such a good experience for everyone that involved with the surgery. Even my friend who is an ICT student helped the doctors and became a nurse for that day. I’m sure he’ll remember it for all his life.

Some of us visited a crocodile farm which is situated about 500 metres away. I was awed by the number of the crocodiles down there. I presumed there are about more than a hundred crocodiles in a small farm. It’s a private farm and hence no safety measures for any visitors. Its dangerous indeed and rather scary to look at those reptiles.

That night, our last night in Battambang, we went city sight-seeing by night I forgot to mention that it was a New Khmer Year which falls on 12th April. To mark the celebration, the Cambodians decorated their houses. We loitered around the central park and its quite dark because not enough of garden lightings. We had some pop corns and sugar cane juice by the road side. Eventually, there’s nothing to see that night as most shops had closed early because of Khmer New Year celebration.

After four hot and sunny days, finally the rain pours down with some strong winds and we had to rush and moved our bags and stuff inside the mosque. Otherwise they’ll get wet and we don’t have place to sleep. Because of that I caught a cold and a slight fever while the rest of my friends enjoy the activities in the evening.

14th April – Monday

Today I feel better but I still have diarrhea or we called it cirit-birit (CB) and I still going to toilet many times of the day. Today is our last day in Dam Sbai and sadly is that most of us had food poisoning I guess. So everyone is rushing to the toilet. It could be the unhygienic food preparation or our body system could not take anymore the local food. Its only Bro. Abu from S-DEV who did not suffer any CB throughout the trip.

Since we have accomplished our mission, its time for free and easy activity and the group decided to roam about the Battambang town in the morning. I did not want to worsen my condition, so I stayed behind and finished up my packing because we would be leaving Dam Sbai after Solat Zohor.
After lunch, we left Dam Sbai to spend a night at Siem Reap. The journey took four hours and there’s something to be remembered that one had to put on the mask even in the air-conditioned bas. Its so dusty outside and inside the bus too.

Finally, we arrived at Siem Reap and we stayed at Villa Coconut Lodge right in the city. At last after five exhaustive days, we have the chance to have clean hot bath because at Dam Sbai the water smells like kerosene. I stayed with Qadir and Jadulhaq in a big room.

We had dinner at Mama Angkor Malaysian Food which is situated about two kilometres from the lodge. Finally it feels like home because the televisions both in our room and at the restaurant can accept the transmission of RTM1 and TV3 channel from Malaysia. I love the TV programmes because it has more than 50 channels. Its like watching the whole Astro and we still can pick any channel we wanted to watch. Its been five days without any news from Malaysia and surprisingly the political news back home seem very ‘HOT’ . Its about the urge of some groups demanding the present PM to resign!

15th April – Tuesday

No more community social programs. We had completed the special program. It’s time to explore Siem Reap especially the historical Angkor Wat and the largest Tonle Sap Lake in Asia.After taking breakfast at Imam Musa’s restaurant, we proceed to Angkor Wat which about five kilometers away from the city.
We have to pay to enter the Angkor Wat and something amused me because I had never experienced it back home. May be for security measures, each of the visitors photo is printed on the admission ticket.
Through my observation, Angkor Wat was a township full of buildings and structures. The famous one is the Angkor Thom which is embedded in Cambodian national flag. Trust me when I said that its tiring walking from the main entrance to the main structure which is around 500 metres. We visited three popular monuments, Angkor Thom, Bayon Temple and another one. The final one is famous because Angelina Jolie has been there for her shooting in one of the Tomb Raiders movie.

Outside the Angkor Wat, as seen everywhere, one would be surrounded by the locals who are selling souvenirs such as postcards, bracelet and even bottled drinks (mineral water). Here in Cambodia, the business is done by little girls who are surprisingly can speak and understand English sufficient for selling their goods to foreigners and tourists. However, their sweetness made me to buy something at last, and even one of the girl gave me a ‘love letter’ as a token of appreciation. Yeah! Am I the lucky one, no one knows.

After that, we went to Mama Angkor for lunch and returned to our lodge to have some quick bath and prepare ourselves for the Tonle Sap Lake visit. Since it was hot and dry season, one could see the difference of the water level and the river was murky while the road was dusty. There was a village along the streets to Tonle Sap. Most of the houses are wooden houses and in poor condition. It took 30 minutes of boat ride to the floating village. Most of the villagers are Muslim and poor people who could not afford to live on land.

We visited the floating mosque and donated some cash to the Imam. This one is a real floating mosque unlike the one in Terengganu. After that, we visited one of Imam Musa’s relative who lives in a floating house. Can you imagine, living on a lake, totally depending on the natural water source, the lake itself? How about totally depending on them for your daily chores and activities from bathing, cleaning, ablution and many more?

After visiting the floating village, we went to Kandal Market in Siem Reap city. It was like a Pasar Seni in Kuala Lumpur. It was also known as the shopping haven for tourists. It was 7.15pm and everyone was totally excited to shop. After shopping, we had dinner at Mama Angkor again.

Before returning to the lodge, we gathered to share some experience among the group. Everyone was expressing their gratitude and sharing their sweet memories and experience with the rest.
We had a very good sleep since it was such an exhaustive day.

16th April – Wednesday

Today will be the last day in Cambodia. Nothing much to say. We checked-out from the lodge at 7.30 am and arrived at the airport about 8am. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 9.15am with AirAsia. Since we don’t have any breakfast yet, the officers allocated RM20 per pax to have their own meal in the flight. Do remember that AirAsia applies the free seating for all passengers. I sat at the rear seat with my friends. Unfortunately, the stewardess served the meal from the front to therear. So when I requested for 1901 Hotdog, it was already sold out. Poor me. Here’s what I bought.
• Nasi Lemak – RM8
• Sandwiches- RM6
• Milo - RM4
• Bun - RM2
• I also bought AirAsia souvenir pen which cost RM5.

Finally we arrived at LCCT by 11.15 am. Alhamdulillah and praise to Allah for the safety throughout the journey. It was a remarkable journey of my lifetime yet. UIA bus already waited outside the terminal and drove us back to UIA . We reached campus by 1pm.

The End. Thank you for reading.

Its a main board committee montage for the ‘Knowing You Knowing Me’ and the concept was taken from TV series ‘Ghost’ played by Naz and Cheryl.

Its my fifth time becoming a Taaruf Week committee members and finally, I’ve been appointed to become the Programme Manager for this remarkable university program.

I’ve been in multimedia bureau in the past 4 Taaruf and when applying for this time, I told Hazura that I’ll be joining under Discipline & Ibadah (DnI) bureau. At the same time in the application form, I’ve chosen to be the PM as my first choice and Assistant PM for the second choice. I just wanna give it a try as I want to challenge myself not to be in my comfort zone anymore. Imagine if I’m in DnI then I’ll challenge myself to wake up early in order to wake the students for their Subuh prayer. Hmm that’s pretty challenging isn’t it? For a guy who is not used to wake up early.

By the way, becoming a PM has giving me the opportunity to enhance my leadership skills more and the challenging part in becoming a PM is that I need to be responsible with all the bureaus. Besides that, PM is the one who will make a decision regarding certain issues. I’m lucky to have Sister Huda as my assistant because she have been in various bureaus in Taaruf and she helped me a lot in making some tough decisions.

Basically, this is among the shortest Taaruf where it only takes 10 days starting from the induction course (3 days), preparation days (3 days) and the Taaruf itself is 4 days. I’ve just arrived from Cambodia on the 16th April and I don’t even have a good time for rest as the induction also started on the same day. Now, everything is over and I have ample time to blog while waiting for the next job.

What are the memorable things that happen during this Taaruf? I think its that becoming an usher for the VIP in 4 slots, sitting on the stage while listening to the talk, no friends to chat and cannot fall asleep on the stage, that’s among the challenges. Not to forget the opportunity to meet Major Dr. Faiz, Malaysian astronaut, in-person is pretty fun too. I have to act cool through out the session by letting others to take his autographs and pictures and in the end, before he left in his Gen.2, I’ve asked him for a picture.

I wonder if this is my last time joining Taaruf because on the next intake in July, I’m going to be busy with TigaBelas event. Besides that in November intake, I’m still doing my practical. Maybe the next time will be after my degree show. Who knows?