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it has been more than a week since i've left Bau, Sarawak... but till today it seems so surreal that i'm finally back... just a week ago i was still in Kem Puncak Permai, walking around in nothing but sarongs or lingeries due to the heat, marching almost daily and dragged my feet to all the physical activities... i was still in the midst of the jungle back then, where there was no internet service, and the nearest town, Kuching is about 45 minutes drive from the camp.. the sudden change of environment from a place where greeneries were basically all that you can see, back to the urbanised lifestyle where countless skyscrapers stood majestically on their grounds.. everything felt like it was a just a dream... and a very long dream indeed... i would have been lying to say that i do not miss National Service at all.. yes, initially my hatred towards it was indescribable.. i hated the fact that the freedom that i've always longed for was absent, our movements were very restricted, and even our freedom of speech was limited to a certain extent. there was no rooms for argument or debate.. your responsibility is very simple and clear, listen and act according to the instructions given.. being a rebellious and very opinionated person, i often struggled to obey things which i do not agree upon.. at first, the whole organisation seem like a freaking monarchy system to me.. the commandant as the king, the officers as the ministers, coaches or teachers as the excecutioners, and the rest of us, the trainees, are simply commoners who are told to obey whatever the king says. many of you who are ex-trainees might not agree with me, but it is well known that Kem Puncak Permai is one of the strictest camp around.. that was what i've heard before i went, and after being there for 2 months, i do agree.. nevertheless, this experience has been a true eye opener to me.. there's still racial issues among the younger generations, afterall.. before this i used to believed that it was the older generations who practises racial discrimination, due to the various conflicts among ethnics that has occured during the British colonisation and of course, the infamous May 13 incident. however, having lived with people of different ethnics, religion and background under one roof, the fights, backstabbings, mistrust, conflicts that has occured in the dorms and among the company itself has proved that racial unity has yet to be achieved among the younger generations. looking back at our research findings on the Malaysian Studies project did made some sense after all, that national unity is indeed absent among Malaysians. albeit there were racial conflicts initially, we have learnt to address the problem itself and work on overcoming it, for the benefit of the majority. no one likes to be in a place where fights and backstabbings often takes place, and if we cannot get rid of the suspicion that we have of each other, how can we expect unity in the company, that is vital to the company's victory? after having various heart-to-heart talk and open sharing sessions, all of us confronted the issue and agreed to work on it. as time passes by, day by day we learnt more about each other, and we try to put ourselves in other person's shoe and look at situation from another perspective. we made an effort to take the extra mile to tolerate each other's needs, and accepted each other's shortcomings. we are, afterall, just humans, who are anything but perfect. if i were to list down all that i've learnt and experienced in National Service, the list would be never-ending. it is, like they say, a once in a lifetime experience. from the way of tieing a sarong without it dropping down, to the adrenaline rush that was so overwhelming when attempting flying fox (felt like jumping down from a 3 storey building, and i was the only one who was given a second try, and even a third one which i refused cuz the people around me was already fuming), to the supernatural incidents that has occured during the second week in my dorm (a test of faith and mental strength indeed!) to have your heartbeat stopped for a nanosecond as you fire your first shot with the M16, to swimming in the lake that has fishes and god knows what inhabiting in it, to 'rakit-ing', where you had to paddle fanatically along with 9 others in the water, to the various competitions among companies where you cheer your heart out for your company mates (i lost my voice and had a severe soarthroat due to that), to the various heart-to-heart talks we've had that made me realised how fortunate i am, compared to what others have experienced. the list is endless...but i know, the whole experience has definitely changed me. besides putting on a couple of pounds (thanks to the numerous maggi-mee sessions), i'm certain that the person who came back from Kem Puncak Permai on May 15th is definitely not the same person who left LCCT on March 18th. the only regret that i have from coming back early is having to say goodbye to the friends that i've acquainted in camp. now, my circle of friends are no longer limited to malays and indians alone, but also ibans, bidayuhs etc. it was heartbreaking initially, when i found out that i was leaving earlier than expected. my friend and i wept bitterly from the office where we heard the news, back to our dorm where we broke the news to our friends. for the past 2 months we were like a family, listening to each other's problems, and helping one another overcoming one's fears and doubts. it is such a pity that we are seperated by the South China Sea, and though AirAsia's cheap air fares seems to be the solution to our distance problem, but deep inside we clearly know it would be another couple of months or even years till we meet each other again. sigh. but thanks to the advancement in technology, handphones and internet are the next best alternative... okay... enough with words already... i'll just let the pictures do the talking...  Mei, Li Poh, Me, Sherlyn and StephAt the classroom, before i left
 Lining up according to companies.From Left: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta  Right before i left Kem Puncak PermaiFrom left: Sing Yii, Mei, Mei Xiang, Li Poh, Steph, Sook Ngor, Me, Sherlyn, Michelle)
camwhoring at my dorm, P7
Me and Li Poh, my 'lao poh' in camp  Sherlyn's 18th birthday celebration  Lining up at the marching field before class there's just about it.. i know, i know... it's not that much... that's because i took all of this with my handphone... and as you know, i only have it during weekends and holidays.. hopefully i'll get more from my friends once they get back in 2 weeks time! in the mean time, who wants to meet up? =D + amry @ 10:22 AM | 0 comments
ahh.... it feels like aeons ago since i last posted something... true enough, the last post was february. haha can see what a procrastinator am i from feb - march. but hey, since then i have a valid excuse for my absence right =) duh i was serving national service in Bau for about two gruesome months... time waits for no man.. and i couldn't agree more... it felt like yesterday when i had to packed my bags and bid farewell to my parents in Stadium Shah Alam. i remembered being all emotional that time, crying from the stadium to LCCT. in the airport, i've managed to acquainted a few friends, and met some old one there too. we were all eager to fly to Kuching, but unfortunately many could not board on their flight as their names were not found in the flight's namelist. the queues were horrifically long, people start to lose temper and frustration. imagine yourself after queueing a 100 metre long queue, when its finally your turn, you handed your IC but was told your name wasn't found in the database. so your only alternative was to wait for another couple of hours (in LCCT where their number of shops is so limited) to see if your name is on the other flights. pretty nerve-wrecking right? many were cursing and blaming the government for such inefficiency.. but well, i was lucky for being able to board on the first flight... when we've reached Kuching International Airport, we were took by a bus to our camp, which was approximately 30 minutes from the airport itself. it was already dinner time when we were finally standing on Kem Puncak Permai's ground. to my horror, handphones will be consficated 10 min after dinner! which was much earlier than i expected. i quickly called my parents and him, trying my very best not to cry through the phone call. soon after that our luggage bags were checked by the teachers, and gosh they really can messed up your nicely packed luggage! later on i was brought to my dormitory. i was situated in P7, which means i'm in the Delta company along with P8. the dorms are pretty clean, with two rows of beds neatly arranged vertically along the room. i chose a spot and start to unpacked my belongings quietly.. after having bottling up all my feelings for the entire there, i realise i could no longer suppressed them anymore. big, fat drops of tears rolled down my cheek. it was a whole new environment.. and unlike others, there's no one i knew from subang who came here as well... it felt terrible not having your handphone when you need it the most.. i felt alone, and lost.. before i know it, i was drowning in a pool of tears, trying my best to fall asleep, and hoping that the next day would be a better one... well the later days weren't that bad.. but you do need time to readjust yourself to your new surroundings... things were pretty monotonous there... and first lesson i've learnt from NS is time management. there's really no room for procrastination because our schedule is so packed! an example of our daily routine would be like this: before 5 am - wake up and clean up yourself. do your bed and change to PT clothes. 6 am - line up according to your respective companies in the marching field - sing the national anthem and the " wira wirawati" song - hentak kaki and the infamous Picit 10 - physical training ( which includes lari bukit at times) 7 am - breakfast - change to class attire (baju kelas) 8 am - line up at the marching field again - disciplinary check 8.30 am - classes commence ( Character Building and Kenegaraan) 10 am - tea break 10.35 am - classes resume 12 pm - lunch / break 2 -4 pm - physical module ( where the sun is the HOTTEST) 4 pm - tea break again 5 pm - recreation / sports activities 6 pm - dinner / break 8.30 pm - assemble at the hall 10 pm - supper 11 pm - lights off / sleep. that was a brief insight of what we do daily in the camp. it might not seem that bad, but i did not include times where we have to walk back and forth from the class to my dorm, or from the hall to my dorm, which is a pretty long walk okay! imagine yourself walking back and forth from school 10 times a day. getting exhausted is one thing, but the time you wasted in walking is another! then the most time and energy consuming is the laundry work. gosh, those uniforms are heavy okay! they soaked up water and absorb them like sponge. so it becomes terribly heavy when you handwash them. haha even the guys are complaining about the laundry. worse still, everyday we have to put on different uniforms, from the usual tracksuits, to the class attires, to the celorengs (the blue-striped army uniform that you always see) and finally back to the class attire again). and we were given only 2 sets of uniform each! this means we cannot procrastinate when it comes to washing. the routine of hand-washing clothes several times a day explains why i have bigger arms and shoulders when i came back! sigh =( + amry @ 10:12 AM | 1 comments |
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