27th June 2006 – 23rd May 2008. So the two year journey has come to an end. I am now writing in the comfort of high-speed wired internet connection in the place called home. And just hours after I unpacked my stuff from boxes full books and bags full of clothes, I start to recapitulate the memories I had in Banting, precisely Kolej Mara Banting, or simply KMB as we called it – hence the epilogue.
I can still vividly remember the very first day I step into this place, I mean THE place – when I wasn’t really excited about going to college, given that it had been six months of fun at home; futsal, friends, late-night sleeps, late-afternoon wake-ups, you name it – all were the rituals during the post- SPM interlude.
It was not really a smooth ride from KL, where my dad had to go a longer way to get to Banting via Nilai, where it was actually a shorter way if you pass through Dengkil, exactly 100km away from Ampang. It was the first time, at least for me being to maybe the remotest area in Selangor – or maybe it was just me who didn’t aware of this attractive pocket of traditional charm in the most-developed state in Malaysia, until MARA sent me here to further my study. Palm plantation, tempe selling stalls (where else in the world you can find people selling tempe goreng instead of pisang goreng) and Javanese speaking community summed up the divergence of life I’m about to bear for the next two years. But not until I went through the gate of Kolej MARA Banting. If my short two years stint at Malay College taught me the word ‘respect’, Kolej MARA Banting spelled the word ‘truth’ to me – of life, how lovely life can be with the presence acquaintances and links, and on top of that; how cruel life can get at times.
SPM was a delightful history to go over again, being one of few thousands Malaysians who scored straight As. To embark on another educational journey called tertiary education was easy-peasy, I thought. Not until Kolej MARA Banting slapped me with a harsh reality check, and sent a strong message that tertiary education is not like any piece of Secret Recipe’s cake. I was not up to the snuff during my first semester and failed to meet the so called easy MARA requirement. Prolonging euphoria of SPM success need to come to an end, as I contemplated whether to continue with this program (International Baccalaureate it is anyway – google for more information, as it is not as posh and popular as A-Level I suppose) or not. It was a nervous moment for me, as hope was far above the ground back home. The likes of Mathematics HL, Chemistry HL, Business & Management SL, all of which shared almost the same degree of complexity, among others were all too foreign and hard for me to appreciate.
But being one of the best IB school around (not Malaysia, world), Kolej MARA Banting would never let student like me to tarnish their enormous reputation (having top the list of IB school for many years now). There were lots of efforts put by the management and the teachers to get me and others ‘scapegoat’ back on track and grab the grades. Tutorials, tests (which are all common for other colleges as well – but the level of recurrence in KMB would make you go crazy) and mocks were on the list – and it proved to be valuable as I climbed back the ranking ladder. I have to thank my teachers who were there during my ups and downs. Maybe the very reason I would go back to the place is them, whom dedications are second to none – and sometimes I wonder whether they are paid enough or not, similar to a World Cup winning-team player who play for a club in Sierra Leone, unappreciated and unacknowledged.
Anisah Ibrahim (Biology HL), Salma Ahmad (Chemistry HL), Aida Sabli (Mathematics
HL), Nursaidah Tahir (English B), Azhana (Malay A1), Sharidho Pardi and Rozana
(Business and Management SL), Yazid Yahaya (Pengajian Islam) and Jarini Jusoh
(Mentor).
Thank you very much. You guys are my prayer answered. I just hope my kids would be blessed with wonderful people like you, as you did to me all this while.
When all's said and done, Kolej MARA Banting did excellently in providing me with world class education.
(Coffee break) This post might get too long for a blog post isn’t it? Swallow it.
And the variables that add multiplicity to KMB element is in its people – where you can’t expect a bunch of top-scorers and people with three brains to be all rigid, nerd and such a bore - well, you can definitely find genus like that here of course. But what is so special about them is that they are very very unexpectable, which makes them a species to be reckoned with. They changed almost everyday, where you can’t expect them to be the same person talking to you the next day, or worse the next minute. Maybe the brutality of never-ending assignments and projects make their considerations preoccupied, just like the mode of action of any excitatory psychoactive drugs. It may stretch to the extent of getting work done or getting ahead in whatever they are doing in the expense of others. Well, I tried not to use the word but the ever proverbial word ‘Kiasu’ would enlighten the order better. Every KMB student, (well I am sure this happened in other institution as well) probably have their share of dealing with this type of parasite, or should I say, bloodsucker, or should I say additionally, motherfucker. I have mine to, but as they say, let bygone be bygone, and I am sure they are just another lesson for me; to stay away, deal or not the like anyone of them.
Their obsessions of gossip and tittle-tattle annoyed me in the same manner John Arne Riise scored an own goal against Chelsea in UEFA Champions League semi-final. It is a dismay to see an effortless chitchat turned to be a vilifying reason to put friendship and relationship on the line. It wounding tentacle could spread without we realized it, until at one point, a person dignity is tarnished, and side view badly misunderstood.
Prejudice is profound, especially when people with three brains are around to give opinions. If you are a guy, a Malay who doesn’t speak fluent English, walk in group and who doesn’t really make the grade, you are a slob. And slobs don’t deserve a place here – which I don’t really give a hoot about. What I care more is the amount of respect every person is entitled to. It is very easy to label a person as slacker here, especially when you don’t warrant the ‘requirements’ stated above – and usually, persons who label would keep themselves anonymous, and let the force of wind to spread the harsh aphorism. And usually, the person they labeled don’t even know them – or worse, best of friends.
I have told you, they are unexpectable bunch of top-scorers, afterall they are the future of the country, my country.
On a personal note, I had my shares of first-rate camaraderie experience. They exist in the form of smokers and underachievers. First thought? Bunch of slobs. Judge as you may, but they are FRIENDS – the capital letters serve a purpose, not typo. Having them around made me realized just how wrong prejudices and tittle-tattle can be. Sometimes I feel bad for letting others to brand good people like this. Vilifying assumptions should be put on hold if we don’t understand a matter enough – I told myself everytime, and I hope I can cling to this principle forever. Thanks Kolej MARA Banting for this lesson.
I have been blessed with some talent in football, which made me captain for the college team. I believe responsibility is not a right, but a privilege for me to contribute more towards the development of my favorite sport here. And football is the highlight, or the reason why I survived the two-year ordeals. Football is like an enzyme that made a reaction faster, even if the need of the reaction is high. I appreciate every second of playing in the green pasture of KMB field – although in some occasions, when push come to shove, and tackles come to shouting and even worse hatred took over. This is part and parcel of playing the beautiful game, where relationships are built, and strengthen simply by kicking a ball. That is how a simple mechanism of trust and sincerity works in football – we shout, we fight, we resolve and we have fun. After all, after grueling games and in-off the field conflicts, we still played on the same pitch and shared the same ball to kick and pass about – shows that football might repel ourselves away, but never break the bond we created the first time we played together. And that is why I love football people, anyone who played football, who break into the college team or not, to bits. Thanks KMB, for this breathtaking experience.
Without realizing it, the assortment of people I observed during my time in KMB was actually teachers who guided me to be a better person. Thank you very much to you guys, no matter how rich you are, how educated you are, how good-looking you are, how fluent you are in English, how cool you are how and effective you deal with your own inferiority complex. You are indeed lessons to me.
Kolej MARA Banting might be a reflection or case in point of the world I am living today, as I prepare to step out into the real world, where there will surely be another sets of bizarre and different people. This place might give a hint of a more cruel reality outside of it. But the most important thing is how I fill the space between the big world outside and the small world inside my heart, and Kolej MARA Banting did brilliantly in providing me with the basis and the harsh reality check as well.
It might not the nicest place to live in, but this is the place I learnt how cruel life can get at times. Thanks for the experience, anyway.
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