“I know this much: that there is objective time, but also subjective time, the kind you wear on the inside of your wrist, next to where the pulse lies. And this personal time, which is the true time, is measured in your relationship to memory.”
― Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
With the outset of the new year 2015, I think it would be wise to do a little bit of glance or even mini-analysis of some of the things that I had been through all the way in 2014. So here they are! Arranged in a month-to-month basis with selected highlight(s) or extras for each month. Enjoy!
Some time around the middle of month, I receive an admission letter and email from Rutgers University. Alhamdulillah, all praises to God for His blessings. Who wouldn't be contented for such a thing? As happy as I am, I know from that very moment that I was wrong. I do not have a year to be spent here with these people. I only have several months left. From that on, I allocate more of my time for finding scholarship, settling up other applications, spending time with the people around, and getting ready to welcome the new students, or should I say, new members to our family at PERMATApintar College.
As more days have been crossed of the monthly calendar, more things have been done. I happen to be among the several students who are selected to showcase a mini-exhibition or presentation in front of the First Lady of the Republic of Turkey, Madame Emine Erdogan who is also accompanied by Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the First Lady of Malaysia, Prof Dato Dr Noriah Ishak, Director of PERMATApintar College and some other distinguished guests. It is an honor to be a small part of the whole process of expanding our network with the gifted centers of the other countries.
It is a Monday, on January 20th. The day that the new students come. My friends and I are ready to welcome them at several spots on the campus : from the entrance gate until the hostels' compounds. I still remember walking around with a walkie-talkie and a sling bag all around the campus while ensuring that things go well at every check point. Then comes the orientation week. I take part in handling the aerobic sessions, early morning sessions as well as observing their activities from time to time. There are 2 batches of them: The Level 1, consisted of 14-16 years old, and the Foundation 1, comprised of 12-13 years old. It is a unique blend of people, and it is good to see that they are able to get well with one another. Seeing them experiencing and learning all sort of new things from now would be an enlightening sight for the eyes. Let time unfolds what would follow us then.
January 10th is the day of the visit. I am in charge of the Physics demonstration along with my partner, Inderjit Kaur. What we do is actually demonstrating a simple concept of total internal reflection using a water bottle, water and a laser. With a minimum amount of practice, try out and preparation, I am glad because everything goes smoothly during the exhibition.
Here are some details on the demonstration that I did:
Concept: Total internal reflection (TIR) is the phenomenon that involves the reflection of all the incident light off the boundary. TIR only takes place when both of the following two conditions are met:
Monday, the same day as the one that I was born in 1997. I am personally asked by my friends, Syahir and Adam to give a speech summarizing the orientation week of the new students, so I did. The assembly goes quite long, as it is the first official assembly of the year with the college getting merrier with the presence of the new students.
Right after the end of the assembly, all students in the hall are clapping their hands out of sudden. The rows of instructors on stage also join it. I am sitting at the back of the stage, wondering what is it actually for. The moment that I take a peak to the audience, they are all singing the Happy Birthday song and my friends pushed me forward from the back of the stage. Everyone's eyes are set on me. Their hands clapping. Their mouths singing. There is nothing much that I can do at that very spur of the moment except putting on my biggest smile while rubbing the back of my head which does not even itch. Out of the blue, Firdaus or Pidot emerged from the back of the stage and start blowing into his flute, playing the last part of the Happy Birthday song. My eyes get watery as my body smacks him with a big hug out of utmost happiness. Then, here comes the best part. Our college director, Prof Dr Noriah approaches me and tell me this:
"Hey Bakhtiar, so today is your birthday it seems. Happy birthday! Oh, actually I want to give you a special present for your birthday. I want to send you to London for a special program. Come see me at my office when you have the time so that we can discuss the details. Have a nice birthday!"
Alhamdulillah that day is simply amazing. I also receive a blue Superman t-shirt, a dazzling golden tie, several cards, tons of birthday wishes, birthday treats as well as pranks from my beloved classmates. If any of you are reading this, even though it has been a year (or more), thank you so much for everything. That day was one of the best days of my life.
In the Student Council, the idea of having our own cultural fiesta at PERMATApintar College has been circling around in our meetings ever since 2013. After a proper planning, tasks delegation, proposal writing, and hectic preparation involving all students, we manage to realize it on
February 14th, 2014.
I am involved with the performances part of the French culture. We do a choir with some simple dance moves, a French traditional folk dance, as well as the Ken Ken dance. Want to know how the dances look like? Check out these sample videos from Youtube. Oh I'm so sorry because I can't share our dances video. Why? Hm, let us just assume that I would be feeling pretty awkward if the video is available to the public. Hahaha.
This is also the month when the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, with 239 passengers on board disappeared from the civilian radar screens about an hour into the scheduled six-hour flight. With 239 passengers on board, it was actually scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China on Saturday, March 8. Everyone, especially the family of the people who boarded the plane are really grieved by this tragedy. I offer my deepest condolences to those associated with this incident. May the truth be relieved to us all one day.
Oh, and I should also probably mention about my SPM result, shouldn't I? I sat for the SPM when I was in form 4 due to the fact that I was in the Fast Track program. Unlike the usual SPM candidate, I only sat for the Bahasa Malaysia (Malaysia Language) and Sejarah (History) papers because these subjects are compulsory. Alhamdulillah with minimal preparation, I managed to get A+ for BM and A for History. A big thanks to the instructors and friends who provided support and motivation along the way. Of course, it feels kind of awkward to only have 2 subjects printed on my SPM transcript, but I guess I just have to bear with it. Perhaps some of you are wondering on how could this happen? I shall enlighten you on this matter in another blog post, insyaAllah.
On March 22nd, I went to the Akademi Pengajian Islam, Universiti Malaya to attend this carnival organized by PTS Publications along with several friends : Rasyid, Amir Arsyad, Amalin, Hanisah, Nuraini, Assila, Marsya and Afiqah Letfee. Alhamdulillah we managed to get the group discount price after I make a phone call to one of the organizers although we were lacking in number. I believe that when we really want to make our way to further increase our knowledge and get closer to Allah, we will be bestowed with His blessings in our steps. This is just a small example. Alhamdulillah.
There were talks of different topics given by speakers such as The Muslim Show comic artists trio, Ustazah Fatimah Syarha, Aiman Azlan, Hilal Asyraf, Ustaz Don Daniyal, Ustaz Hasrizal, Saiful Nang, Felixia Yeap (now known as Raissyah Rania Yeap) and others. Here are some of the valuable lessons that I can conclude from the carnival:
"In order for Da'wah to be effective, we need to be creative by utilizing technology, media and making the contents comprehensible to people of all level of background, especially to those who has little or no background on Islamic teachings and ad-deen (way of life). And in order for us to give Da'wah, we ourselves must first not only believe, but truly understand, practice, and stay true to whatever we preach to the others. If a perfect state exists, then there is a need to achieve it. If it does not, then there is no need to achieve it, but there is a need to get as close as possible to it. After all, one does not has to be perfect in conducting da'wah which comprised of encouraging the good deeds, and eliminating the bad deeds. All in all, it is vital for us not to take Islam as a mere religion, but to acknowledge and inculcate it as a way of life, to truly understand it, and to stay true to its teachings with the al-Quran and the as-Sunnah as our main guidance and references."
Here are several websites that I have started to follow ever since participating in this carnival:
http://www.saifulislam.com/ (Ustaz Hasrizal Abdul Jamil's website)
http://langitilahi.com/ (One of the main founders of this website is Hilal Asyraf)
http://www.aimanazlan.com/ (Aiman Azlan's website)
https://www.facebook.com/snfanclub (Saiful Nang Facebook Page)
http://sebarkanbahagia.blogspot.com/ (Ustazah Fatimah Syarha's website)
At the first thought, I had the feeling that this leadership camp would be something like 3 days and 2 nights full of lectures, presentations, and some serious discussion on leadership and how to be a great leader. But then my expectations turned out to be totally wrong. A total miss from what the camp was actually about.
To be honest, this camp was one of the best camps that I have ever attended in my life besides the PERMATApintar School Holiday Camp. The topic of leadership was still what this camp was all about, but in many different varieties of conduct. Filled with surprises, challenges and fun activities, every participant was grouped with people who they have never met before and there were 3 major alliance. Mine was the Vikings and I was in Group 5, if I am not mistaken. Oh, and we also had a really big campfire. I thought that it was really cool to have one, until the second when we had to move to the hall for the night performance because it was suddenly raining :3
― Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
With the outset of the new year 2015, I think it would be wise to do a little bit of glance or even mini-analysis of some of the things that I had been through all the way in 2014. So here they are! Arranged in a month-to-month basis with selected highlight(s) or extras for each month. Enjoy!
January
The start of the year - a month with a pretty cool blend of sweet excitement, thrilling nervousness, as well as a little bit of those small cuts of bitter gourds intertwined with a portion of the heart that houses emotions. Somehow it feels really good to come back to school - seeing the familiar faces, and getting things done together. But there is also something different about it - knowing that this would be the last year, I realize that I just have to live my life to the fullest and make the best out of everything.Some time around the middle of month, I receive an admission letter and email from Rutgers University. Alhamdulillah, all praises to God for His blessings. Who wouldn't be contented for such a thing? As happy as I am, I know from that very moment that I was wrong. I do not have a year to be spent here with these people. I only have several months left. From that on, I allocate more of my time for finding scholarship, settling up other applications, spending time with the people around, and getting ready to welcome the new students, or should I say, new members to our family at PERMATApintar College.
As more days have been crossed of the monthly calendar, more things have been done. I happen to be among the several students who are selected to showcase a mini-exhibition or presentation in front of the First Lady of the Republic of Turkey, Madame Emine Erdogan who is also accompanied by Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the First Lady of Malaysia, Prof Dato Dr Noriah Ishak, Director of PERMATApintar College and some other distinguished guests. It is an honor to be a small part of the whole process of expanding our network with the gifted centers of the other countries.
It is a Monday, on January 20th. The day that the new students come. My friends and I are ready to welcome them at several spots on the campus : from the entrance gate until the hostels' compounds. I still remember walking around with a walkie-talkie and a sling bag all around the campus while ensuring that things go well at every check point. Then comes the orientation week. I take part in handling the aerobic sessions, early morning sessions as well as observing their activities from time to time. There are 2 batches of them: The Level 1, consisted of 14-16 years old, and the Foundation 1, comprised of 12-13 years old. It is a unique blend of people, and it is good to see that they are able to get well with one another. Seeing them experiencing and learning all sort of new things from now would be an enlightening sight for the eyes. Let time unfolds what would follow us then.
Highlights:
(i) Exhibition for the First Lady of the Republic of Turkey
January 10th is the day of the visit. I am in charge of the Physics demonstration along with my partner, Inderjit Kaur. What we do is actually demonstrating a simple concept of total internal reflection using a water bottle, water and a laser. With a minimum amount of practice, try out and preparation, I am glad because everything goes smoothly during the exhibition.
Here are some details on the demonstration that I did:
Concept: Total internal reflection (TIR) is the phenomenon that involves the reflection of all the incident light off the boundary. TIR only takes place when both of the following two conditions are met:
- the light is in the more dense medium and approaching the less dense medium.
- the angle of incidence is greater than the so-called critical angle.
Article about the visit: http://www.ukm.my/news/index.php/extras/1669-emine-erdogan-visits-permatapintar.html
Pictures:
 |
| The whole team From the right: Amir Fikri, Aiman Syakirin, Me, Inderjit Kaur, Sharafii Faidzal, Chew Jie Heng, Galvin Steven, Izzat Zuhailee |
 |
| Total Internal Reflection. The light from the laser seems to be carried by the flowing water. Beautiful isn't it? [Credits] |
(ii) 17th Birthday on January 27th 2014
Monday, the same day as the one that I was born in 1997. I am personally asked by my friends, Syahir and Adam to give a speech summarizing the orientation week of the new students, so I did. The assembly goes quite long, as it is the first official assembly of the year with the college getting merrier with the presence of the new students.
Right after the end of the assembly, all students in the hall are clapping their hands out of sudden. The rows of instructors on stage also join it. I am sitting at the back of the stage, wondering what is it actually for. The moment that I take a peak to the audience, they are all singing the Happy Birthday song and my friends pushed me forward from the back of the stage. Everyone's eyes are set on me. Their hands clapping. Their mouths singing. There is nothing much that I can do at that very spur of the moment except putting on my biggest smile while rubbing the back of my head which does not even itch. Out of the blue, Firdaus or Pidot emerged from the back of the stage and start blowing into his flute, playing the last part of the Happy Birthday song. My eyes get watery as my body smacks him with a big hug out of utmost happiness. Then, here comes the best part. Our college director, Prof Dr Noriah approaches me and tell me this:
"Hey Bakhtiar, so today is your birthday it seems. Happy birthday! Oh, actually I want to give you a special present for your birthday. I want to send you to London for a special program. Come see me at my office when you have the time so that we can discuss the details. Have a nice birthday!"
Alhamdulillah that day is simply amazing. I also receive a blue Superman t-shirt, a dazzling golden tie, several cards, tons of birthday wishes, birthday treats as well as pranks from my beloved classmates. If any of you are reading this, even though it has been a year (or more), thank you so much for everything. That day was one of the best days of my life.
Photos of the month:
 |
| Rutgers University Admission Letter |
 |
| Trip to Malacca with fellow clasmates |
 |
| Birthday treats from my fellow classmates of K3. Oh, we also have an exchange student from Austria at that time. Her name is Marie Theres Feitchner. She is a student from Sir Karl Popper Schule, Vienna. |
Words of the month:
"I really believe that you are going to go far in life, and do very very well. But always, always hold fast to your principles and values, treasure those you love, and never forget where you come from. Work hard to develop as a person and not just to attain material successes and possessions, because that is what is more important."
- Miss Lisa Kwan, an English teacher
February
A month of progress and pace increment. This is the time when time management becomes extraordinarily vital. Especially when one has to handle not only the daily school stuffs, but also a research, events management, university applications, as well as looking and applying for scholarships. Fortunately, there are people like family, instructors, teammates and friends who are ready to lend a hand. It makes everything much smoother and simply better.In the Student Council, the idea of having our own cultural fiesta at PERMATApintar College has been circling around in our meetings ever since 2013. After a proper planning, tasks delegation, proposal writing, and hectic preparation involving all students, we manage to realize it on
February 14th, 2014.
Aroud the end of the month, we have a sudden trip to Negeri Sembilan. Yes, everyone. Everyone in our batch is required to participate in a trip to Istana Seri Menanti and nearby places as a part of our History (Sejarah) carry mark . It is a meaningful trip, especially when I am able to enjoy the whole ride and tour with friends and instructors. What else could be cooler as an option to get some carry mark for the term?
Highlight:
(i) Cultural Fiesta
"Finally, PERMATApintar College has its very own Cultural Fiesta. With 6 cultures participating, this event aims to enlighten the students of various cultures both internationally and domestically. The 6 cultures include French, Korean, Japanese, Borneo, Punjabi and Arabians. Each of these cultures are required to set up a booth, do a performance and have a fashion show. Most cultures present famous cuisines while some others offer games or services like inai.
Instructors were also present during this festive event. French featured the all-time favourite macaroons, Japanese with their miso soup, rice crackers and sushi, Korean with their Ramyeon, Borneo with their laksa Sarawak and mee kolok, Punjabi with their herbal tea and Arabians with their Nasi Arab."
- Quoting from a post at quadpukm.blogspot.com (slightly edited)I am involved with the performances part of the French culture. We do a choir with some simple dance moves, a French traditional folk dance, as well as the Ken Ken dance. Want to know how the dances look like? Check out these sample videos from Youtube. Oh I'm so sorry because I can't share our dances video. Why? Hm, let us just assume that I would be feeling pretty awkward if the video is available to the public. Hahaha.
Folk Dance
We do certain parts of this dance.
Can Can Dance
We do not really do the exact same thing. But this is the basic idea of the actual dance. Oh, and of course, not with the skirts!
Photos of the month:
 |
| Acting like a French guy, I suppose? [Cultural Fiesta at PERMATApintar College] |
 |
| Batch trip to Istana Seri Menanti. Negeri Sembilan. Had a great time here. |
Words of the month:
"what is it,
about untrue stories
that people buy them,
without questionings?
and when the truth is told,
it is questioned.
have we become too gullible?
but there's line,
if not clearly visible,
then a fine line
between truth and false,
probably in the middle there's
gurau senda. (jokes)
the thing is, differentiate please."
- Nur Alia Meliki, a friend
March
The pinnacle of the first quarter, I must say. This is the month when work load is being increased by several folds, in preparing for the first exam as well as keeping up with research, and other commitments. I can still recall shooting and editing a video for our Islamic Studies subject revolving around the "munakahat"(marriage) topic at the early part of the month. At this time, assignments involving making personal or group videos on a particular topic have become something so common that most of us students are already used to it.This is also the month when the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, with 239 passengers on board disappeared from the civilian radar screens about an hour into the scheduled six-hour flight. With 239 passengers on board, it was actually scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China on Saturday, March 8. Everyone, especially the family of the people who boarded the plane are really grieved by this tragedy. I offer my deepest condolences to those associated with this incident. May the truth be relieved to us all one day.
Oh, and I should also probably mention about my SPM result, shouldn't I? I sat for the SPM when I was in form 4 due to the fact that I was in the Fast Track program. Unlike the usual SPM candidate, I only sat for the Bahasa Malaysia (Malaysia Language) and Sejarah (History) papers because these subjects are compulsory. Alhamdulillah with minimal preparation, I managed to get A+ for BM and A for History. A big thanks to the instructors and friends who provided support and motivation along the way. Of course, it feels kind of awkward to only have 2 subjects printed on my SPM transcript, but I guess I just have to bear with it. Perhaps some of you are wondering on how could this happen? I shall enlighten you on this matter in another blog post, insyaAllah.
Highlights:
(i) The Muslim Show Carnival: Creative Da'wah in the New Era
There were talks of different topics given by speakers such as The Muslim Show comic artists trio, Ustazah Fatimah Syarha, Aiman Azlan, Hilal Asyraf, Ustaz Don Daniyal, Ustaz Hasrizal, Saiful Nang, Felixia Yeap (now known as Raissyah Rania Yeap) and others. Here are some of the valuable lessons that I can conclude from the carnival:
"In order for Da'wah to be effective, we need to be creative by utilizing technology, media and making the contents comprehensible to people of all level of background, especially to those who has little or no background on Islamic teachings and ad-deen (way of life). And in order for us to give Da'wah, we ourselves must first not only believe, but truly understand, practice, and stay true to whatever we preach to the others. If a perfect state exists, then there is a need to achieve it. If it does not, then there is no need to achieve it, but there is a need to get as close as possible to it. After all, one does not has to be perfect in conducting da'wah which comprised of encouraging the good deeds, and eliminating the bad deeds. All in all, it is vital for us not to take Islam as a mere religion, but to acknowledge and inculcate it as a way of life, to truly understand it, and to stay true to its teachings with the al-Quran and the as-Sunnah as our main guidance and references."
Here are several websites that I have started to follow ever since participating in this carnival:
http://www.saifulislam.com/ (Ustaz Hasrizal Abdul Jamil's website)
http://langitilahi.com/ (One of the main founders of this website is Hilal Asyraf)
http://www.aimanazlan.com/ (Aiman Azlan's website)
https://www.facebook.com/snfanclub (Saiful Nang Facebook Page)
http://sebarkanbahagia.blogspot.com/ (Ustazah Fatimah Syarha's website)
(ii) RHB Seed Leadership Camp 2014 at Bayou Lagoon Park Resort, Melaka
To be honest, this camp was one of the best camps that I have ever attended in my life besides the PERMATApintar School Holiday Camp. The topic of leadership was still what this camp was all about, but in many different varieties of conduct. Filled with surprises, challenges and fun activities, every participant was grouped with people who they have never met before and there were 3 major alliance. Mine was the Vikings and I was in Group 5, if I am not mistaken. Oh, and we also had a really big campfire. I thought that it was really cool to have one, until the second when we had to move to the hall for the night performance because it was suddenly raining :3
Photos of the month:
 |
| I played the role of a father for our munakahat (marriage) video projet. Hm, maybe I did look suitable for it I guess? |
 |
| Had the opportunity to take a picture together with bro Aiman Azlan and his wife. [Credits to Assila for this picture] |
 |
| Oh, did I mention that Ustaz Don was also there in the carnival? We also managed to take a picture with him and his family. [Credit to Assila for the picture] |
 |
| Participants from PERMATApintar. From left: Me, Hathim, Arathi, Law Wen Xuan [Credit to Arathi for the picture] |
 |
| Team 5&6 from the Vikings Alliance! Try to spot me in this picture! [Credit to Arathi for this picture] |
 |
| Here is the distant view of the camp fire that we had. It was big. Much taller than me I suppose. [Credit to Arathi for this picture] |
Words of the month:
"Sayang. Hari demi hari berlalu. Bermula dari kepayahan dan kesukaran serta hidup yang serba kekurangan dikau membesar. Tetap dengan senyuman. Kau belajar hidup ini perlukan pengorbanan.
Sayang. Bila kau mula belajar hidup berjauhan, kau belajar membina jatidiri dan pesonaliti. Kau belajar hidup ini perlu banyak memberi.
Sayang. Saat engkau diuji, hati ini bimbang. Apa bisa kau tempuhi ombak badai. Namun Allah beri kamu kekuatan. Kekusutan terlerai. Kau belajar hidup ini Allah lah tujuan.
Sesungguhnya sayang, bukan Allah tidak tahu jerih-payah mu, bukan Allah tidak tahu sendu-tangis hati mu, tapi itulah bahasa Allah mendidik mu. Ya, itu lah cara Allah yang Maha Sempurna untuk kamu berada di tempat yang sekarang. Untuk diri mu menjadi diri kamu yang sekarang.
Allahu Allah.
Alhamdulillah Ya Allah. Allah lah yang mencintai mu sayangku. Maafkan aku kerana tidak dapat mencintai mu. Aku cuma mampu menyayangimu.
Terbanglah sayang. Allah telah beri kamu sayap. Jangan biarkan apa pun menghalang mu. Ingatlah janji-janji mu pada Nya dulu. Sungguh ku tahu urusan akhirat mu pasti lebih dari urusan akhirat ku.
Untuk hero tersayang : Achmad Bakhtiar"
- Saleha Saleh - a lovely mom, the best friend, the most loyal supporter
-End of Part 1 [Jan-March]-
