IIUM says Good bye to Songkok

3 weeks ago, a friend of mine called me, just to inform and ask my opinion about the decision made by IIUM to replace the songkok (for brothers) and special scarves (for sisters) with mortar boards during its convocation after this. It was still rumors at that time. That means we were the last batch of IIUM graduates wearing songkok in such a big event (23rd convocation). Well, if it was true, I just said that obviously as an IIUM alumni, it's hard to accept the fact. Wearing songkok during convocation is one of the identities of IIUM graduates, who have been practicing this since the early years of IIUM establishment.

But songkok is not an Islamic identity, which reflects the piousness of a Muslim. It's just a tradition of Malays and Muslims, especially those who are living in Nusantara region.

The news has significantly drawn attentions from the public when it was officially announced and put in newspapers. It's up to you how to look at it.

A news at The Malaysian Insider:

UIAM doing away with songkok for convo

KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 —The International Islamic University of Malaysia is doing away with the songkok and special scarves during convocation for its graduates.

Instead, from this year's convocation, to be held from Aug 23 to 25, graduates will wear their graduation robes with mortar boards.

A mortar board

UIAM deputy rector (Academic and Research) Prof Datuk Dr Tahir Azhar said the change was made to standardise the dress code for university convocations nationwide.

He said yesterday that this year 4,112 UIAM graduates would receive their scrolls.

He said there would also be a change in the colour of the graduation robes, from turquoise green to turquoise blue.

"The songket pattern on the sleeve of the new graduation robes will be that of the 'pucuk rebung' (bamboo shoot)," he added.

He said UIAM was spending RM2.1 million for the new graduation robes. — Bernama

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The news is also available at Utusan Malaysia: Topi mortar ganti songkok semasa konvokesyen UIAM

Wassalam.

Another New Chapter

I haven't had the chance to jot down something since I left UIAM 0n last 27th June, while taking a short break before I start a new life as a student again in USM, Engineering Campus, which I consider as another new chapter of my life.

I registered at USM on 30th June 2008, but the semester had only started on last Monday. There were originally 15 students accepted for this mixed-m0de of M.Sc in Chemical Engineering, but only 7 turned up on the registration day. Five of them are ex-students of USM, while only me from UIAM and another one from UiTM. For the moment, I am still in the mode of 'menyesuaikan diri dalam persekitaran yang baru' (familiarizing myself in a new environment). The 7 of us are the pioneer batch for this mixed-mode program at the School of Chemical Engineering here, and we’re supposed to finish everything by June next year.

Since last Monday, I've been traveling all the way from Taiping to Nibong Tebal, which took me about an hour, and cost me around RM20 per day for the petrol. At last, Alhamdulillah, I managed to rent a house in Parit Buntar. Nibong Tebal and Parit Buntar are 2 different places in 2 different states (Penang & Perak), but it takes me less than 10 minutes to reach USM.

Overall, everything looks ok here, but of course there're huge gaps & differences between USM and UIAM...the environment, the students, cafeteria, and so forth. So far, I'm happy with the lecturers, who are very friendly and helpful. The courses required for us are also critical in providing us with a clear direction towards our research goals. May Allah make it easy for us, amin..

Wassalam.