A MONTH IN MALAYSIA

by Imron Hizbullah

“Alhamdulillah… my dream comes true for real!!!” that was the sentence that came from my mouth automatically when I received the announcement of the delegates who would fly to Malaysia, as the mission of “Student Exchange” held by Faculty of Cultural Science. I am one of those lucky students. I still couldn’t believe what the head of my department said that I was chosen, until I asked for twice. One thing that I remembered the most was, I left his room with a big smile and wonderful imagination of my student exchange.

On September, 4 2017, 16 students were gathered at Adi Sumarmo airport for the flight to Malaysia. Honestly, it was my first flight ever. Excitement, curiosity, and spirit were covering me that day. Did I feel shame? My friends did. After passing all the checking requirements and delaying for almost two hours, we could enter the plane. For a moment I thought, “Can this thing really fly? I am worried”. While listening to the crew explained the safety procedures, I felt the airplane started moving. It was fast continuously until I saw the banners outside the window got sloped. “Uwoooowww…. This giant iron eagle flies for real”, I said unconsciously. After that, I was totally hypnotized by the panorama of Million tons cotton spreading unlimitedly. After almost three hours flying in the sky, we arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. We were picked up by the team from Akademi Pengajian Melayu (APM), University of Malaya. We went to the lodging room where we would live in for a month.

Our main mission in APM, University of Malaya was to study exchange. Unfortunately, the first week we were there, the college was still on holiday session. However, we were greeted by the teachers and staffs there. We got private class during the first week in order to open up our mind about the background knowledge we were going to learn. The subjects were Malay Literature, Malay Linguistic, Malay Culture, History of Malay, and anything about Malay. The class was once a day and only two hours. So, what did we do after that? We explored the city of Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur is a metropolis where the infrastructures were built successfully. Public transportation like Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT), Monorail, and others support the daily mobility of the people. I loved going everywhere by those trains; fast, accurate, and comfortable. Sometimes I could run from the back to the front, but sometimes I got no space to move.

The Twin Tower as the icon of Malaysia were impressed me deeply. They were exactly the same and beautiful. Masjid Jamek, Masjid India, and Masjid Negara were the calmest place to pray. China town, Little India, and Arabic Market were proving the multi-ethnicity people which live together peacefully. It is a business city where promising easy getting jobs. I ever asked a Grab driver about his income per month, he told that he could receive 2000 ringgits or more than six million rupiahs a month. “Probably, I need to move here,” I thought. Overall, everything was good and memorable.

Studying at APM was something new for me, not only because of the language but also the subjects. There was something interesting in the subject of Malay Culture (I forgot the exact name). The teacher told us that all South East Asians were considered as Malay, including Java, Madura, Batak, Sunda, Betawi, and all Indonesian tribes. I refused that statement and started the debate. However, I gave up when the teacher explained the theory of Malay people. Other subjects were quite interesting and we could get the brand new knowledge. Moreover, we conducted some researches as the main task of the program. We usually went to the library to get the sources. We amazed by the library because it was almost three times bigger than our campus library. There were so many valuable books that I never saw before. I wish I could stay longer.

The formal classes were only 2 weeks that started from the second week of the program. On the weekends we adventured not only inside Kuala Lumpur, but also another city like Melaka. Melaka was the city where Malaysia began and developed. The atmosphere told me that as the port city, Melaka had a long story for spreading Islam a few centuries ago. From Melaka, I could meet a beautiful mosque at the edge of Melaka strait named Masjid Selat Melaka. When I got there it was in the afternoon. The breeze greeted us softly and made me fall in love so quickly.

On the third and the last week of our program, we started to focus on our research and our fascinating show as the farewell party. The class that we attended on was no longer activated. We preferred to go to the library to seek some sources or to stay at lodging house to prepare the show. The show performed some Indonesian traditional dances and martial art. I got the chance to show my skill in practicing Indonesian martial art, Pencak Silat. We only have one week to make sure the show would be perfect. Actually, the show was used for the opening of the international colloquium that was held by APM. When the day came (two days before leaving), we did our best. We got hundreds of applause that made us happy. We were so proud because we could promote Indonesian cultures to the world.

One month completely passed and we should go back to Indonesia. We had gathered all the moments in one memorial book that we would never forget. All the experience of knowing the new culture, new people, and new place was the best teachers that motivate me to develop myself. Even though Malaysia hypnotized me for a month, Indonesia is still in my heart.