Src Highlights - Volume 9

VOLUME 9 |

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

SEMESTER 1, 2005/2006

DOWN TO EARTH RESCUE Right after Friday prayer on 12 August 2005, Brother Zarifi with the rest of the other SRC exco members went on a mission to give out free masks to people in the immediate vicinity. The action was particularly due to the fatal haze which overwhelmed certain parts of Peninsular Malaysia. Beginning our welfare venture at HS cafe, the SRC exco members started distributing the masks to everyone including those from the administrative staff, lecturers, and of course students. Public transports were one of our distribution spots, and we ended at the main entrance. The deterioration of air quality was caused by burning activities in Sumatera added with the blowing of the monsoon winds and the subsisting dry weather. The effect of the haze was surely a factor for many people to flock down to clinics since there were increased reports

EDITORIAL BOARD

Rescue rangers away - free masks for everyone! of patients suffering from flu, cough, asthma, running nose, and sore throat. Although the haze problem may have subsided for now, we would like to advise students to take extra health precutions if such problem were to arise again in the near future:

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Drink lots of fluid Consume lots of food with vitamin C • Avoid going outdoors. Stay in your rooms (except for going to classes) as much as possible Your health is an amanah. Take good care!

AN ACT OF COWARDICE

EX-OFFICIOS Muhammad Faheem Mohd Ezani Abdul Rahman Abdul Karem

EDITOR Amrah Abdul Majid

REPORTERS Humaira Raslie Khadijah Azman Mohd Fadli Zakaria Nik Khairul Nik Rasdee Shakirah Ismail Siti Asma’ Abdul Ghani Siti Ezrina Alias Siti Maizatul Salamin

DESIGN & LAYOUT SYM Crew

Comments or suggestions? Email us at: [email protected] STUDENT’S REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL

IIUM Students’ Association, Level3, SC 3.7, Student Society Centre, IIUM. 03 - 2056 4646 (Main Office) 03 - 2056 4859 (Fax) SRC HIGHLIGHTS VOLUME 9

It doesn’t need an eagle eye to notice that a number of banners to promote various STAR ‘05 programmes have been sabotaged. Passers-by were completely thunderstrucked on the morning of 27th July 2005 when they saw this; harsh and uncivilized words were sprayed upon the banners for the SRC’s Students’ Activity Carnival 2005 (STAR ‘05) programmes. It indeed implies that someStudent’s Representative Council Y o u r

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one is not in favour of our programmes. No matter what their intention, the SRC is disgusted at such attitude and we approve not their cowardly acts. If such were actions to show disapproval, we ask these people to come forward and confront us in a professional manner. Spraying our banners obviously would not do any good, though we must admit that it certainly is a good way to attract ‘attention’!

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SRC: UP, CLOSE, AND PERSONAL

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS SECRETARIAT

NAME: Ousmane Tounkara POST: Chairperson, International Affairs Secretariat MATRIC NO.: 0117999 ROOM NO.: 2.3, Block C, AL-FARUQ COURSE: BIT/3 ADDRESS: Room 2.3, Block C, Mahallah Al-Faruq, IIUM, Jalan Gombak, 53100 Gombak, K. Lumpur. ORIGIN: Dabola (Guinea Rep. West Africa) SIBLINGS: 3rd out of 5 EMAIL: [email protected] CONTACT NO.: 017-6309271 WORDS OF WISDOM: “The only source of unity is through integration” “United we stand, divided we fall” AIMS: • To cultivate and promote a culture of integration for future leaders of the Ummah • To collaborate with the University authorities in solving international students concerns. • To conduct programs of ummatic essence so that IIUM students are nurtured with the spirit of brotherhood • To acquire skills, knowledge and experience necessary to be a good leader of the Ummah.

NAME: Manezha Sukhanyar POST: Co - Chairperson, International Affairs Secretariat MATRIC NO.: 0212564 ROOM NO.: 4.5, Block J, ASIAH COURSE: BBA/3 ADDRESS: Room 4.5, Block J, Mahallah Asiah, IIUM, Jalan Gombak, 53100 Gombak, K. Lumpur. ORIGIN: Afghanistan SIBLINGS: 3rd out of 6 EMAIL: [email protected] CONTACT NO.: 017-6039398 WORDS OF WISDOM: “Never believe in Excuse, believe in work done” AIMS: • To aid the University in achieving its vision and mission of Integration, Islamisation, Internationalisation, and Comprehensive Excellence (IIICE) • To represent students from the Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Scinces in voicing out their concerns • To reinforce the spirit of unity among students of IIUM. That is, to give a great emphasis on the awareness of being an ummah • To conduct programs of ummatic essence

NAME: Abdul Shakur Abdullah POST: Co - Chairperson, International Affairs Secretariat & CONVEST Manager MATRIC NO.: 0136173 ROOM NO.: 2.8, Block B, BILAL COURSE: HS/4 ADDRESS: 64 Kampung Alor Melong, Jalan Langgar, 05300 Alor Setar, Kedah. ORIGIN: Kedah, Malaysia. SIBLINGS: 5th out of 6 EMAIL: [email protected] CONTACT NO.: 012-2998976 WORDS OF WISDOM: “The best among you in the eyes of Allah are those who are most pious” AIMS: • To represent students from Kulliyyah of Human Sciences thereby attending to their problems to resolve them • To provide means for students to mingle among Malaysians and non-Malaysians, hence, bridging the gap between them • To strengthen the spirit of Islamic brotherhood through programs which will be conducted by the council • To enhance the skills necessary for students after graduating

REVISED ACADEMIC CALENDAR In response to the SRC’s appeal to revise the academic calendar for semester 1, session 2005/2006, a revised version has been issued out by the A&R Division. Prior to the new version of the said calendar, the final exam was scheduled to be held after ‘Eidl-fitr. Since many students were not in favour of this, we have sent our proposal to the authority so that changes can be made to the calendar. Alhamdulillah, as endorsed in the 306 Senate Meeting (Special) on 22 July 2005, th

SRC HIGHLIGHTS VOLUME 9

the academic calendar was reviewed and hence, a new one was issued. We would like to thank the administration for taking into account our proposal. Here are details of the new academic calendar. Take note that the mid-semester exam has been shortened to three days. However, we will be starting our inter semester break on the 2 November 2005: LECTURES: 11 Jul. ‘05 - 4 Sep. ‘05 (8 weeks) BREAK: 5 Sep. ‘05 - 7 Sep. ‘05 (3 days) LECTURES: 8 Sep. ‘05 - 19 Oct. ‘05 (6 weeks) Student’s Representative Council Y o u r

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EXAMINATION PERIOD: 20 Oct. ‘05 - 1 Nov. ‘05 (1 week 6 days) INTER SEM. VACATION: 2 Sep. ‘05 - 4 Dec. ‘05 (4 weeks 5 days) Note: National Day (31 Aug. ‘05) Nuzul Qur’an (21 Oct. ‘05) Deepavali (1 Nov. ‘05) ‘Eid Ul-Fitr (3 - 4 Nov. ‘05) IIUM Convocation (20 - 22 Aug. ‘05) School Holidays(20 - 28 Aug. ‘05)

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NEWS

HOTSPOTS : INTERNET IN MAHALLAH

IIUM students will be able to enjoy 24-hours access to the Internet - use it wisely! Responding to the circular released by the government, the Information Technology Division (ITD) of IIUM decided to realize the mission of producing IT- literate university students by adding another service to its list: providing wireless internet connection around IIUM. This project also aims at encouraging students to buy their own notebooks and desktops, as well as to enable students to netsurf anywhere and everywhere around the university area. The area covered would be at the numerous cafes, administration section and its vicinities, the general labs, the library,

Nescafe Kiosk and most importantly, the mahallat and their respective offices. This project has already gone through its initial stages and is well in progress. Just a few months back, ITD gave the permission to the service providers to do a pretest on this venture at a few female mahallahs and Alhamdullilah, as the result of the trial is positive, the project has moved to installing hotspots at each mahallah. Conversely, although the ITD Unit is outsourcing this mission, the whole process would be done by the service providers. Thus, students will have to pay a minimum of RM 30 in order to

enjoy this privilege. This price is nevertheless subject to change and is still under negotiation. IIUM members also have to install wireless network adapter to their notebooks and desktops before they could use this service. The question of where to install this equipment is not a problem: the service providers will be the ones selling these adapters to us when the time comes. On the other hand, people without their own laptops and desktops do not have to worry; they could still utilize the speedy connection at the computer labs around IIUM. The ITD unit also will indirectly monitor the students’ netsurfing activities by asking the service providers to record the websites visited by the IIUM Community every month just to ensure that the students especially, will not check out the ‘adult’ websites. ITD would also block some undesirable websites in order to strengthen the protection and to make the monitoring job easier. As this project is a large-scaled one, it would not be materialized this semester. According to the service providers, the IIUM campus is quite large and it will take them around 2 or 3 months to complete the whole procedures and set up the right equipments. However, insyaAllah, by the coming semester 2, we could surf the net in the privacy of our own room. A huge pat on the back should be given to the ITD unit for their tireless effort in upgrading their services and hopefully, IIUM members would benefit from this venture.

GET TO KNOW

ICT STUDENTS’ SOCIETY (ICTSS)

One of the newest Kuliyyahbased societies in IIUM is the ICT Student Society or ICTSS. Established barely 2 years ago, the major objective of its founding is to promote the Kuliyyah of SRC HIGHLIGHTS VOLUME 9

ICT to the public, as well as to the community of IIUM. ICTSS also acts as the legal body that champions the rights of the ICT students, besides as an association that helps to increase the level of IT literacy among IIUM students. Despite its young age, it has already organized several activities that benefited not just IIUM members, but also the public. Last year for instance, ICTSS organized the ‘Open Source Day’, a day where explanations on downloadable software such as LINUX, Apache and Web Server were given to the public at the various booths. Besides the ‘Open Source Day’, ICTSS also hosted a family day in order to strengthen the ukhuwwah among its members. Just recently, ICTSS collaborated with the Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS) for a Student’s Representative Council Y o u r

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community service: ICTSS members volunteered to clean up Kanching Waterfall; a popular picnic spot near Rawang. This plausible effort is undoubtedly a noble deed and it shows that IIUM students, especially ICTSS members do care about the environment. However, this club wishes for more positive support from the IIUM members; especially the Kuliyyah of ICT students. Thus, those who are interested to join this society may call either one of these contact persons: Sr. Nur Maizawati Abdul Ghani (012-9344940) Br. Ahmad Aizudin B. Borhan (0122306334) Or you could visit ICTSS official website http://kict.iiu.edu.my/ictss

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NEWS

| SPEAK UP!

HELMET REVISITED : DIALOGUE SESSION

Representatives from the Legal Unit and Security Department. In the previous edition of SRC Highlights, we featured an article regarding implementation of helmet usage in IIUM. True to their words, the Legal Unit had organized an open dialogue between the authorities and the students on 19 July 2005. However, no decisions were made due to the inability of the authorities’ in-charge to attend it. Only their representatives were present. Nevertheless, it was obvious that the majority of the students and staffs of IIUM are opposed to the very idea. The SRC have prepared and submitted a proposal to the authorities on the 27 July pertaining to this matter. According to Br. Rosdam Hanabi Mohamed (Chairperson for Da’wah & Training Secretariat), they prepared the proposal after taking into consideration several factors especially those regarding the well-being of the students. The SRC is not against the implementation of the new rule, but they are only asking for more time.

Among the factors are lack of facilities and safety awareness among students. The SRC has included in the proposal to request for covered parking spaces in order to protect the vehicles when it rains and to provide lockers at every Kuliyyah for the safekeeping of the helmets. They also stressed on the need to instill safety awareness among all students first, by providing adequate early advertisements and notices. This will help to prepare them in accepting the new rule and SRC is more than willing to assist in the process. SRC has also submitted the proposal to delay the enforcement directly to Ustaz Hamidon Abdul Hamid, Deputy Rector of Student Affairs and Alumni on 22 July 2005. However, since no answers have been given yet regarding this controversial issue, let us pray and hope that the authorities will consider students’ interest with appropriate decision.

DIRECT INTAKES - ALERT! The issue of direct intakes was followed up again by the SRC due to numerous complaint done by several students. Sr. Ramdhatun Ajma, chairperson of Education & Academic Dev. Secretariat, has tried arranging a dialogue with representatives from CELPAD, Finance Unit, and Admission and Records Division. The dialogue

SRC HIGHLIGHTS VOLUME 9

session, however, was cancelled. Nonetheless, the SRC has managed to forward the matter to the attention of Prof. Dr. Azmi Omar, Deputy Rector of Academic & International Affairs. A meeting will be arranged with students involved. Further inquiries may be directed to the Office of the Deputy Rector of Academic & International Affairs (03-2056 4017 / 4018).

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Previous ‘Speak Up’ columns may have taken into account affairs of IIUM students. For this volume, we turned to our most dedicated individuals in the IIUM community - our cleaners. We asked them how hygienic are students these days? “I am fairly satisfied with the students’ cleanliness. The only problem so far does not come from the students but the cats! The Latifah Sahar, presence of cats Cleaner, is not hygienic Mahallah Nusaibah. and when some students continuously feed them, it becomes harder to catch and move them to another place.” “It is only natural that some individuals are more concerned with cleanliness than others. Nevertheless, it is sad to see some of IIUM students Puti Supriyati, act like kids; Cleaner, throwing rubbish Mahallah Sumayyah. everywhere as they like and making a mess at the washroom.”

Zuraidah Mirin, Cleaner, HS Café.

“The students always left out a big mess on the tables. It would be great if students can actually throw the plastic utensils into the provided trash can. Don’t spread your leftovers all around the table.”

“Cooperation from students to ensure the cleanliness of the cafe is highly appreciated. On Wednesday, the pasar malam night, students just leave the plastic bags, Fendi Mohamad, food containers Cleaner, and even durian HS Café. leftovers on the table. Cleaning out the leftovers is okay but if it’s added with extra ingredients such as phlegm and spits are disguisting and intolerable”

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