Sirih Pulang ke Gagang - Second Malaysian Symposium on Biomedical Science

Mungkin ramai yang sudah tahu, ketika di UIA aku rapat dengan juniorku.

Setiap tahun, jika ada junior-junior yang baru masuk, aku akan cuba berkenal-kenalan dengan mereka. Empat tahun aku di UIA. Jadi, aku cuma berpeluang merasa berkongsi hidup, bersilang simpang dengan tiga tahun yang di bawahku. Sekejap di Gombak, dan lebih lama di Kuantan.

Setiap batch, ada sahaja ragamnya. Yang pasti, seingat-ingat aku, setiap tahun aku tak pernah melepaskan peluang menjamu selera mereka dengan sedikit hidangan yang aku dan rakan sebilik sediakan. Tidaklah semua dapat merasa, tetapi yang pernah berkongsi kegembiraan, berkongsi cerita tatkala menjamah makanan, pasti tidak akan melupakan.

Makanan memang boleh menyatukan. Makanan boleh mengingatkan.

Tertarik pula, malah terharu apabila ada yang masih ingat dengan saat kami duduk bersama, menjamah makanan yang aku masakkan. Bukan berniat ingin mengungkit amal yang pernah dilakukan, namun apa yang ingin dinyatakan ialah, sekecil mana pun usaha amal yang dilakukan, jika ia memberi kesan kepada yang merasa, pasti sampai ke mati memori dibawa.

Oh, sebenarnya baru-baru ini aku ke Kuantan lagi. Memenuhi jemputan menjadi penceramah dalam Ceramah Kerjaya. Hampir dua tahun aku meninggalkan kampus Kuantan, banyak yang sebelumnya tiada, tiba-tiba sahaja sudah ada. Sengaja aku alihkan pemanduanku melalui jalan belakang yang tidak ramai melaluinya. Entah bila, entah bagaimana, sudah tersergam indah malah gah bangunan-bangunan baharu. Itu belum cerita lagi seawal sebelum memasuki kampus dari arah pekan Kuantan, mata sudah terpana dengan kubah masjid yang tegak di atas tapak yang sebelumnya sebahagian daripada tebing sungai. Sejurus pintu gerbang diterjah, ada pula bangunan yang selayaknya setanding dengan bangunan Pentadbiran di UIA Gombak. Namun, aku terlanggar lubang besar tidak lama selepas itu dek mata sibuk terpana-pana. Spoil.

Berjumpa dengan mereka, khususnya yang menguruskan program itu, membuatkan aku bangga. Pernah terbit kerisauan, mampukah mereka meneruskan legasi yang pernah dibawa oleh senior mereka? Bukan mahu merendah-rendahkan, malah kerisauan itu jelas tidak berasas kerana segalanya nyata di depan mata. Mereka mampu melakukannya, malah jauh lebih baik daripada yang disangka. Kesungguhan mereka untuk meletakkan tanda aras yang tinggi dalam mutu penganjuran majlis itu, tidak boleh dipandang sebelah mata.

Bayangkan, hanya dengan kudrat daripada satu jabatan sahaja, mampu menguruskan program bertaraf kebangsaan. Itu belum lagi jika kudrat ketiga-tiga jabatan yang ada, disatukan. Apakah pula yang mampu mereka laksanakan. . . Melihat senarai penaja program itu, membuatkan aku tersenyum bangga.

Peluang untuk menganjurkan Second Malaysian Symposium on Biomedical Science itu hanya sekali itu sahaja dapat mereka laksanakan sepanjang pengajian mereka. Maklumlah, penganjurannya mengikut giliran. Dan banyak universiti lain yang menanti-nanti giliran mereka, kerana yang pasti jika berpeluang menganjurkan, banyak perkara yang dapat diperoleh daripadanya - pengalaman, kawan, malah mungkin bakal majikan.

Tulisan ini bukan menggula-gulakan mereka kerana menjemput aku untuk turut serta dalam program mereka. Malah aku tidak sangka pada usia begini, pada pengalaman secetek air di kali dan bukan sedalam di Lautan Hindi, mereka meminta aku membentangkan mengenai Bioethics. Aku baru dalam bidang bioetika. Tidak banyak yang mampu aku bentangkan melainkan berkongsi cerita bagaimana aku akhirnya beralih haluan ke dalam bidang itu. Harap-harapnya, mereka dapat sedikit sebanyak manfaat daripada apa yang aku celotehkan.

Berdiri di atas pentas itu, pentas yang sama aku dilantik menjadi Setiausaha Agung SCIENCESS, pentas yang sama aku menyampaikan ucapan ketika majlis penyampaikan hadiah Amazing Explorace, pentas yang sama aku berlakon dengan rakan-rakan WacKOS, pentas yang sama aku mengacarakan majlis, aku bangga. Bangga dalam erti kata aku bersyukur. Kerana masih diterima, kerana masih ada yang sudi menjemput, kerana masih ada yang sudi melayan.

Terima kasih para junior. Syabas aku ucapkan.

Organ Donation Talk: Another Step in My Career

I delivered a speech in Kidney Transplant Workshop organized by the Nephrology Unit of UKM Medical Center of Cheras last Saturday. The speech was regarding The Organ Donation from Islamic Perspective.

Held in Bahasa Melayu, I actually replaced the initial speaker i.e. The CEO of Yayasan Ilmuwan, Tuan Shaikh Mohd Saifuddeen who had other commitments to give more attention on. Thanks to him for providing me the notes and other sources before I actually went to the workshop and delivered the speech.

It was my first time to deliver speech in front of people whom mostly I did not know of. Not only that, other speakers in the slot were all doctors and other professionals who had far more experience in their respective fields. However, having the chance to share same rostrum with them was a great experience.

In my speech, I explained the Islamic perspective regarding organ donation which basically has no problem with it as long as the rules and regulations related are carefully followed. Given only 15 minutes, it was actually not enough to describe all things related to it thus I had to choose some important points such as the Quranic verses, hadith from Prophet Muhammad SAW and other quotes from distinctive Ulama', and not to mention the fatwas in Malaysia regarding organ donation.

Taking it as a gear 1 of my career, I am looking forward to doing more things like this in the future as they are not only beneficial for the public to be given the awareness about many contemporary issues, but for my self development also as I love to be challenged with new things and experience.

And yes, if I had to relate this to my academic background, it was useful to learn about Organ Transplantation as one of the syllabuses in Pathology subject when I was in the third year of my biomedical science degree. When the doctors in the slot explained about, for examples, cadaveric donors, anatomy of the kidney and rejection symptoms, I could only smile for those only refreshed the memory when I was sitting in the front row listening to the lecturers.

Some other interesting stories during the workshop:

1. One of the doctors told me it was good to know that actually Islam promoted organ donation because all these while he thought the religion was the reason for the sadly low number of donors among Muslim Malays. He was a Chinese and thus I believe a non-Muslim.
2. One of the committees said to me: Muda lagi rupanya yang bagi speech ni. Biasanya kalau nak cakap hal-hal agama ni, orangnya tua-tua. I smiled, the most that I would do. No further comment. :)
3. After the speech, one of speakers addressed me as an "Ustaz". During Q&A session, one of the audience also did the same thing. Huhu... (Aku dah pakai tak macam Ustaz pun masih dipanggil Ustaz. Redha je la~ :P)

The Initiator

It was in August, last year that I came into the first year students' class (now they are second year). I was planning something and coincidently during that day, my tilawah class was postponed while there was some technical problems in the lecture hall. The lecturer, Kak Wawa (that time she was the Head of Department) couldn't continue her lecture. So, everything was very encouraging for me to complete my mission: to be the initiator.

I had few intentions for doing that:

1. To welcome them to the university and to the kulliyyah.
2. To be the moderator for appointing class reps.
3. To initiate a relationship between the first year and the final year.

Alhamdulillah, everything went well with the session that I had the opportunity to explain to them what Biomedical Science was all about from my viewpoint and to share some experience and knowledge about living in IIUM Kuantan Campus.

In the session as well, I became the middle-man for them to appoint their class reps because I knew someone had to play that role or else they won't have any leaders in their class.

You can imagine in a class with more than a hundred students; how would you manage the class if there's no one to play the leadership role? Living in a community, we always need some leaders to lead the rest of the community towards some goals. And I was glad they chose the right ones and they still continue to be the leaders until now. Congratulations to Saifudin and Huda for being great leaders and for being able to manage your class efficiently. Behind these two strong students, there are few other students that helped them a lot in making life of the rest of class easier than they would've thought.

By the way, I am writing this entry because this week SCIENCESS is organizing the nomination for the new Board Members of the society for the 2009/2010 tenure. I wish you all the best in making decisions because it'll affect the rest of your life in the campus. If you select great leaders, you'll live happily there insha Allah.

So, these are just my choices basically based on my observation from afar and experience from working with them previously when I was in the society. It's up to you la to follow or not. Hehe...

President: Jazli Aziz (current Secretary General)

Vice President I: Don Lukmanul Hakim (current Exco)

Secretary General: Danial Efendy (he was my Secretary in KOS Amazing Explorace)

Tips for FYP Students

This is an entry by request from Wardah Puteh. Although she's currently a third year student who will start the project by next year but she asked me to write this entry for her reference later. However, to all other juniors out there, you may take this entry as your reference also.

Before the project

1. Set and bear in your mind, it's a 12-credit hour course. Whatever grade you'll get in the end of the project covers both semesters although it's actually divided into 2 parts - FYP I and FYP II. Once you have correctly configured your mindset, you're ready to go.
2. Search as many as possible journals that would help and support your project. However, you also have to know your own limit. Having said that, it doesn't mean you cannot stop from searching because too much information would cause your time to be wasted whereas you have something else that need more attention than journals.
3. Ask the lecturer which online database is the best to search for journals related to your project title.
4. Prepare yourself with some knowledge about statistics. This is most applicable for projects that involve using the statistics for generating results from the data collected.
5. Of course, most importantly, you must have knowledge and interest about the field that you're going to do research on. Don't just randomly select topic or field that you have no knowledge nor interest at all. You must know what you're about to do, or at least you must have rough idea about what you'll go through throughout the year for completing the project.

Preparation for the project

1. Arrange your project accordingly and schedule it in a proper table so that your project will run in an organized manner and you know what to do and when to do it.
2. About booking of chemicals and animals, you must state clearly how much you need and why you need that much. If possible, name also the company you wish the things to be bought from. Don't forget to explain also in written form why you need the things at the expected time (of course since you have your own schedule and the lab management also has theirs).
3. Always update the status of purchase of your bookings. Therefore, it's advised to keep all documents sent to the management for future reference.

During the project

1. Follow your schedule accordingly. You have to push yourself because no one would but yourself.
2. Never expect that you'll get the admired results with only one trial. You may be surprised with the findings.
3. You may need to reset your procedure or method of your project. Maybe you need to change your project title totally even! This is why it's always best to start the project as soon as possible once you get your equipments, materials, chemicals, animals etc to prepare yourselves for any worst case scenario.
4. Never forget to update with your supervisor at least once a week and seek for his/her advise regarding your project. Never be malas or malu to do that since they are the ones who propose the titles in the first hand and quite a proportion of the FYP mark comes from them.
5. Prepare a special log book for your project in which you write everything related to your project.

After the project

1. When you're done with the lab work/field visit/data analysis, it's time to write the report/thesis. Therefore you have to know the right style for writing a scientific thesis. You may refer from the seniors' thesis or you may ask your supervisor directly. The latter is the best and again don't be malas or malu to do that.
2. Never expect your draft have everything needed as a great thesis. You're in learning process and making mistakes are common and thus you must learn from it.
3. Do not be surprised if everytime you see the supervisor he/she'll always make correction again and again and he/she'll add/suggest more and more things to make your thesis better.

Keep on reading this post since I may add new tips from time to time. Should you also have anything to add, leave it in the comment room.

My FYP Result

The FYP Presentation: I Think I Did My Best

It was a relief. One: because I think I did the best I could for the Final Year Project (FYP) presentation. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best I could give to the audience. Two: because aku melaram tak hengat kot! :P

More about the presentation, I did rehearsal few times to manage my time and I had to edit the slideshow presentation in order to suit the 15 minutes allocated. The rehearsal also aimed to develop self confidence so that I'll be fully prepared before I actually present the project. It really helped!

Next to do is to prepare the hard cover version of the thesis and then I'm done with the project completely.

I wish I'll get at least A- for the FYP. You can imagine - it's a 12-credit hour subject. That's a lot man! Ameen...

My Final Year Project Presentation...

...will be tomorrow. Wish me all the best yo~

Acknowledgement

Alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alamin. With His blessing I manage to finish this project and thesis report. Special thanks I forward to my parents in hometown who support me from afar. I will always do my best for Abah and Emak.

This appreciation also I also forward specially for my supervisor Dr. Mohammad Tariqurrahman, my group members; Asmawi, Izzuddin and Zubir, Bro. Syamsul (Master student, Kulliyyah of Allied Health Science), my beloved MZ, my adored Sr. Nurulwahida and Dr. Deny Deny Susanti, long-distance sister Imah Razak (UNIMAS), my cooperative friends (Safwan, Fahmi, Yusof, Haris, Hendy Putra and others), my lovely brothers and sisters (Danial, Teha, Wuani, Husz, Nisa – thanks for the cute wish card!), Mdm. Mai and Mdm. Norma (staffs of Kulliyyah of Science), the lab assistants and other individuals that I might have forgotten to name you who have given your sincere contribution in finishing this project directly or indirectly.

I love and thank you all.

May Allah bless and reward all sacrifices you have contributed from the beginning until the end of this project. Ameen.

Thank you, wassalam.

Did I miss anyone?

Use the Right Sentence

I haven't found the journal that may support the conclusion.

I found no journal that may support the conclusion.

I didn't find journal that may support the conclusion.

Meanings:

Saya belum jumpa jurnal yang boleh menyokong kesimpulan itu.

Saya tidak jumpa jurnal yang boleh menyokong kesimpulan itu.

Saya tidak cari jurnal yang boleh menyokong kesimpulan itu.

If you're going to see your supervisor of your final year project to check your thesis and he/she found you got not enough journals, which excuse is the most acceptable one? Put yourself in the supervisor's shoes.

Ayat kena betol beb! Er... dan kena manis. Hehe...

Pergi Main Jauh-jauh!

Aku (baru) nak start buat FYP!

No One Knew I was Sad

The night was full of laughter but deep inside, maybe no one knew, it just made me more sad - sad to leave the campus.

Thanks for my juniors for organizing the Future Scientist Appreciation Night to celebrate us who'll be graduating soon. It's been great to spend the joy, laughter and challenges with you all throughout the years in the campus.

BBC Visit

BBC - BSLN - IB

Can you solve the puzzle?

Know Your Leader

I was with the PA of Biomedical Department of KOS, Kak Mai having a chat while there was nothing else to do when suddenly the Dean of the kulliyyah entered the room to see her. I as usual greet him professionally and offered him a seat. Ok, that's not the point. :D

Then the Dean talked with Kak Mai as I had nothing to do with what they were discussing so I just kept quiet while my ears were amplified to the maximum level and again that's not the point. :D

Suddenly a female student entered the room and directly talked with Kak Mai, ignoring the senior people inside the room to pass few documents to be forwarded to few people under the department.

They had a talk for few seconds until that Kak Mai asked her a very basic question, "Kenal tak Dean kuliyah kita?"

"Ha? Dean... erm... siapa ye... tak ingat la... Dia daripada Department Biomed kan? Tak kenal la..."

"Awak daripada department mana?"

"tooooot (not from Biomed of course)"

"Tahun berapa?"

"First year, second sem"

"Aik? Dah masuk sem kedua pun tak tahu lagi siapa Dean kita?"

"Erm... tak tahu la..."

I added, "Siapa namanya eh? Saya pun tak ingat"

"Erm... tak tahu la..."

Mind you, that conversation happened right in front of the Dean and he did nothing but keeping his mouth shut, which I believe to observe how well that particular student knew him.

Come on people... That is the very basic thing to know when you enter a community - to know the leaders. They are the ones who are responsible in making our life easy in the community. They are the thinkers, the managers and the backbone behind the peace and harmony that we are enjoying.

Like the case above, Kulliyyah of Science is a small kulliyyah where everyone meets everyone but how come you don't know who the Dean is? That explains to what extent you are ignorant to your surrounding and happenings around the world.

Now let me ask you, do you know who is the current President of the Students' Representative Council of IIUM Kuantan Campus? It's him.

Visit from CFS Students

Maaf la dik... tak sempat nak kenal korang lama sket...

Ehem... Dalam ramai-ramai dalam gambar di atas, tiba-tiba terselit gambar kamu-tahu-siapa. :P

Confusion. That's the word to describe which one to choose: Biomedical Science or Biotechnology.

They are students from Center for Foundation Studies of IIUM located in Petaling Jaya who came to IIUM Kuantan Campus to get some ideas about what they can expect when they step forward being a degree students in this very campus.

When I asked: Who've made your mind to choose which course?

None that confidently raised their hands.

Other than that, there were 2 students came to see me personally and told me:

"Sebenarnye tak minat pun Biomed ke Biotek, nak buat camne eh?"

However, it was normal to me. They haven't decided and yet they came for the visit to see the seniors and get some ideas about the courses.

I think, I have made them a bit clearer about Biomedical Science, it's prospect and advantages. Thanks also to my friends who joined the Sharing Moment and the Exhibition. Your assistance really helped!

To juniors who'll come here, I would say "Welcome" in advance because I might not be seeing you since I'll be graduating soon. But, who knows we'll see again? *wink*

...I will Still Get My Scroll

If I don't sit down with you in this circle,
I will still finish my degree.

If I don't get to know what's going on among you,
I will still get my scroll.

If I don't even know you,
I will still come to my convocation next October.

But what makes me come to you,
asking you politely how you feel today with a nicest smile in my face?

What makes me want to know your name,
while it won't directly affect my academic performance?

And what makes me make myself present in all meetings, lunches and dinners while the rest of them are busy with their own so-called final semester mood?

Because I concern...
because I care about you...

But do you concern?
do you even care?

10++ Things To Do Before Leaving IIUM Kuantan Campus

1. Initiating the establishment of Biomedical Science Society in IIUM. (done)
2. Organizing an Explorace-like programme. (in progress)
3. Giving presents to lecturers in Biomedical Science department.
4. Cooking pizza.
5. Azan kat musolla.
6. Going to the water tank above the hill next to KOS in the midnight.
7. Being the Quran reciter in an event.

To be continued...

I am not Daydreaming I Believe

We are in the final semester now!

The above picture is during our last semester in IIUM Gombak campus. I am not in the picture anyway. Don't bother.

By the way, I am in a progress for big project. It has something to do with this blog. For now, what I can say is,

Let us together bring up the status of biomedical science in Malaysia!

This is a Lie

Was IQUEST a barrier?
Was SCIENCESS a barrier?
Was business a barrier?
Was having fun a barrier?

No.

Was experience a good teacher?
Was prayer granted?

Yes.

Related entry: The Wish Finally Granted

What Did I Do After Postponing My Project?

Yes, my Final Year Project has been postponed. Basically, the problem was due to the failure to induce the rats to become Type II diabetics. That means, I have to wait until February for the new rats and chemicals to come.

I still remember the conversation with the supervisor:
So what should we do with the induced rats? Kill them?
No, sacrifice them.
Ok, got it.

He's Cute when He's Asleep

Isn't he?

Related entry: How Much Sleep Do We Need Actually? by Danial