today is KPM's 2nd 'joint' convocation. Previously, each KPM will have their own convo ceremony. So today, at Dewan Seri Negeri, Melaka & officiated by Dato' Seri Shapie Apdal, KPM AM together with KPM BM are the joint-host for the 'joint' convocation....
so this morning, I arrived at the hall at 7. the committee must be there before 7.30am... if possible, earlier lah.
fast-forward to the first incident that made me so.... ishhhh.... nak aje aku karate mamat tu.
he & his wife came through the main door & walked straight to the front seats, where the important guests are supposed to be seated. Me & a friend & an usherette terkejut la... becoz any VIP will be ushered in to his seat by one of the AJK Jemputan. So, we asked him la, pakcik ni dari bahagian mana.
he said (and i can say he did it arrogantly), saya datang nak tengok anak konvo & saya kena duduk depan sebab saya dari jabatan perdana menteri.
so, we said, maaf pakcik. seat depan ni untuk tetamu jemputan khas saja. Ibu bapa kena duduk di kawasan ibu bapa.
and he kept saying, saya ni kerja kat jabatan perdana menteri tau.
Ya Allah... who cares you kerja kat mana. If you come as a parent, then you need to act accordingly la. Sit with the other parents! lagipun nama dia memang takde dalam senarai jemputan khas pun...
last-last since we wanted to be so-ever 'polite', we called 1 of our big bosses to deal with this pompous ass.
for me, this is a case where a person is too 'perasan' with who he's working with & where he's working at... you came as a parent, so be like other parents la. Sit with them... parents lain takde pulak nak 'demand' nak duduk front seats. mamat tu dah le datang lambat, nak demand pulak.
this is not my first time handling convo/graduation ceremonies. Been doing it for the past 12 years. I know many 'high profile' parents yg really down-to-earth & didn't mind at all seating with other parents during their kids' graduation ceremonies.
Once in a while akan kedengaran lori/treler terbalik & makanan or minuman yg dibawa lori/treler bertaburan di jalanraya.
hari ni pun kat PLUS ada satu lori terbalik... air mineral bertaburan. Pemandu mati on the way to hospital. Orang ramai? Dok kutip ayaq tu and 'bawak lari'.
Persoalan nye, wajarkah kita ambil sesuatu yg bukan hak kita?
If tuan punye minuman tu bagi, takpe la kita nak amik... if dia tak bagi?
Just because pemandu dia mati, it doesn't give us the right to say... 'oh well, the owner is dead so now all his possessions are ours'.
- ada la 3 bapuk ni, dari mula naik bas lagi dah wat perangai.
- bising toksah citer la... sikit2, 'alah nyah...', 'adoiii, sakit kpale i bas ni langgar lubang'...
- tup-tup ada bau rokok... pastu ada pakcik depan tegur, 'nak, bas ni aircond. jgn la merokok'
- ingat kot nak insaf... rupe nye idok! 'suka hati kitorang la pakcik oiii....' pastu diorang gelak kekuat....
- tetibe bas tu berenti & driver dia yg besar macam pak arab gi ke belakang...
and this was what I saw.
- dia sentap rokok tu dari bapuk2 tu and snuffed it out on the floor. pastu dia tengking... kalau you nak kurang hajar, nak rokok, you keluar dari ini bas! mintak maaf sama itu uncle sekarang!
...and the rest of the passangers tepuk tangan you....
the bapuks? terketau-ketau mintak maaf & pastu senyap sampai sudah....
If you're not a teacher then you may not know how I feel when any of my students passed their exams. Especially when you know some of them really work their asses for it.
One of them is ZAbA.
He entered 'my life' in 1995... he was in Form 1 then. Me, just started teaching.
anyway, i taught him & his friends all the way to Form 5 (except when they were in Form 3).
in a way, they 'grew up' right in-front of my eyes.
Simply put, i knew their 'perangai' like i knew the back of my hand.
why am i concentrating on ZAbA alone?
because, he's the living epitome of 'if you really work for it, you'll get it'.
he's actually a bright student...except for English.
it's laughable...and THAT freaked me out.
fast-forward to that fateful late afternoon.
i was doing my rounds (I was a warden back then)
...checking the classes to make sure no students were doing anything fishy.
and i found him sitting at the back of his class musing over something.
so i went over and started a conversation with him.
again, fast forward.... he sheepishly showed me something that made my eyes watered.
his own 'dictionary'.
any words that he didn't understand, he’ll write it in that log-book and later try to find their meanings. Many of the words even have sample sentences!!
and when i looked at his effort with the 'dictionary',
I promised myself to do whatever I can to help him improve his English.
At the same time, I made him promised never to give up in his quest to improve his English.
I knew he kept his side of the promise...he really worked his ass off.
He may be a bit quiet in class, but outside class, he never stopped asking me whenever he can.
Fast-forward again... the day SPM 1999 results were announced.
I saw him standing next to a car parked in front one of the academic buildings, smiling from ear to ear. And his face was as bright as a star... like a kid receiving his dream toy.
And when I finally stood in front of him, he excitedly showed me his result slip and said,
“Teacher, I got A2 for English!”
If he were a girl, I would have hugged & kissed him right there & then.
It’s been 10 years now and we still keep-in-touch. Throughout the years he has always sent me Teacher’s Day cards & Raya cards. And recently, his wedding invitation card (11th Oct. 2009).
I have met many students like ZAbA in later years but I will always remember him as ‘one of the naughtiest boys of his batch’ who managed to change his life by working hard.
To ZAbA, for what you’ve achieved... I’m so damned proud of you. You made me the proudest teacher inMalaysia on that particular day.
And you will always have a special place in my heart for eternity.
dah lamaaaaa giler tak nampak or makan kuih raya ni... kat sini orang panggil kuih buah kana. so tadik aku balun sampai 5 ketul...hehe (thanks to yang membawak kuih ni ye...)
MC = Ierwan (syukur kau ada Wan... selamat akak dari menjadik MC pasni...hehe)
Ustaz Naim (our only Ustaz)
En. Rosnan (Timb.Pengarah HEP)
VIP majlis
'bila la ustaz nak baca doa makan nie....'
jamuan area from above
singles but not available (hehehe....)
'rehat jap...boncisss dah ni'
'1 minit je ok...tak kang abis makanan tu diorang balun'
diskusi Pergerakan Wanita parti Tupperware (hehehehe....)
'cendol ini...aku yang punya...!'
bos Unit Disiplin kekenyangan lepas balun 4 mangkuk cendol
di lobby utama Dewan Seri Negeri
pentas utama
cokmar istiadat konvokesyen KPM
tag AJK Konvokesyen
pemegang pintu lobby utama DSN
antara tulang belakang konvokesyen
with Ustazah Aisyah = MC konvo
diorang tak perasan when i snapped their antics... hehehe
Soutun Najjah
sebahagian dari bebudak Gamelan KPM AM
hero-hero pun mesti le nak bergambar dgn Puteri Hang Li Po
dari arah pentas
dari level atas
heee...aku lepuk jugak bebudak ni kang...
sekali pandang, macam keranda daaa.....
yg kanan tu, pendiam...
folder diploma
hehehe... marah 'model CK' ni bila aku snap gambau ni
at the end of raptai-konvo
