FRIENDS (II)

well, the wise men said, we do not choose our destiny, it chooses us (refer saladin trailer).

i did not choose to be in this position. a girl said to me last week 'we did not choose to meet, we did not plan to meet' and ...

anyway, i am the only malay and practising muslim in my class. In my first year, i used to attend my lectures regularly, sat in one corner without talking to anyone, and at the end of the day, went home. Imagine the whole cycle 9-5 almost everyday. Things got better in my second year, and the third and fourth.

I got along very well with people from the islamic society, mainly due to our common belief and similar codes of ethics. I have been a worker for the ISoc over the past four years, which allowed me to enjoy the ups and downs working for it. I was on the frontseat in a Yvonne Ridley's lecture which was eventually broadcasted on BBC, hence the up. I was also there trying to understand everything when a conflict between 2 camps started.

I always believe that a leader can always be a leader, in any situation he's in. With the charisma and leadership skills, there's no reason why a foreigner cannot lead a group of British people. This is a fact that needs attention. We always see that a Malay will feel inferior to these British people, and not taking up responsibilities if there's some British students in the group. If we look carefully, most of us have the required skills. Just look at our CV's, and how many of us were prefects, president, this and that when we were in secondary school? Some of us were headboys, deputies, presidents of the best socities whatsoever. The point is, everything goes to thin air when we come to the UK. The question of whether it is inferiority or it is laziness still needs answering.



Once the question was put forward to me. My answer was " We malaysians, we operate on the 'cometh the our, cometh the man' basis". That is quite fair i think. I was not that involved in the Isoc planning couple of years back. Everything changed when I was told to step in during the time of crisis. That was an Order from the president of that time. As much as i did not like the job, i knew that i had to do it, for the sake of Allah. And here came ta'ah, obedience to leader in islamic movement, which i found extremely lacking in ISoc members, especially in those who were brought up in this country.


Malay friends of my batch left uni last year, after finishing their respective courses in 3 years time. To be fair, our batch is not that big anyway. I had many good friends. One of them simply dissappeared into thin air after leaving Bristol. I believe that he has his own reasons, and as a good friend, i make du'a that he finds every success in whatever he does.