Monday, October 01, 2007

Much Ado About Campus

The varsity election is back. Controversial as usual. Same hype, same rumor, same issue. Being a university student for almost 8 years, I got fed up and tired of it all. Ok, I better clear myself; this entry is not about the so-called election. Still, I would like to write about varsity-related stuffs.

Recently, I read from TheStar that 8tv will be collaborating with the private higher institutions in a program called The Ultimate Prom Night. Yes, you read it right, PROM Night. According to the official website: “The Ultimate Prom Night is a glamorous on ground event especially organized for college students around Malaysia. A total of 3 colleges will be selected in each region (North and South) and 12 colleges in Klang Valley, where the students will get a chance to attend the event. 10 boys and 10 girls will be selected from the roadshows held and during the prom night, the most popular guy will be selected and crowned as the Ultimate Prom King and one girl as the Ultimate Prom Queen. A memorable event that is sure to keep the college students talking for a long time to come!”

The ‘best’ part is that, the 8TV CEO stated that he wishes this program will be extended to public universities next year. I wonder whether they will try to 'islamize' the program if they dare bring it to IIUM. Maybe it will be called Mahabbah Nite, who knows. Like the way Jom Heboh has been ‘islamized’ to Perkampungan Hadhari. Only Allah knows how these business-minded (or should I say profit-minded?) guys think.

What is the significance behind this program, I really couldn’t comprehend. Of course I believe they will come up with this justification: to give the students a chance of socializing as well as getting to know each other better, to gain self-confidence, the chance to be heard, etc etc. My, my, you don’t need a special program to do that. It has been happening all this while, successfully; judging from the amount of campus couples today. I will not talk about other universities; instead I will focus on my beloved IIUM because insya Allah I know better about it. The IIUM authorities have been having a hard time in eradicating the coupling culture even without this ‘socializing programme’. Imagine what would happen if the idea of PROM nite (Mahabbah Nite rather?) is brought inside.

People might say, who I am to judge as I am an anti-social, nerdy person who has no idea what PROM is all about. True, I have never been to such an event, but to be honest, I have watched enough teen flicks on tv and pirated cds to grasp what does PROM signify. If I am not mistaken, (referring to the teen-flicks again) even the Americans know that such event brings more harm than good. There will be heartbreaks, degrading of self-confidence, and the popular ones remain popular and the less popular ones will remain being ignored. Not to mention other immoral conducts that may be produced later on.

Besides, it is an open secret that there ARE Malay Muslims students who go clubbing. The situation is already bad as it is, don’t make it worse. Curiously, why on earth are we taking the culture which the Americans themselves are not interested in anymore? I rest my case.

p/s: The most anticipated nite: LAILATUL QADR is back ! Let’s do qiyam insya Allah :)

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