Le Tour de Beringin

The 2nd installment of the Tournament returned this year with a significantly more catchy moniker. Spearheaded by Benjamin Wong and crew, they steeled themselves for a morning of gritty heat. As the 20 lines..mostly women...sped off in Mr Zaidi's van at 9pm, the rented bus for the college trip to One Utama dragged the finishing line off 100 metres, setting the scene for a quirky morning.

First off were the womens' doubles, where the Speed Duo of Fong Su Chen and Syafiqah inched their way past Joanna and Fang En to victory. The mens' doubles emerged as a tribute to the newly retrenched SC, Awie, Prez, and Mukrish, Acad, pedalling to victory. Garnet swept all three female titles at stake, Roslina, Chong Ling, and Ilya swerving in in rapid succession. Mr Fellender clinched the Teachers' special invitational category by the slimmest of margins from Mr Zaidi, but THE Hallmark scene of the day was Mr Amran pedalling in a leisurely last with his son.

The men's singles was an explosive affair, with lots of ice deployed to soothe their temporarily non-existent leg muscles. Arthur, another Garneter, emerged champion, closely tailed by Sin Wee - our Sports Exco earning his stripes in yet another sport - and Totoque.

12pm, the event ended leisurely, amicably even - a stark contrast from the pulsating tensions minutes before.

KMB - KYUEM Taekwondo...Friendly?

The cat's out of the bag. The most discreetly organized college event EVER, the KYUEM-KMB Taekwondo Friendly, was quickly disposed of with little bloodshed and fuss at the MPH, neatly slotted in between the End of Classes and the General Rush to Parents' or Boyfriends' Cars and the ICAW Family Day. Still, it was well supported, with parochial house diffences excised for that one resounding holler. Good job.

A very bloody event indeed, sans the blood. Hazwan and Tasha were refereeing, with Tasha being promoted to head referee once only one sparring ring was required. KMB brought with them a formidable-looking contigent, who promptly made a beeline to the cafeteria. The intelligence we have gathered on KMB living conditions vis-a-vis KYUEM can get us slapped with a libel suit, so let's stop worrying why they're eating brick-hard fish and sharing power outlets next to the toilets and get on with our air-conditioned, Expat-taught, Satuday-classed daily lives.

Results: In an all-KYUEM final Benjamin Wong of Topaz...no, no, here I go again, no house feelings...beat Mohd Akmal @ Batu in the over-55kg category while Khel was soundly whipped by his KMB opponent in the under-55. Grace Tan (White Belt!) trounced her KMB (Brown Belt) opponent while over-55kg was an all-KMB affair.

At 5pm, it was declared over, in the inauspicious setting of the little Bicycle Machines landing above the MPH, as the ICAW people had booked it for the Games. And so ended a quiet event with the loudest cheers.

Islamic Cultural Arts Week

Islamic Culture. One of the many pressing questions doggedly preeminent in many minds. For one week, the ICAW High Committee sought to dispel myth and misunderstanding, throwing together a festivity of arts that alerted the world to the contribution of Islamic culture to the wellbeing of the world at large.

Monday: Akad Nikah demonstration ceremony, corridor between notice boards. P.E, in his inaugural role as a Muslim religious elder, and Firdaus, the prospective groom, gave a highly entertaining rendition of the brief ceremony. All with the aid of two props, i.e. a worn table mat and an impeccable command of Islam.

Wednesday Night: The much vaunted talk on Islamic...fill in the blank. Turns out, after Abby (SC vice pres, I will seriously consider filching pictures of them in distasteful poses - think SC Performance at Nostalgic Malaysia - and displaying them on Veritas for the benefit of oh-ye hallowed ones who have survived the 2 years here.) won a free car trip to KL to pick the speaker up...AND another trip to KL to send her back. A few students, baited by a Baskin Robbins ad, duly followed, only to belatedly realise to their utmost horror that closing time was imminent. As fate would have it, they did not get their ice creams.

But I digress...but this goes to show how little things can invigorate the flagging spirits many college residents are prone to. Talk was on Islamic fashion and design, held in the musollah, but still drawing a fairly representative turnout. Mr Small was obviously intrigued, as were the girls, while the boys were unavailable for comment.

Friday: MUSLIMAH NIGHT. The high point of our banal existence. Well, as you may gather, there were no men. Female sound crew, female heavy manual labour, female organization - all the things women are so overtly sidelined from in our patriarchical college. Which has not been assisted by the fact there is one less female member in this year's Student Council. AND out of the four current female, two are beyond doubt - it's hardly conceivable that a male would be well positioned to represent female religious needs, and the Female Vice-Pres is self explanatory. Which makes Muslimah Night all the more meaningful.

"A night for women to let their hair down..." metaphorically "...and be as beautiful as they can be." Such were the encouraging thoughts the womenfolk of college, both Muslim and non-Muslim, bore to the event. Food, womentalk, performances by juniors and seniors, culminating in the grand finale, Miss KYUEM...Iman Badrudin, of Garnet.

Saturday: Fellowship and games between Muslimin and Muslimah at MPH, afternoon, after the taekwondo tournament, refer above. Teachers brought their kids along, and everyone had a screamin' great time, as the good fellows staying in the chalets nearest to the MPH will testify to.

Sunday: GRAND closing ceremony, and I don't mean speeches or refreshments. Guest artiste was the SM Agama Kuala Lumpur nasyid group, mesmerising us with 2 tunes. Then, the much flaunted drama. Starring Ansai, Mior, Firdaus and, to a certain extent, Joey, it relates the quest of a man to punish God for killing his family who in the process finds God. Along the way, concept after concept was gently explained through the dialogue - we found out about the hijab, prayer, God's will and you'll just have to wait for the reruns.

Well done, well received. Honorary membership of Veritas for these intrepid people, for keeping the truth enjoyable.

God, Gore and Glory

The FIRST ever KYUEM Invitational Rugby Tournament, another successful project spearheaded by our newly elected SC Vice President Mohd Syahirul Syafiq @ Nic-O, his less tonguetwisting moniker. Held in UKM Bangi from Friday to Saturday, 25-27 February 2004, it was a massive organizational success. Imagine handling 17 bawling school and college rugby teams, divvied up among 3 fields, and you have a huge mathematical, logistics, and willpower nightmare.

Veritas observers who were sent down to the field, at great personal experience, found no hitches in the 50 minutes we were there. All departments were apparently expertly manned by Joey on the Megaphone, with Hana and Adilah bustling around him as needed. Rgen seemed to have his hands tied up with Hazwan's (not literally, if you know what I mean) with the food arrangements, while one field away at the first aid cum free drinks cum T-shirt counter, a huddle of pretty girls were flaunting their stuff. I mean stuff.

Liz and Nabila were the 100 Plus (Official Sponsors) models for the event, while many nameless, faceless people who were nevertheless equally, if not more important, contributors manned every imaginable station and position, with a generous supply of walkie-talkies, to ensure smooth running.

Results: For the Cup final, Bandar Penawar Sports School beat Politeknik Shah Alam, while for the Plate final, KMB edged our favourite rugby team KYUEM (the college formerly known as KMYS, which in turn was formerly known as KMYS). Credit to the rugby team for finishing credibly - more credit to the organizing committee for making KYUEM a formidable name in rugby tournaments.

The College Update

TONS has happened in the past 3 weeks - and the fabulously resonant paradox of life is thus: the MORE happens here the MORE you have to write about thus the MORE you should theoretically update the blog, but then, the MORE happens, the LESS time I have to update the blog. Hell, if I had MORE time to update the blog it would indicate I wasn't exactly the right person to represent the views of a participant in college activities, eh?

FEBRUARY 21-28, SUNDAY to SUNDAY

CREATIVE WEEK: Began with the debatable Indian dance, which I personally think was the most fabulous thing to happen to this college since sliced bread. Monday and Tuesday was Mendhi (nicholas86@gmail.com to correct spelling or factual errors) Day, hand paintings were the rage and to many people's horror some people STILL sport them till today. A sign of lowering KYUEM hygiene standards? That's Ecotrip, which will be dealt with in a later article.

THURSDAY witnessed Sumo Wrestling, by far the most entertaining aspect of the event - Gail (Lisley) emerged under-50 kg victor. Throughout the week 3 competitions were held: Graffiti Art (not to be confused with most of the stuff on the notice board), each house had to sign its name as creatively as possible, won handily by Sapphire; and Junk to Art where each house had to build a building out of recycled materials. Sapphire and Garnet tied in a dead heat for first while Diamond was a distant third.

FRIDAY afternoon, as Creative Week drew to a comparatively peaceful end, a bloodbath was beginning. The KYUEM Invitational Rugby Tournament. Full report VERY soon. I mean, after Biology class.

For now.

The College Update that Never Was

SORRY GUYS!

The effect of 3 weeeks' worth of tests has taken its toll on me. My writing flair has probably evaporated and I am probably issuing the most boring, angst-ridden article of my life as I write.

But informal college censorship has not been kind on me. After 3 weeks of self-enforced silence, a highly painful process for an editor as outspoken (used in a derogatory manner here, you may notice) as me, due to certain forces in the college that banded together to oppose free speech, after SPM results were released, I had an epiphany.

I realised that the ONLY way I knew anything about this college once I received my results was through the fabulous Secretaryman'a blog, and without that, I would not have the confidence I had to stride in on the first day.

I owe it to the juniors. MY juniors. to write on, as much as it may hurt my already questionable repute in college.

I owe them the truth. As I, overworked, underpaid, and thus significantly biased, see it.

But then, who isn't?