By Syarifah Hadli

To know that your writing will be the first to be published here is nerve-wracking. And that is exactly how I felt throughout the course of writing this up. I was supposed to write about our campus or anything that our campus can relate to. Gosh. There are so many things to write about, but I cannot, for some reason, seem to find one.

Screw it! I’m going to write anything that I want to. So here goes nothing.

How many people are in university for the right reasons? I know I’m not. The sole reason I’m here in Universiti Sains Malaysia is because I hated to be asked about my status of education every time my relatives came for a Hari Raya visit. I will shy away from them because they are so annoying, flashing their sons and daughters’ status of education to every single person in the room. I mean, who cares if their daughter is reading law in Universiti Malaya? I know I don’t. I used to be a diploma student in a small, insignificant college in Bangi doing the most underrated subject (Business) of all and for the longest three years in my life, I had to face my relatives, and answer their silly questions, which they tend to repeat every single year.

“Where are you studying Sity?”

“Ermm.. in Bangi,” I would reply reluctantly, but it doesn’t end there.

“Oh, UKM?”

“No. Kolej Poly-tech Mara,” I could say I’m a little less than proud.

The conversation does not usually go far beyond this as I shall be greeted with puzzled looks, I turn into a stranger all of a sudden.

“Oh…”

They certainly had no idea where the college is and they might not even know the college existed. So this year, for the second year in the row, I can proudly say I’m a university student!

People enter university for various reasons. Ask anybody, and they will give you different answers why. But there is a big chance the people you approach will give you reasons more common than the rest, which generally are:

1. To be an educated person
2. To get good jobs after graduating.
3. To help ease their families’ economic situation once they graduated.
4. To achieve their long-time dream of becoming ______ (fill in the blank with your chosen dream job).
5. To be head-over-heels in love (because everybody they knew met their potential life partner in university).

I am not in here because any of reasons stated above. I am here because I am sick of people’s perception towards poor souls like me who were unfortunate enough to be rejected countless times by our public universities. I know that might not be a right reason for me to be here. But for myself, that is the least of dignity I can still hang on to.

I know people who are in here for the right reasons but end up forgetting all about their dreams of being an educated person once they get to know new “friends”, namely: Zouk, Heineken, Laundry Bar, Martell and so forth. Although it is not for me to judge them, I cannot help but to think how sorry I am for these people who worship hedonistic pleasures more than anything else. Just take a look around you. I believe you recognise some friends who transformed into a completely different person as compared to their innocent little faces when they first came to USM. So what is the right reason to be in here? Is there one?

If I can give up my spot here in USM to a poor guy/girl with good exam results and a burning desire to pursue his/her studies but didn’t get the chance to because of the ridiculous bureaucracy, I will. I’m more than willing to. Some of us don’t even know why we are here. Do we not know of people who, despite their bad exam results, got enrolled after mum or dad got “help” from friends who have important positions in the university? Now, while their parents brag about their child studying in university, their beloved son is probably driving around town, searching for the best club with the hottest chicks in it, with the intention of scoring some, ermm, chick’s phone number. Trust me, some chicks let you score more than phone numbers.

Of course, not all people are the same. There are people who stay true to their principles and stick to their main reason for their being in a university. These people will spend every minute of their lives realising their dreams. The urge to stray from the norm will end automatically, every time, when the little voices in their head, which sound similar to their parents’, ask them to study hard, yada yada yada. Kudos to you. I salute you.

I am not trying to be a moral guardian or something equivalent to that. Heck, I don’t even give a damn if you want to be in here solely to escape from your parents constant nagging. I’m just writing this down to remind myself of the reason for me to still be here, in spite of the fact that my reason probably remains unacceptable to some, with hope that this article will reminisce the reason for you to still be standing here in USM.

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Editor’s note: Please feel free to post your comments here, click on the comments section of this post.