Student Life

Assalamu'alaikum readers.

At IIUM, students can choose if they want to be a part of a uniform body. It will be counted as a Credited Co-curricular Activity. That means it will go in ur CGPA. There are currently 3 uniform bodies, Wataniah, PALAPES Udara and SUKSIS. You can google each of the names to find out more about each body but basically Wataniah are the territorial army, PALAPES are reserve officers and SUKSIS are the police.

We were informed about the uniform bodies when we were in the Taaruf Week. My friend mujahid is enthusiastic about the uniform bodies and interested to join them. But as usual he doesn't want to join alone, so he invited me. I was reluctant at first because i'm not fit! I don't even know if they'll accept me! But i was thinking of the advantages of joining the bodies.

source: google

First, we get an extra 0.5 credit hours every semester comparing to other students who doesn't join the uniform bodies! Second, we get allowance for every hour we go on training. Some people say its RM4/hour, same say RM4.70/hour. I'm not sure of the rate because we haven't been informed yet. We have training every weekend. The third and last advantage for me is i can make my body to become fit. FYI my BMI is on the borderline of Normal and Overweight -.- That really scares me so i need to take care of my body and health by joining the trainings offered by the uniform bodies. Oh ya and we also get to carry guns x)

So after thinking a lot i said, what the heck. I'll give it a try. So we registered to join Wataniah. The first event we have to go to is on our first sunday morning in campus. It is the Fitness Test. Just hearing those words give me the creeps.  I'm afraid they won't accept me if i did so badly in it. After having some confidence in myself, a few friends and I came to the Male Sports Complex to attend the event. There were around 30 students who turned up that day.

source: google

First we have to do a bit of "kawad", i'm not sure if there is an exact term for kawad in english but i guess the closes one to it is "marching". We have to stand in a line of 3 and the leader in front will give us orders and we have to do the movements. Basic stuff for me because during my primary school i joined Pengakap and in secondary school i joined KRS. Again u can google these names if u don't know what are they. Then we did a bit of morning exercise.

After that is the Fitness Test itself. There are 5 challenges overall. First is the 2.4km run. They said we should finish the run in under 15 minutes if i'm not mistaken. 2.4km is one round around our campus btw. But because of several reasons such as cars in the campus etc, we can't do the 2.4km run. Instead, we have to do a 1.4km run around the outback side of the campus, It's near the helipad, bus depot and Mahallah Salahuddin. The road is really hilly and we have to finish it in under 10 minutes. So we ran. I felt so tired after only a few hundred metres of running that i had to walk most of the way. I'm so not in shape >.< Haven't done a lot of physical activities in a while. Finally i finished the run in 13mins23seconds. Even some girls beat me in the run.. So first challenege, FAIL.

Second test is the shuttle run. In malay is (Lari ulang-alik). There is a cone like 30m in front of us and we have to run to that cone and return back to our initial position twice in under 15 seconds. I did it in 9 seconds. This challenge doesn't require much stamina comparing to the previous challenge. No one failed this challenge i think. So second challenge, WIN!

Third test is long jump. This is not the long jump whereby u run and jump as far as u can inside a sand pit. This one we have to stand firmly on a line and jump to the front as far as we can. We can't run. The passing length is 1.4m. Surprisingly I got 1.8m. Some of my friends who is much more fit than me jumped lesser than me. I guess that's something i should be proud of. HEHE. So third challenge, WIN!

Fourth is the well-renowned sit-ups. We have to do 40 sit-ups in 60 seconds to pass. I thought in my mind that i can do this, but when I did it, I stopped at 30. Really my belly was feeling extreme pain and heat that i can't move on :( So fourth challenge, FAIL!

source: google

The fifth and the last challenge is the one that made me so disappointed in myself. It's the chin-ups. In malay it's (Mendagu). There's a bar above ur head. U have to hold the bar using both of ur hands and pull urself upwards until ur chin is above the bar. U have to do at least 10 times in 60 seconds to pass. This one.. I did 0. I'm not strong enough to lift my own weight.. This makes me very sad.. Some of my friends got a 0 as well.. The other guys did good. So fifth challenge, EPIC FAIL!!

Overall, I passed 2 of 5 challenges. I was wondering if i still can join the uniform body after my performance that day. One of the trainers said they're still consider us who failed some of the challenges. This is just like a training Fitness Test, not a real one. They just wants to see how many people are committed to join Wataniah.      And most likely those who really wants to be in Wataniah, will be joining Wataniah. They don't look at the physique of the person, they are looking at the determination of that person. (Captain America anyone?)

So they said the coming friday, those who are still interested to join Wataniah, will have to come for the interview. I'm one of those who're still interested of course! That friday, my friends and I came to Student Development Division (S-Dev) office for the interview. The number of people who showed up is lesser than during the Fitness Test. We waited outside the office for a while and soon they start calling 5 person at a time into the office for the interview. I feel very relieved that its not a 1 on 1 interview. I had a bad experience in those kind of interviews >.< (Hint: Khazanah)

After a few minutes my name and 4 other guys' names got called out. We got inside the interviewing room and sat down. The panel is just one person. He was the lead trainer during the Fitness Test the other day. He asked us one by one this question: "What made u interested in joining Wataniah?" Some of us are really honest in saying that we just want in to get the allowance, some say they want the extra credit and etc. All of us answered fairly to that question. And surprisingly, that's the only question that he was asking us! He talked most of the time during the so-called interview. He tells us that most likely all of us are qualified to join Wataniah already. He's just informing us about the next process to be done before we can officially be inside Wataniah. He also allow us to ask any questions to him. So the interview went very well and the next step to join Wataniah is to move to Mahallah Salahuddin.

Dataran Salahuddin

All students in uniform bodies have to stay at Mahallah Salahuddin, guys and girls. This mahallah is the one and only mixed gender hostel in IIUM, but majority are guys. There are 7 blocks for guys and 3 blocks for girls. There is a cafe, a futsal court, basketball court and a plain called Dataran Salahuddin for us to do kawad in the morning and stuff. Since this is the latest mahallah in IIUM, the environment is really clean comparing to other mahallahs. The furnitures in the rooms are also new. There is only one downside to this mahallah. Its location! Its sooo isolated from the campus. Its on top of a hill. Going to classes at our faculties will be a problem for those who don't have their own transportation vehicle.

My bed in my room at Salahuddin

FYI i'm at Salahuddin right now. Just moved 2 days ago. I'm not officially in Wataniah yet. Have to undergo the last process which is the Ibadah Camp this coming weekend. It is bascially an induction camp to all new students who is joining the uniform bodies. Hopefully all goes well! Thanks for reading readers :)