Src Highlights - Volume 5

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

Sem 2 2004/05

Vol.5

ORANG MINYAK: PLIGHT OF THE SISTERS Recent rumours concerning an unwelcome ‘visitor’ or rather, its popular Malay term, orang minyak, have been spreading around campus and causing residents of the sisters’ mahallah to reside in anxiety. After a series of investigation, it has been unearthed that these hearsays turned out to be merely tall-tales as they were descriptions without any concrete evidence. However, we were informed that there were reports by female students stating that they had been disturbed by an unknown man late at night. To comfirm these claims, a representative from the SRC was sent to meet up with the victims face-to-face, and it is now confirmed that the whole ordeals were in no way connected to orang minyak. Following this event, the Security Division has intensified patrolling schedule at the sisters’ mahallat and increased security measures. We therefore ask you to give your full co-operation by following the rules set by the division especially regarding the curfew hour in the mahallat. The SRC and authorities of IIUM hope that with this clarification, students are aware of the real situation and are not carried away with the proliferating untruth about the

Orang minyak - No reports have given proof to the presence of such ‘being’. existence of orang minyak in our campus. We hope that no other such news will spread around in the future; always ensure that you get the right information from the right people to ensure that these ‘scary tales’ may no longer intimidate the comfort of living in campus.

However, should you come across someone or something suspicious, please come forward and make a report immediately to your respective mahallah offices or security guards. Always remember to take precautious actions when you are in your mahallah.

SR C VISIT TO MAHALLAH HALEEMAH SRC In collaboration with the Mahallah Representative Committee (MRC), the SRC Welfare Secretariat has initiated the “SRC Visit to Mahallah” programme which began with a

Representatives of IIUM authorities.

SRC HIGHLIGHTS

visit to Mahallah Haleemah on the 7th of February. The objectives of this programme are to introduce the new line-up of SRC and MRC members, to identify students’ problems and find the best solutions, and to strengthen the relationship between students, SRC, MRC, and the authority. Organized at Mahallah Haleemah’s Multipurpose Hall (MPH), the event was attended by the Principal of Haleemah, hostel manager, officers from IIUM Properties (IP) and Security Department, and also residents of Mahallah Ameenah. It began with speeches from the Principal followed by the President of SRC 04/05, Bro Mohd Zarifi bin Mohd Daud. The event then continued with a dialogue session which mainly focused on students’ security, the expensive café food,

unsatisfactory sanitary services, issues of wild dogs and monkeys, and requests from the students which include access to the internet for every room. The authority of the Mahallah said that they are planning to provide wireless Internet access or better known as ‘hotspot’ in a common room at all blocks of a Mahallah beginning with Mahallah Haleemah and Nusaibah. The implementation is still in progress. Following the success of this event, the SRC is now planning to organize another visit to other mahallat soon. We see that this face-to-face arrangement is a big opportunity for students to voice out their concerns and enquiries. We therefore encourage students to attend this program whenever it is held at your mahallah.

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PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS Assalamualaikum wbt “And remember the time when you were few and helpless on earth, fearful lest people do away with you, where upon He sheltered you and strengthened you with His succour, and provided for you sustenance out of the good things of life so that you might have cause to be graceful” (al-Anfal: 26) Brothers and sisters in Islam, New Year of Hijra comes again. We are now in the year 1426 ahead of the Hijratul Rasul from Mecca to Medina but the spirits and lessons of Hijra are still fresh in our minds and souls. The ayah that I mentioned above refers to the weakness of the believers in the early days of Islam. However, after 8 years of Hijra, Muhammad Rasulullah and the Sahabah returned back to Mecca and took over the city.

URGENT NOTICE!

This was how Hijra became a mark to the beginning of the Islamic era. Hijra in today’s context, does not mean migration from one place to another but emigration of moral, attitude and good conduct to become a true practicing Muslim. As we are still in the mood of New Year, let us together glance back to the time of Prophet (p.b.u.h) and grab some valuable lessons to be learned and practiced in our life. My beloved sisters Recently, we had been tampered with the news of ‘orang minyak’ happening in the sisters’ residences. As was already informed, these horrifying stories turned out to be merely rumours. However, Insya-Allah, we are going to put up this matter forward to the university’s authority to increase the security measures in our colleges. But, what more important is to get ourselves closer to the AllMighty since this is the best way to protect ourselves, InsyaAllah. Happy Maal Hijra 1426 Munaliza Mat Lazim Vice President 3

SRC: UP, CLOSE & PERSONAL NAME: Nor Azilah Abdullah POST: Treasurer MATRIC NO.: 0134562 ROOM NO.: SUMAYYAH G3.6 COURSE: LLBS / 4 ADDRESS: Kg. Kubang Kuar Dalam, 06700, Pendang Kedah ORIGIN: Pendang, Kedah (MALAYSIA) SIBLINGS: 2 out of 4 EMAIL: [email protected] CONTACT NO.: 019-208 2995 WORDS OF WISDOM: Understand more, Judge less - anonymous AIMS: •

•

•

Responsible for all financial matters

NAME: Mohd Syahir Che Sulaiman POST: Assistant Treasurer MATRIC NO.: 0227331 ROOM NO.: UTHMAN E4.2 COURSE: BECS / 3 ADDRESS: C 8889, Jalan Bukit Serindit, 75400 Melaka ORIGIN: Kota Bharu, Kelantan (MALAYSIA) SIBLINGS: 1 out of 7 EMAIL: [email protected] CONTACT NO.: 019-573 7700 WORDS OF WISDOM: “al-Faqir ila-Allah…” AIMS: •

of SRC 2004/2005

Kuliyyah of Economics and

To promote the spirit of ukhuwwah

Management Science and also to

among IIUM community

solve arising issues and concerns

To ensure smooth running of SRC

among them

programs in terms of financial

•

To ensure the successfulness of

To cater financial problems of IIUM students

matters •

To represent the students of the

•

To co-ordinate fund-raising activities of SRC

CONVEST 2005

SRC HIGHLIGHTS

On the 22nd of February, students of IIUM were taken by surprise by the sudden small tremors that occurred in our campus from 9 pm to midnight that caused much distress among the students. Therefore, we would like to inform you that what happened that Tuesday night was not initiated by an earthquake whatsoever but was actually caused by the detonation of rocks for housing projects nearby the campus. We hope that with this clarification, students will no longer panic or worry over this matter.

KUANTAN AFFAIRS The IIUM campus in Kuantan, Pahang has always encountered problems. Thankfully, these problems seem to have lessened. However, we still face problems which affect the comfort of living there. Café 1. Food variety is very bad and often, there is nothing left to be eaten as early as 8 pm. Although ordered food is available, it is still not satisfying. This problem occurs as there is only one café operator in this campus. Therefore, we urge the authority to open more cafes for the students to serve the needs of the Kuantan residents. The operating hours should be prolonged as most of the Clinical students come back late at night after their duties. 2. Transportation As the cafe is not operating as expected, most of the time, students need to go outside in order to get their food. However, the location of mahallat is far away from the nearest shop and to make it worse, there are no public transportations that come along the way regularly and the students are not allowed to bring their own vehicles. This creates problems especially to the Pre-Clinical Medical students, the Pharmacy students and the Allied Health Sciences students as it affects their daily routines (i.e. going to the bank, shopping for daily items etc.). The only transportation available is the IIUM buses which operate in the morning and in the evening at around 4.30pm. For this reason, any business that needs to be settled during office hours is totally affected. 3. Financial Services Last academic year, the mahallat fees have to be paid personally by the students. However, for this year, it is subtracted directly from students’ account and the amount subtracted was doubled (for this year and the last year). Although refund money has been given, there are still some students who have yet to receive their payment until today. Furthermore, the refund money was always banked-in later than the promised date.

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EDITORIAL BOARD

GET TO KNOW

CARING CL UB CLUB In this issue, SRC Highlights puts forward an IIUM Interest Based Society which is the Caring Club. Appropriate to its name, Caring Club’s objective is based on its interest which is to help the needy, namely orphans, old folks, and the disabled with the motto ‘We Care, We Share’. Last semester, under the management of Bro. Mohd Radzlan Jalaluddin, Caring Club organized Caring Week. Among the activities organized to fulfill the aim of charity were futsal matches, charity walk and a charity concert. About 120 orphans and 30 disabled children joined the activities prepared for them. The RM 5000 that were collected from these events were contributed to the Lembaga Pengurusan Anakanak Yatim dan Miskin, Paya Rumput, Sungai Udang, Melaka (PAYASUM), Rumah Ilham, and Rumah Amal Hashimiah. This semester, they focus on the mentoring or muakhah programmes with the orphans of PAYASUM. Besides, they plan to have visits to another house for the orphans,

which is Rumah Penyayang Banting this February. Over 70 IIUM students volunteered themselves to be the mentors for these programmes. The Caring Club is indeed a platform for students to serve the community and an indirect way of building up interpersonal skills. For those who are interested to get any updates about this club, you can contact Caring Club’s current president, Bro. Mohd Radziq Jalaluddin at number 012-9347112.

SRC HIGHLIGHTS

Ex-Officios Muhd Faheem Mohd Ezani Abdul Rahman Abdul Karem Reporters Amrah, Siti Asma’, Amira, Fadli, Nik, Sharifah, Zainatul, Azian, Hasnah. Design & Layout SYM Crew Any comment or suggestion, email us at: [email protected]

TAZKIRAH The Day you shall see it, every mother giving suck shall forget her suckling baby, and every pregnant female shall drop her load (unformed): you shall see mankind as in a drunken riot, yet not drunk: but dreadful will be the Wrath of God (Surah Al-Hajj: 2)

Members of Caring Club during a visit to PAYASUM recently.

NUSANT ARA THEA TRICAL WEEK 2005 NUSANTARA THEATRICAL Nusantara Theatrical Week is a programme organized by the Department of English Language and Literature (DELL), held from the 14th to the 17th of February 2005 at the Main Auditorium. With the theme ‘Across Culture, Across Tradition, One Nation, One Blood’, it was a four-night affair with the performances of two magnificent plays, ‘TUN TEJA’ and ‘HUNGRY’ directed by Azleman bin Kamin (BENL, 2nd year) and Nurul Dayanna binti Norji (BENL, 2nd year) respectively. ‘TUN TEJA’ was the opening act for the week. It is a tale of a tragic love story between Tun Teja and Hang Tuah. ‘TUN TEJA’ tells a story of sacrifices, loyalty and betrayal which served as the elements of strength for ‘TUN TEJA’. The play was accompanied by the IIUM Caklempong Musical Group and Seni Silat Gayong Malaysia. Meanwhile, ‘HUNGRY’ is a play about the well-known Chinese culture, the Hungry Ghost Festival. It tells about the festival held every year on the 7th month of the Lunar Calendar where the spirits of the dead will roam searching for food and offerings to calm their souls. ‘HUNGRY’ teaches about different cultures that exist in our society. ‘HUNGRY’ closed the week along with the ‘yoralla’ - a musical performance which is very popular in Australia.

Advisor Suzardi Maulan

The audiences were not only students of IIUM but also from other universities namely, Universiti Teknologi Mara(UiTM), Akademi Tentera Malaysia(ATMA), Kolej Universiti Islam Malaysia(KUIM), Universiti Teknologi Petronas(UTP) and of course the IIUM Matriculation Centre. Despite the programme’s success, there were also critiques made by the audience especially regarding the attire worn by some students during the performances which is inappropriate as they do not reflect the Islamic environment that we, students of IIUM, live in. It should be noted that there were also outsiders during the shows and therefore, students of IIUM should have portrayed the Islamic attitudes that we have been nurtured with in order to uphold the good name of this university. However, a big congratulations should be extended to the organizing committee for their efforts and hard work in making sure this programme became a success. The performances managed to introduce us to the beliefs of other culture namely the Chinese culture and also to reintroduce us to the glory of the Malay female srikandi, Tun Teja. We hope to see more of these kinds of programmes in the future, Insya-Allah.

SPEAK UP..! Q: The Ministry of Higher Learning has declared that students are allowed to work while studying. What is your opinion on this? Is it advisable to do so? “Considering the fact that there are students who need financial assistance, if they are capable then they should work part time while studying. But if a student does not require any extra financial assistance, then it would be Nabil Feisal Bamadhaj, best to concentrate solely on Political Science, 2 nd yr one’s studies”. student. “Students who wish to work part time should consider employment which will not interfere with their study plans, assignments and their social lives. In my opinion, students who can manage their time effectively are advisable to work part time”. Mohamad Danial Hairudin, Economics, 1 st yr student.

“Nowadays, it is very difficult to be supported by our parents alone, and therefore I prefer to work part-time. In my opinion every student should do some kind of parttime job for their own benefits and also to lessen the burdens of their parents”. Meldina Ugarat, Communication, 3 rd yr student.

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NEWS SR C VISIT TO SRC KU ANT AN CAMPUS KUANT ANTAN On the 29th until the 30th January 2005, SRC of Kuantan gladly received a delegation from the SRC of Gombak consisting of about 40 people, including most of this tenure’s office bearers and newly recruited sub-committee members, accompanied by SRC Advisor, Bro. Abu Bakar Omar. Although the arrival was quite late, it did not stop them from visiting most of the interesting places in the new building of Kulliyyah of Medicine, and also some sightseeing around Kuantan town. As this was a rare opportunity to have, a session with the SRC of Kuantan campus and MSC (Medical Students’ Society) was held during the night. The two-way discussion was mostly about the welfare and problems around the Kuantan campus since the opening of the campus. On the next day, the delegates moved to have some enjoyable time at Batu Hitam Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in Kuantan, accompanied by sub-committee members of Kuantan campus. Due to the restriction of time and busy schedule, they could not make it to KUKTEM. Despite the short meeting, it was indeed enjoyable and brought about strong ties of ukhuwwah between both institutions.

THANK YOU!

On the 15th of February, a fund-giving meeting was organized at the International Students’ Office (ISO) in order to hand-over the money collected by IIUM international students to help the victims of the 26th December’s tsunami catastrophe. The money was collected by the Turkish Society, in collaboration with the International Affairs Secretariat of the SRC. They organized a Football Charity Match last month to collect the money for this event. As a result, they were able to collect RM 2780 to be distributed to members of the IIUM community who are affected by this disaster. Receiving the money on behalf of the victims was Dr. Ashraf Md Hashim, Director of Students’ International Office (ISO). He expressed his deepest appreciation to the Turkish Society, the SRC and also other international students who contributed to the fund with the hope that such spirit of care among Muslims will always be strong and always be practiced among IIUM students.Thank you very much for your contributions and may Allah bless you!

SRC HIGHLIGHTS

SR C F AMIL Y D AY SRC FAMIL AMILY DA

The ‘big’ family enjoying a stroll in the jungle. th

Recently, on the 12 of February 2005, the SRC organized a Family Day at Taman Rimba Komanwel, Rawang. Sis. Wan Nurul Hawa Hj. Othman, Assistant General Secretary 2 of the SRC served as the Director for this programme. The programme, which was intended mainly for SRC excos and their subcommittee served as an approach for all members of this big family to get to know each other better. Also present was Bro.Abu Bakar Omar, Assistant Director of the Students’ Development Division (S-DEV)and the Advisor of SRC. The organizing committee for this event has provided participants with two

TSUNAMI CHARITY CARNIVAL On the 15th February 2005, a Tsunami Charity Carnival was held along with the celebration for Maal Hijrah 1426 in order to collect money for the victims of tsunami recently as well as to welcome the new year of Islam. Among the events organized were charity stalls and also a charity concert. The event began with the opening of stalls along the riverside of IIUM at 9 am and also a cultural stage programme which included poetry recitation, nasyid performances, exhibition and also a forum about the recent tsunami disaster which hit Asia. The event came to a grand end with a charity concert. It was also attended by the Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Malaysia, Datuk Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim and wife and also the Rector of IIUM, Prof. Dr. Mohd Kamal Hassan. The event was aimed at promoting alternative and beneficial entertainment that is allowed in Islam. The performers were great. However, certain things in the programme should be taken into account seriously. It is informed that the audience was allowed free seating which resulted them in sitting together with different genders. We therefore hope that such events will be organized again in IIUM with careful consideration of the Islamic code of conduct.

Enjoying a light moment with Bro.Zarifi.

modules; one for the morning session, while the other was for the evening session which involved activities comprising ice-breaking session, group performances, and jungletracking. The most unique part of the event was when the participants were given a chance to have their meals in trays set for five persons, which is one of the sunnahs of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h). Through this event, it is hoped that every member of the SRC will be able to work hand-in-hand in the future so that everyone will be able to give the very best of us to the students of IIUM. Insya-Allah.

PRESENT ATION OF PRESENTA ANCE ASSISTANCE FIN ANCIAL ASSIST T O TSUN AMI-AFFECTED TSUNAMI-AFFECTED STUDENTS On January 2005, IIUM presented financial assistance following the Tsunami disaster that has affected our students and their families recently. The money was presented by Prof. Dr. Mohd Kamal Hassan, Rector of IIUM which was held at the Senate Hall, Administration Building at 3:00pm. The programme was attended by Prof. Dr. Mohd Kamal Hassan, the Rector of IIUM, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar, the Deputy Rector of IIUM, Bro. Mohd Zarifi Mohd Daud, President of SRC and Dr. Ashraf Md Hashim, the Director of International Students Association (ISO). The programme started with a speech by Bro. Muzammil, a representative of the recipients. He expressed his heartiest gratitude towards the students and staffs of IIUM. The event continued with the speech by the Rector of IIUM. He said that with this help, it will lessen the burdens of the students. The money was given to 5 students from Sri Lanka, 13 students from Maldives and 2 students from Malaysia itself. The programme ended at 4:00pm after the guests had some refreshments.

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