Who says you cannot find your home in UTM??

I would like to start off with these questions "Who says you cannot find your home in UTM", "Who says you cannot find the feeling of festive in UTM", "Who says you are not allowed to celebrate your festival officially"?

This post is mainly to open up your eyes on the possibility that you can have during your study in UTM. I know some of the students have the mind-set that UTM is a place for study and if it was to have celebration, it must be related to Malays or Muslims festivals. The truth is there are many possibilities out there for you to celebrate your festival legally and proudly.

Here is the story of how the unknown groups of people making a big step in the history of KTHO. The time was in the January of 2008. They were still in their first year of study, pretty young and inexperienced. The leader of the group is just gone through the formation of JKM course. His is passionate that he wanted the students in KTHO to have the feeling of Chinese New Year in the residential college. He started off by getting approval from HEP and to acquire some amount of funding to organize the programme. Luckily, he got a group of people around him that has the same goal as him which is to create the festive atmosphere in the resident college.

For all first year students, they are banned from bringing their own transport and so do the leader. However, the process of obtaining the approval from HEP was not an easy task especially this is the first time he organize a programme. Therefore, he had to walk to HEP to get the job done but it was not one trip job. Luckily, a senior is there to guide him on the process and the method of dealing with the officer in HEP. The senior is also a MPP that time.

After obtaining the approval and with little funding (roughly RM300) they started to plan for the programme. The process is difficult because they are inexperienced and the programme is never done before in the history in KTHO. Although many festival celebrations had been done in KTHO, but those were mainly Malay celebrations. Chinese New Year is only done in university level as it would require a lot of man power and funding to organize it. For residential college scale, it seldom or never had been this glorious before.

With the little budget, they planned for an opening ceremony and decoration at the surrounding of the residential college. First, they must have the materials. And where did they get those? Some red pockets were obtained from the members who brought it from home and some external decorative were bought from shops. With no transport, they cannot get the material easily. So, the leader borrowed motorbike from the some Malay friends (some seniors) to go out and buy the material.

One week before the programme, they started to prepare the decorative which are handmade or bought from shops. Then, they hanged the decorative around the KTHO office and along the road toward the office. People who pass by there would definitely be fascinated by the red colour decoration. The residential is suddenly live with the Chinese New Year atmosphere as red colour decoration can be seen intensively around the office area.

For the internal decoration, they are required to decorate the DSM. The back drop, walls and ceiling is their main target. They even put up the twelve zodiacs (hand drawn) around the wall of the hall. When the time of officiating night came by, people have gathered in the hall to view the decoration inside the hall and leave their signature on a piece on red paper by using a Chinese brush.

When the principle of the college came in, they follow the protocol of inviting the officiator and treated the principle with warmest welcoming. After, the song of UTM, prayer and speeches, the programme is finally officiated. After the officiating, the guest is invited for some refreshments. However, the committees stayed behind in the hall not because they were not hungry but to take pictures for the first Chinese New Year festival celebrated in the residential college. It is a memorable moment and great satisfaction of what they had achieved. Later, the guest had dismissed, the committees is left behind together with the leader to share their feelings.

At that moment, all the committees had the most memorable moment and they really have the feeling of Chinese New Year or more precisely the feeling of being home. Although the process is difficult, the feeling of satisfaction and achievement defeated the sweat and tears.

 The tradition continues for the following year by the juniors and they too did a good job. They even upgraded the celebration with "Lau Yu Sheng" and dedication event. But sadly, the tradition had ended after that, due to lack of man power or good leader in the JKM itself.

Nevertheless, they had made history on their own and created such a beautiful Chinese New Year atmosphere in KTHO. What about you? Will you bring the atmosphere back to UTM again? Or will you continue on your university life with such a bore and dull way? Bear in mind that you are allowed to celebrate the festival that you like as long as it is legal. For other races, think about it. Make your race proud and show the students in UTM to your culture.

CREATE THE FEELING OF BEING HOME IS IN YOUR HAND. 

Think wisely,

Regards...

Satu Destinasi

Bak kata pepatah, "Kalau tak kenal, maka tak cinta". Sungguh indah pepatah ini dan begitu jugalah kehidupan seorang manusia. Dari Utara ke Selatan, dari Timur ke Barat, sungguh jauh perjalanan namun dengan adanya takdir, kami dipertemukan di sebuah persimpangan. Dan di sini la kami membentuk sebuah ikatan yang suci dan luhur, iaitu "Persahabatan". Kami dilahirkan di berlainan tempat, berlainan bahasa, berlainan agama dan berlainan budaya, namun semua itu tidak menjadi penghalang kerana kami mempunyai destinasi yang sama.

Saya masih ingat, ketika di pertemuan pertama kami semua, hanya senyuman manis terukir di bibir. Segan dan silu tak lekang dari hati masing-masing. Namun, betapa bersyukurnya, senyuman itulah yang menjadi pendorong kepada kami. Senyuman itulah yang menjadi asas kepada pembentukan "Keluarga" ini.

Perjalanan diteruskan dan setiap ahli keluarga mempunyai arah kehidupan yang tersendiri. Ketika perjalanan ini, sememangnya terdapat persengketaan, perbalahan dan pertengkaran. Kata orang, "tiada gading yang tak retak". Namun, semua itu hanyalah dugaan semata-mata yang ingin menggoyah ikatan yang telah terjalin. Destinasi kami masih sama dan aral melintang dapat ditangani dengan cemerlang. 

Di masa akan datang, kami akan sentiasa diuji. Namun, ikatan yang terjalin tidak akan putus semudah itu, kerana kami adalah satu keluarga yang bahagia!

Berlainan bangsa dan kaum namun ikatan mesra tetap terjalin

~Keharmonian keluarga terletak pada sikap tanggungjawab dan terbangunnya komunikasi yang sihat diantara ahli keluarga~

Because of YOU, we are the VICTORY...

The day for us to triumph the victory together and of course the Victory is for everybody. You may just contribute the simple idea, but your idea may be one of the best Creative Ideas for us. As Randy Pausch quoted:" No one knows his ability, he will know his abilities when he is having a last breath." So, I will always keep myself in this energetic & dynamic attitude with Life Long Learning.

Sunrise & sunset are the phenomenon in life just like up & down in life. Everybody likes to see the winning in life but there are yet for us to achieve it. Winning & losing are just the method for us to gain the experience in life. If we would really like to seek for the winning, then we need to plan well, strategize smart and work hard.

If you are being passionate and loving in what you are doing, there must be a successful achievement for you later. Being RAPE (Responsibility, good Attitude, Punctuality & Enthusiasm), then you will see how determine you are in one thing or one destination. Real success if finding your lifework in the work that you love. There is always a miracle in life, if you choose to never give up.

When everything is done and tried the best, then the god will finalize everything in this 11^th Hour. There is no free lunch in the world for you, unless you strive and work hard on it. Here, you are the Champions. Here, the Miracles were created because of your hardship!!!

There are always Old Folks & Young Blood in the team or organization. It is good when you see the new generation is taking over the Old Men in any single of organization. In Chinese saying; it calls as 传承 and English addresses it as Succession. But, without the hardship & sacrifices of the Old Folks; then it wouldn’t be providing a strong and successful New Blood in any team or society.

Because of the Old Folks, there were many Miracles created in UTM Campus Election 2010/2011. Here, we would like to special thanks to our Great Leaders that had really contributed to the team, sacrificed for the team and guiding for the Candidates and Campaign Managers.

Of course, we would always remember the good values that had been cultivated to us and guided us. Give & Take, we will always try our best to produce more quality leaders in UTM and in anywhere of the world too.

It's not about how to achieve your dreams; it's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself; the dreams will come to you - Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture)

Success or failure, they are always dependent in your own hands. People could assist you anytime, but you are the only person that could drive yourself into the Final SUCCESS - CHAI, 2011

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1816509728035&comments
(our video clip, the the processes toward Victory)