The Pit Stop

It came,

The day finally came,

“The day of sorrow”, they said,

“The day of tears”, I said.

It had been slow,

Creeping slow,

Crawling inch by inch for the first few weeks,

Then, with the sudden rush of the adrenaline,

It speeded up,

As quick as lightning,

‘Till the very end.

This will be the pit stop,

The farewell,

The end of everything,

NO MORE waking up at the early of the dawn,

NO MORE sleeping before midnight strikes,

NO MORE sweat dripping fro the epidermis of a skin,

NO MORE curses shouted when tiredness overruled a homosapien,

NO MORE……..

NADA………….

It’s over now,

Ended with tones of tears,

Sincerely from the soul of a human,

THIS IS a once in a lifetime experience,

THIS IS a part of a journey,

THIS IS a memoir,

MY MEMOIR….

I’ will fly and leave ONLY memories here….

- END -

DELTA

We Win!!

3^rd – Netball

3^rd – Volleyball ( Wirawati )

1^st – Best Flag

1^st – Best banner of Maulidur Rasul

1^st – Marching Competition

1^st – Sepak Takraw

1^st – Kelapa Emas activity

1^st – Best Tents ( Wira and Wirawati ) for WIRAJAYA

1^st – Best Company

Our Song

Kami wira wirawati DELTA,

Sentiasa bersedia,

Menempuh cabaran, mengharung dugaan,

DELTA pasti berjaya.

Dengan semangat serta tunjuk ajar,

Berbekalkan semangat jiwa waja,

Kami DELTA telah bersedia,

Mengharungi segala – galanya…Hoi…hoi..hoi..

Bekerjasama , hormat – menghormati,

Bersatu kita teguh, Sedia untuk berbakti,

Kepada negara, nusa dan bangsa,

DELTA pasti berjaya…

Sweet memories being a Delta-ian :

• When the wiras of DELTA willingly polished wirawatis’ boots for the marching competition.
• Our coach cried as we did GREAT for the marching competition.
• All Delta – ian backed up their people who went for singing try out.
• When wiras take good care of the wirawatis every single time…

Community Service

The community service is one of the four main modules in the National Service. In this module, trainees are brought to a place situated outside of the or listened to a talk + take part in activities conducted by government bodies and NGO’s

Community Services that I did throughout National Service at Kem PLKN Pinggiran Pelangi Muadzam Shah :

a) Visit to Tea Dara Sdn Bhd – We visited tea plantation sites and the factory manufacturing the tea

b) Talk by Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah

c) Visit to 50^th TUDM Anniversary at Padang MPK 2 and lunch at Taman Gelora

• It’s QUITE hot wearing the mask..

• Us with our teacher

• 2 women pilots

• Friends on the beach

d) Talk by Polis DiRaja Malaysia ( PDRM )

e) Talk About HIV / AIDS

f) Visit to Selancar 2 ( gotong – royong )

• Main task = paint the tyres!!

• Az, Amir and Kaswardi with the kindergarten’s children at Taska Kemas

g) Talk by Indah Water Consortium ( IWK )

h) Visit to Desa Tanjung, Muadzam hah ( gotong – royong )

• Mar, Wani and Me playing the swings before we start our ‘work’

• Slide….

• Wan , Mar, Ain, Nadia and Az ( I broke my spectacles ) at Masjid Muadzam Shah

i) Blood Donation

• Kal and me registered for blood donation by HTAA

j) Visit to TUDM Bukit Ibam, SKUADRON 322 ( the best trip ever!! )

• Listening to a talk about oxygen mask ( which I tried and the air inside the tank is FRESH ) and a talk about fire extinguishers

• Lining up to get onto a track to go to a hill ( where there is a radar to detect any planes / jet throughout Malaysia skies a.k.a PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL place a.k.a NO CAMERA allowed!! )

• The scenery from uphill

• Wani, Az, Yi Lin, Nad

k) Visit to Museum Tokoh and lunch at Taman Teruntum

• Whee…. Antique spiral stair

• Haiz….will we meet again??

• Az and Siti ( Pahang vs Johor )

• Pretending that I’m reading

• SMARTIANS and the portrait of Abdul Rahman Talib
  

• Trainees Kem PLKN Pinggiran Pelangi Muadzam Shah

l) Kem PLKN Pinggiran Pelangi ( gotong – royong )

WIRAJAYA

Wirajaya activity is the final activity for the physical module throughout these 3 months. The task of this activity is to climb a hill ( Bukit Ridan ) which situated 242m above sea level and find the camp site or better known as Pangkalan Hutan. The activity started off with the briefing of the whole journey by Timbalan Komanden Latihan ( TKL ) followed by the release of National Service trainees according to company. Delta leads the journey followed closely by Alpha, Bravo and Charlie. The total time consumed for us to reach the camp site is about 3 / 4 hours of climbing and going down the hill.

The climbing was tiring compared going down the hill, yet, it is safer. And YES, since the night before it was raining, thus we can see plenty of ‘pacat’ finding its victims. I was one of the victim of baby ‘pacat’..LOL…..There are several pit stops along the way. There was supposed to be only 2 pit stops, yet some of the trainees can’t handled the climbing activity; including me.. FYI, each trainees was given a bag, a poncho, water tumbler and a pot used for cooking ( Maggi mostly as foods are prepared by the kitchen staffs throughout the 2 days activity ). Basically, I had about 1.5 kg of luggage on my back including blanket, maggi stocks and biscuits.

We reached the campsite ( which is basically situated few metres from the Marching Square ) around noon and the first thing we did was building a camp. This is not the ordinary ready made tent as we only used ponchos and woods in building the tents. My tent fitted 2 people and it has two opening. After lunch, I participated in First Aid Competition. In this activity, each team was given 4 compasses and maps. We must use the bearing given to find the injured victims inside of the jungle. My team went through a jungle ( with no track and we had to figure how to walk in between thorns, trees, etc ).We managed to get out of the1st jungle before finding the victims in the other jungle..

At night, I entered another activity called Kelapa Emas ( something like treasure hunt ) but involving bearings. And around midnight, there is the usual activity called Burung Hantu. Surely everyone has heard about that..

The best part throughout Wirajaya :

• My company ( Delta ) won 3 competitions
• My tent bocor!!! Sadly that evening rained..
• I almost collapsed after First Aid competition as the result of extreme tiredness.
• Mosquitoes are having a big bloody feast that night…Seriously….

• Sedia…GEMPUR!!!

• P7B

• 1st Pit Stop

• 3rd Pit Stop ( Find me… )

• When DELTA wins!!

Sports Carnival between Companies

Wirawati

• Netball
• Volleyball

Wira

• Volleyball
• Sepak Takraw

Wira & Wirawati

• Cross Country
• Marching Competition

I entered the marching competition which was DAMN cool. Representing my company – DELTA!! Even though we only had 3 days to practice, we manage to perform quite a show. The main recipes of winning the competition are cooperation between all of the members and we had a cool leader…Haha…We won first with 7 points more than Alpha company….Go DELTA….. !!!

• Wira and Wirawati DELTA after winning the marching competition

BEFORE, NOW & LATER..

BEFORE, 2 months ago,

Tears shed my eyes,

Anger filled my heart,

And the urge of not going,

Live strong throughout my soul.

BEFORE, 2 months ago,

My lips chanted a big “NO!!”,

Every muscle inside of me weakened,

Feeling the sorrow I felt,

Of going away,

Departing from somewhere I called home.

NOW, 2 months has gone,

Everything changes,

I changed,

Laughter filled the air,

In every second and minute count,

Excitement and curiousness are new members,

That I welcome in my daily life.

NOW, 2 months has gone,

Strangers became friends,

Friends became siblings,

Teachers became parents,

A family is built strong,

Comprising of the members,

And boundless love.

NOW, 2 months has gone,

At a sudden call,

Some of the members began to depart,

To continue their quest in life,

Tears shed back in the eyes of a human,

Flowing without being asked,

And a scar is left inside of every heart.

LATER, 20 days to come,

I started to think and wonder,

How this big and peaceful family,

Cracks into its original pieces,

Will there be more tears?,

Will there be more scars?,

Or will there be only memories?,

That lives within us,

Forever…

Program Penghayatan Sastera dan Budaya ( PPSB )

After a week long of integration class, on the following week Kem Pinggiran Pelangi welcomed 10 facilitators from Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka. They are officers from DBP itself and some of them are teachers from Kuantan. The PPSB is a 3 days activity – day and night and all of the trainees are divided into 8 different groups. Each group are named with 8 sasterawans’s names such as SN Usman Awang and SN A.Samad Said.

As an introduction session, all of the trainees were introduced to various puisi traditional; sajak, syair, gurindam, seloka, maestro, etc.The main task in this program is that all 8 consecutive groups had to compete with each other on a Malam Citra Puisi. Each groups is supposed to perform a sajak and any of the puisi traditional.

Lucky for me, I was selected into the urusetia team ; SN Haji Mohamed Salleh. I was on of the jury on the performance night. And on that night, I was responsible to become a so-called model carrying one of sasterawan’s name; SN Nordin Kassim. Without planning, on that night too my partner ( which is a Chinese male ) wore a matching clothes ( Baju kurung and Baju Melayu )…which is rather surprising and funny.

Some of the Puisi traditional performed by the urusetia team ( excluding me ) :

• SELOKA PAK KADUK

Aduhai malang Pak Kaduk,

Ayamnya menang kampong tergadai,

Ada nasi dicurahkan,

Awak pulang kebuluran,

Mudik menongkah surut,

Hilir menongkah pasang,

Ada isteri dibunuh,

Nyaris mati oleh tak makan,

Masa belayar kematian angin,

Sauh dilabuh bayu berpuput,

Ada rumah bertandang duduk,

Aduhai malang Pak Kaduk,

Aduhai malang Pak Kaduk.

• A MAESTRA ( Sajak yang dilagukan )

Datanglah dengan 1000 cahaya,

Sepantas langkah tuju arah syurga,

1000 malaikat menunggu,

Menghujani susu ibu.

Ibumu yang masih ada di sini,

Kan sentiasa mengirim salam rindu,

Dalam mimpi kita pasti bertemu,

Dalam Frdausi kita akan bersatu

( Please correct the lyric if it is wrong. I’m not 100% sure of it )

Kelas Integrasi

Kelas Integrasi a.k.a Integration class is a week long module conducted by 8 educated teachers from different states ( most of the teachers are from Johor ). The class are from 9.00 a.m to 4.30 p.m.There are 3 main modules in the class which are :

• Kebudayaan
• Keagamaan
• Peranan Lelaki dan Perempuan

From the modules, you can scribe up in your mind that the main purpose of the class is to enable the trainees to learn more about different cultures and races in Malaysia. Such as in the first module which is Kebudayaan, we learned about the different clothes,foods, traditional games, and celebrations. Then, in the second module which is Keagamaan, we learned about how different races including those in Sabah and Sarawak carry out 3 main events; Marriage, Birth and Death. Lastly, the last modules tell us about the different functions of female and male and how each gender can contribute to the country. I managed to sleep in one of the session.

To wrap up the one week lesson, each class competed in a “Petang Kebudayaan”. There are 3 groups did the marriage of three main races in Malaysia, while the others did dances in Malaysia. My group ( Group 6 ) did a Sabah’s culture. We were divided into two main groups; the choir group ( which I am in ) and the dance group. The dances were the Sumazau dance and the dance using 4 bamboos ( don’t know what it is called ). We sang Jambatan Tamparuli song while the dance group dances. Since the mc wrongly announced the winner, I was told that my group got third out of 8 groups..

Jambatan Tamparuli

Pak pak kang ku doh
Sumunsui doh jambatan
Jambatan doh Tamparuli
Bakasut tinggi oku

Sumunsui doh jambatan
Jambatan doh Tamparuli
Pak pak kang ku doh
Bakasut tinggi oku

Silaka nodi kasutku
Naratu lo jambatan
Tinggal poh doh sutakin
Nowid ku di numuli

Ontok di hari 3
Tamu lo Tamparuli
Mingusuk poh hilo kadai
Mogihum doh kasut tinggi

Character Building Class

The character building class is divided into two modules and for each module, we were given an activity book. There are four classes which are Semangat, Tekad, Harmoni and Hasrat. In every class, there will be group discussion, activities and watching DVD on some moral values. Any every class session start with some songs ( A song that I don’t know the title, Hijau by Zainal Abidin and the Olympic anthem ). And throughout the class, the teacher in charge will play some songs by local artists; Ferad, Sheila Majid, etc.

Module 1 – “Menampilkan yang terbaik dalam diri sendiri“

My teacher : Cikgu Shah and Cikgu Ita

My group : Samudera

Activities :

• Making a jet plane – each group is given a stack of newspaper and we have to make a jet out of it. The competition is to fly ( more like slide ) the jet the furthest.
• Telur, Ayam, Dinasour, Raja – It is kinda like ‘e jus’ using water, bird and rock. The first stage is egg. If you win you will become chicken but if you lose, you will remain as egg. Then, when you are chicken and you win, you will become dinosaur. Yet, if you lose, you will become egg again..And the game continues using the same principle until you become the king. I manage to be the third last to become the king out of 60 persons.

I only managed to enter the first module class twice from 9 classes.

Module 2 – “Menampilkan yang terbaik dalam diri orang lain.“

My teacher : Cikgu Fiza

My group : Challengers

Activities :

• Bagai Lalang Ditiup Bayu Angin - The game is comprised of a group of 7 – 8 persons of the same gender. A person will be in the centre of a circle. Then, he / she will have to collapse backwards while the other members in the circle will try to support the weight of the person in the middle. Main objective is to build trust in other person a.k.a your friends.
• Juggle - The normal juggle activity using 3 balls with 9 different steps.
• Arm wrestling - Each person in a group of two are provided with 10 sweets each and the winner are allowed to take the opposition’s sweets.
• Kerusi Panas ­- Something to do about holding strong to your goal in life.
• Collage ­­- We did a collage on our vision with the help of some magazines.

• Performance - On the last day of CB class, each group must perform anything patriotic in front of the class. My group’s performance was singing 3 state anthems ( Pahang, Terengganu and KL )and Keranamu Malaysia..LOL…

I managed to enter 7 / 9 class for the second module

Physical Activities – Part 1

P7B

From the past post onwards, all posts will be related to the National Service. Get lost if you are not interested in reading. For those who are, I bid a warm WELCOME and I really hope that all of you can feel the great time I spent in Kem Pinggiran Pelangi Muadzam Shah.

Basically, there are four main physical trainings that I did so far. They are :

“Aktiviti Air”

Water confident – the best physical activities I ever did in the National Service camp. The main purpose of this activity is to build self confident in every trainee so that they won’t be panic if their kayaks or the rakits overturn. Each session comprised of 6 – 10 persons and all of them will be wearing a life jacket. The trainees will try to swim with the aid of the life jacket. After that, they must try to float themselves in the water a.k.a laying on the surface of the water.

My comment : Extremely COOL!!!! I was panicked at first when my feet didn’t touch the bottom of the lake and the six of us start clanging to each other ( I can’t swim ).Then, I managed to get hold onto a rope with a buoy and from that, my friends.After a while, I started to be more relax and managed to lay on the surface of the water..Yay…FYI, I still can’t swim and I’m PETRIFIED of deep oceans.

“Aktiviti Tali Rendah”

Crossing via a log – Each trainee must try to cross from one side to another side via a log. It’s like ‘titi gantung’ with the exception of the holding place and it is only few centimeters from the ground.

My comment : Look easy at first. Yet, it took me about 20 ++ try to get cross that thing..And I kinda laughed my head off while watching other people trying to cross the ‘bridge’ with various acts..

” Aktiviti Tali Tinggi”

Flying fox – Surely everyone know what it is. The only different is that the flying fox at my camp is from one small hill, crossing a small lake to the logistic area.

My comment : It is not so tall. But I do felt terrified during the early release at it is situated kinda uphill. So kinda ‘gayat’ a bit… This activity cause bruises on my wrist due to the fact I had to hold two ropes during the activity. In this activity, again you can see various acts; crying, screaming their heads off, etc…

“Latihan Senjata”

M-16 – All of 400++ trainees are divided into 2 groups; Alpha + Bravo….Charlie + Delta. My group ( Charlie + Delta ) had M-16 theory class on Monday ( 5^th of Mei ) and the Practical ( 6^th of Mei ). We were taught by a TLDM’s army ; Cikgu Hamdan at our own camp and the practical was conducted at an army camp in Mentakab, Pahang. There are 5 main topics taught to us which are : Pengenalan, Langkah – langkah keselamatan, Cara nak menembak, Menenang ( Targeting ) and TSM ( Tindakan Serta Merta ). The next day, we had a practical of M-16, 5,56mm at Mentakab Pahang. The target was about 250 metres away and each session comprised of 8 trainees / shooters. All of the National Service trainees were only allowed to shoot in the state of meniarap.

My comment : ONE IN A LIFE TIME EXERIENCE = EXTREMELY COOL!!! The journey to and fro Mentakab was a BOUNCY ride..Then, holding a M-16 was GREAT. It is heavy and whenever you shoot it will go upwards. Then, the sound of the shoot was UNDESCRIBABLE. The best thing is that, before we ended the practical,almost all of the army took the M-16 and started to shoot at the target CONTINOUSLY with different positions ( melutut, meniarap and while standing ).. At the end of the practical, we had to collect all the empty bullet case and put them in a box. We were no allowed to bring any back as we will be charged at the Army Court. FYI, our bus for that day was Bus Pekerja ( the blue bus )..So, you can laugh now…

* I haven’t done the kayaks, rakits and Kembara Halangan yet due to the fact I was on a leave when the other did the activities.

The Theory of M-16

Mentakab, Pahang