MALAYSIA IS

 

MALAYSIA IS

written by M

It was my first experience of long stay in a foreign country. It was 28 days in Malaysia. I was so thankful that I had the chance for that especially to have my teaching practice there. So when people ask, “How was Malaysia?”, here are several things that really remarked in my memory.

 Time and Prayer

In Malaysia, times are an hour faster than Indonesia’s WIB, so for example in Indonesia is 5 AM, it will be 6 AM in Malaysia. However, the atmosphere, the situation, is still like Indonesia’s 5 AM. It is still dark there, the sun has not shone. Therefore, there are some differences in term of prayer time. Subuh will be around 6 AM, Dzuhur will be around 1.30 PM, Ashar will be around 4.30 PM, Maghrib will be around 7.10 PM and Isya will be around 8.30 PM. Sometimes it was quite weird to do Maghrib prayer at 7.10 PM but in the long run, we got used to it...

We usually went to school at 6.30 AM and it felt like it was just 5.30 AM. It was still dark and quiet. Maybe it was the earliest ever we went to school for teaching.

 SK and SMK

In Indonesia, we have junior high schools (grade VII-IX) and senior high schools grade (X-XII) after elementary school (grade I-VI), but in Malaysia, they only have primary schools (form 1-6) and secondary schools (form 1-6). They call primary schools as Sekolah Kebangsaan or SK and secondary school as Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK). There are two kinds of secondary schools: Ordinary Schools and Boarding Schools. Ordinary schools are schools that are comprised of varied ability students while the boarding schools are for students who are selected. Neither ordinary schools nor boarding schools all have form 6. Form 6 belongs to secondary schools which are really special and are selected by the government to hold this level. So in Malaysia, students do not have to go school until form 6, it depends on their choices. Form 6 is intentionally designed for students who want to continue studying in universities and the competition there is very exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes discouraging but still challenging. The government wants that students chosen for universities come out from the best out of the best. Many people there said that form 5 and form 6 are the toughest study time moment because they really influence students’ future. Students who do not continue to form 6 take diploma degree to be ready for working. Others who want to go to U (their acronym for universities) must take form 6 as their preparation. Sure, students in Malaysia’s universities must be the selected ones..

 SMK Sri Pulai Perdana (SSPP)

SMK Sri Pulai Perdana belongs to ordinary schools and has no form 6. It is a brand new school. It just opened this April (2015), so it was around 8 months old. However, it has 1200 students from form 1 until form 5. Ipso facto, it has two sessions: morning session and afternoon session. It has 60 teachers to cover those numerous students. Morning session is for form 2 until form 5 and the afternoon session is for form 1 only. Morning session begins from 7.15 until 13.05 for form 2 and form 3 and until 14.25 for form 4 and form 5. The afternoon session begins from 12.50 until 18.45.

The building of SSPP consists of four floors. It has only one gate in front of the school which has a security office. School facilities include classrooms, a teacher room and pantry, administrator rooms, a principle’s room, vice principle rooms, laboratories (chemist, biology, computer, digital, physics, music, botanic, language, science, life skill, engineering), mosque, courts (football, badminton, basketball, volleyball), meeting room, students’ toilet, teachers’ toilet, sport storey, canteen, school cooperative, parking yard, library, cafe library, and a main hall called dataran Raudah a place where students have their daily morning gathering.

 The Library and NILAM

The library of SSPP is very fascinating. Mr Shah as the one who is responsible to manage the library does his duty very well. He is really creative in decorating the library or they call it Pusat Sumber. The books are also exhilarating there. There is numerous fiction and nonfiction books comprised of local and international published ones. American and British literature is provided there. The books are in Malay and English. Once we enter the library, we will meet the front officer desk, we can ask for any help to the FO whenever we want to copy books or we want to look for certain book. The library has two floors. The first floor is for the books display and reading room. The second floor consists of Nilam Room, Library Manager Room (Mr. Shah’s room), and Digital laboratory or Bilik Digital. NILAM? What is NILAM? NILAM is Nilai Ilmu Amalan Membaca. So in SSPP they want to make reading as students habits. So, they set certain grade for students who are able to finish reading numbers of books and the highest level of it is the NILAM. When students have reached NILAM, it means they have read more than 300 books during the period given and the books are selected based on some criteria.

 Therefore, most of students really like reading here. Furthermore, Mr Shah made some resolution in reading. He established café library to attract students who have not enjoyed reading yet. He set some café which sells hot beverages such as milk and chocolate as well as sandwich etc. Students who want to order the meal should read at least one book while enjoying the meal. If they do not, they will get punished or they will not be served well. Furthermore, this café provides books which mostly dealing with school subjects, not fiction book. Wow, what a café!

 Relief

One experience that practical students go through in SSPP is relief. Relief is activity to represent some teacher who cannot attend his or her class because he or she has some obstacles such as she or he has to attend important event, or manage things, or is sick. When we do relief, sometimes we just give some assignments given by the original teacher, but sometimes, it is up to us. Therefore, whenever we have relief, it means time to promote Indonesia to students there. Relief also means to get known to other students whose classes I do not teach. There are several classes that I entered when I did relief. They are: 2RTP, 2TP1, 2TP2, 2TP3, 3TE1, 3RTP, 3RTE, 4AAP, 4SC, 4PS3, and 4AP.

Each class had their own characteristics, and it was a really great serendipity to meet them all.

English, Malay, and Indonesian Language

Malaysia is known as country which English has been a second language meaning that they use English as daily communication. It is quite right but not all is like what I expected. Especially in my circle or environment, not all people speak English in their daily life. Maybe they use some English expression but mostly the rest is Malay. Even in English classroom, there are some teachers who deliver English in Malay. I did not say it is wrong, in fact students will understand some material more if they get it in language that they understand, the challenge is then, how should I deliver English in a language that I did not understand really well. Many people say that Malay is almost the same with Indonesian, I partly agree since it is Indonesian Language root, but in reality, some expression sometimes contrasted with Indonesian language. This was my silent period. My bad are that I did not watch Ipin Upin before going there, therefore I did not have much Malay vocabulary. Sometimes if I had to speak Malay, I will just rely on my Indonesia language speaking ability, until they do not get what I mean I will stop and ask for that notion in Malay, after making sure they understand, I will continue speaking in Indonesian. Sometimes, I talk in English. Most of them will understand what I said, some of them will reply in English as well, and the rest will reply in Malay.

 2 RTP and 2 TE2

First, I was told that I will have 2RTP and 2 TE2 as my classes for practicing teaching, I had not really been aware what does RTP and TE2 means. I only knew that 2 is the form which means it’s like grade two of junior high school in Indonesia. Until my guide teacher told me, “You can deliver the same materials for both classes, but maybe you have to vary the way you deliver the material. For 2 RTP the students are okay, but in 2TE2 maybe you have to work harder.” That’s the first time my curiosity rose. Until then I asked this thing to Cikgu Fauzi. He told me that the students there were graded to each class. Those who begins with ‘R’ means rancangan  which in other way to tell that the students belong there are the smartest, the selected ones, and the first rate between others, and therefore those class without R means the rest, let alone when it has been labelled with 2 or 3, if you know what I mean.

Cikgu Fauzi

It was really great to meet Cikgu Fauzi in our first day of PPL here. He is the vice principle of school management. He is a geography teacher. He is tall and really friendly. He was around 55 years old and has seven children. In our discussion about education in Malaysia and Indonesia, we found out that he once had his master degree in New Zealand. It really attracted me to dig out more information about his experience there since New Zealand has fully attracted my whole attention recently. He told us about his life there. What an experience! He was funded by Malaysia government. It was really a nice time to hear his stories. He shared some values he got from there; the remarkable one is about trust-based principle. In New Zealand, people socialize with other applying the trust-based principle. It is like honesty is common thing there. Years ago, during his education time, he had not received his scholarship money for paying the school tuition. The government stated that it was still in process; meanwhile the dateline of the payment was coming. Had no other choice, Cikgu Fauzi told what really happened and his condition to the Bank teller, without questioning more, the teller issued some loan for Cikgu Fauzi. Cikgu Fauzi was very amazed because of that. Other illustration is like how the people there buy milk. They will only leave empty bottle with some money in front of their house to be taken by the milk seller. They are not afraid that someone will steal their money. People there trust what is said by others. They hold people’s words. Words said are like promise or swear. They believe they are true. Therefore they maintain honesty there. Cikgu Fauzi studied in Waikato University. He said that New Zealand is categorized as a right place to study. New Zealand is a conservative country. The night life there is limited. There were only pub at night, and Muslims do not go to pub, therefore they can spend their time for studying. Wow, Malaysia government invest their money well. They send teacher to study overseas to absorb the knowledge and then be implemented in their own country.

 Three Ethnic Groups

One of the unique things when teaching in Malaysia especially in SSPP is the existence of the three

big ethnic groups in Malaysia: Chinese, Tamil or Indian, and Malaysian. Each of the ethnic group has their own characteristics. Chinese students are known as the smart yet sleepyhead students, Tamil students are known as the aggressive students and Malaysian students are as typical as Indonesian students some of them are superior and the rest is just so-so. Though those are only stereotype, but 

sometime they help us to recognize students’ behaviour; to find the reason they do what they do. We all know that in Indonesia there are even more than a hundred ethnic groups and what is the difference? It is because Indonesia is very large and we seldom find those ethnic groups mingle with each other when they are in primary and secondary schools. They mostly meet when they have their study in universities and most of them have been mature in term of behaving and thinking.

Here in their teenage lives, sometimes they do not want to mingle with each other. They build their own groups with their own ethnic. They speak in their own language. Chinese speak Chinese, Tamil speak Tamil, and Malaysians speak Malay. It is a rarely occasion to see them mingle voluntarily and naturally.

 Sukan

Sukan or sport is an attention getter in Malaysia. If you ask boy students about their hobbies, almost all of them will mention a name of sport events as their hobbies. And the sport facility in every school in Malaysia is very facilitating their hobbies. Even, their aptitude and talents in sport have been identified since the very beginning. Before they start classes in secondary school, they will be tested to perform their ability in sport. After that, based on the performance assessment, they will be categorized to some groups labelled red (panglima), yellow (pahlawan), blue (pendekar), and green (perwira) which shows to what kind of potential they belong. Sport facitilies there can be categorized as  the good ones.

The people there are also really enthusiastic in football game. Even, every time there is match between the national football clubs with others, they will see it together in a café which provide big projectors. They are faithfully support their national football team. Considering their big enthusiasm in sports, maybe five to ten years later, Malaysia will have many great athletes.

 Morning Gathering

The principle of SSPP here wants to teach her students to listen. Therefore, she set a policy that students have to gather for 15 minutes in dataran Raudah. They will start gathering at 7.15 until 7.30. During the gathering, the students sit in rows. Their classroom teacher will take their attendance, after that there will be a speaker in front giving information. The students are to listen and jot down the information. They have a special book to jot down information every morning. The speaker, later on, will randomly select students to read what he or she had been written and check whether the information is right or wrong..

The students there do not have a student organization like board of students but they do have student supervisors. Their duty is to help the school maintain discipline. They will get like extra point if they can be student supervisors. To be able to join the student supervisors, they have to pass some selection conducted by SSPP. Besides morning gathering, there are some activities that usually follow. On Sunday, they have what is so called with perhimpunan. In our country, it is like a flag ceremony every Monday. During the perhimpunan teachers sit on seats that are prepared and students sit on the floor. They will rise when it comes to flag flapping. Perhimpunan can be held indoor or outdoor, depends on the school policy. On Wednesday, the students will have koko. It is time for students to join some co-culicular activities depend on their choices. They can join sport events, red cross, religion clubs etc. They are given an hour to develop their interest. On Thursday, they will have Surah Yasin reading, together with teachers. It is for Muslims only, those who are not are organized to join some motivational building activities conducted by teachers in duty.

 Oku

Equality is well implemented in this country. They designed every facility to be able to facilitate their entire nation including those with special needs. Almost everything in public facilities gives the spaces for people with special needs: toilets, prayer rooms, transportation, public places, all of them provide facility for the disabled. Oku means disabled; therefore we will meet many sign with the writing ‘oku’ in almost public facility, transportation, and places.

 Islam

We can see Muslim civilization in Malaysia through how they build baitullah or Allah’s house or mosques. They build mosques spectacularly. Most mosques are beautifully designed and decorated. The praying room for men and women are separated. Whenever we want to enter big mosques there make sure that we cover our body properly, if we do not, we will asked to wear red hijab which they have provide and sometimes it will make us feel weird.

They really practice Islam there. Every Malaysian born is Islam except they intentionally transfer to other religion. Men and women do not touch each other and they are really aware about it. Even, they will enter certain school named Sekolah Agama to learn about Islam after they go to academic school in the morning. And it is a lifetime education, so if they really do not master the knowledge, they will not pass the exam which means that they will not graduate. They cannot manipulate the result. That is why those who have graduated from this kind of school must have good knowledge about Islam theoretically and practically. They cover their bodies appropriately. They wear Baju Kurung, not all, but most of them.

Teachers and Teacher’s Room

In teacher room, each teacher is given a cubic to be her or his own space. The cleanliness of the room is everyone’s responsibility. However, every morning a caretaker will clean up the room. The set of the cubic is designed for teachers to have their own space to work and to prepare everything they need related to their teaching. When they want to socialize with one another, they are expected to do it in the pantry which is provided in the backside of teacher room. In pantry they can have some drinks or even meals.

It is a common thing that teachers there are postgraduates and many of them got their materdegree abroad. Therefore, their teaching is influenced by western approach. Again, what I can learn from teachers there is that they keenly conduct action researches to enhance their teaching and learning processes in the classrooms.  It is a must for them. 

Highways, Gas Station, and Parking Area

People in Malaysia are one step ahead from Indonesia related to punctuality. They will be angry if we are not on time when we make appointments with them. I had bad experience with it. So one day, we had an excursion to Melaka. The groups consist of UMJ, UNM, and UNY students. We gathered on time in the morning waiting for the bus. Because of some obstacles, the bus came at 8. We, as Indonesian, regardless it is good or bad can conform it. We did not really think about the lateness, we did not take it personally. Then at 9 we were dropped on some food stalls to have our breakfast. We were given time 40 minutes to do everything we need. We entirely came back to bus at 9.55 which means 15 minutes late. Once we had sat, the drivers told us many things because of the lateness. He spent like almost 15 minutes to preach us about the importance of punctuality. I know we made mistake and he did so to make us better and learn. Ah well. Punctual!

In Malaysia, we will rarely see motorcycle there. There are more cars rather than motorcycles. And since they have highways, traffic jam only happen in some really busy points. Everything moves faster on highways. Riding cars with 140 km/hours is categorized normal or even slow there. Therefore we can reach Kuala Lumpur from Johor Bahru with 3, 5-5 hours only. At fact, the distance is like Yogyakarta-Semarang.

Malaysia has implemented automaticity in several public facilities such as gas station, highways, parking area, and transportation. There are no people who will serve as when we go to the gas station. We do self-service. People who have cars must have cards to access the gas station, highways, and parking area.  They will deposit some money regularly, so that their cards work. Related to transportation, Malaysia has Light Rapid Train (LRT). We do self-service here. We bought the tickets through computer transaction near the station. We will get a coin to be tapped in the entrance gate. Once we have reached our destination, we put the coin inside the gate when we walk out.

Once when I went out with my teachers, they said that corruption is prohibited in Malaysia. And they told a joke, since everything is automatic, how can the people corrupt? Machine works reliably.

School Canteen

One of favourite places in SSPP but library is the school canteen. They provide many delicious foods with reasonable price though most of the menu is junk food like noodle, fried chicken, etc. In school canteen, the school teaches students discipline. Canteen will open at 6. Therefore students can have their breakfast in the canteen. At 7, the lamp of canteen will be switched of it means that students should be ready for their morning gathering. In the canteen, there are some big buckets provided. It is for the dirty dishes or glasses. Therefore students should take care of their dish and glasses by themselves. It is rather different in Indonesia. Sometimes in school canteen, we just left our dirty plate and glass after eating.

Independence Day

We missed Independence Day of Indonesia there, but we had the chance to witness the Independence Day of Malaysia. Actually Malaysia Independence day is on August 31; however the government gives policy that the celebration days are from August 16 until September 16, so it is a month long. So there will be three big ceremonies here, the opening, the Independence Day, and the closing. On August 31, they celebrate the Independence Day in Kuala Lumpur, not all of them but mainly. The biggest celebration is centred there. Those who do not go to Kuala Lumpur fill their holiday with leisure activities. Actually on September 16, they commemorate the name Malaysia being given to their beloved countries.

In SSPP it is also the first time they held this kind of ceremony. It is very great to be here. It begins with the speech from the principle, and then they planted some plant, before that there were a marching of the rows of Sons of Melayu. They wear Baju Melayu with holding the flags of federation area in Malaysia. They looked really cool. In the end of the ceremony, we were given a flower which contains of boiled egg in its decoration. What an experience!

Rattan Approach

One of approach used in education of Malaysia is what is so called with rattan approach. Until now, there were several schools in Malaysia who still use rattan to make their students discipline. Maybe it is one of behaviourist theory implemented. Therefore they are afraid of making mistakes. Hitting rattan to students is not a crime as long as the students were proved guilty. Thankfully, in SSPP this kind of approach was not used, but shouting at students still happen in this school and it was normal there.

Excursion

During our stay there, we did excursion to several places. They were Malaka, Singapore (Marina Bay, Merlion Park, Arab Street, Sultan Mosque), Kuala Lumpur (Tun Abdul Rahman Hakim Street, Art Market, Twin Tower, Putra Jaya Mosque), Tanjung Piai (Strait of Malacca), Pontian, Sultan Iskandar Mosque, Sultan Iskandar Palace, Lego Land, Karet Market, Putri Harbour, and Johor Premium Outlet (JPO). We had wonderful time here.

Reflection

It is wonderful to see many wonderful things there. I am happy to experience such things, but deep inside my heart I do hope that I can experience it in my own country. Related to teaching, education there opens my eyes that I have to really prepare myself to be a teacher. As what my guide teacher said, “All you need is more practice, practice, and practice.” It also opens my eyes about the awareness of students’ personality factors. First, I have to hold some standardization to assess them, after that I should develop their potential, aptitude, and talents. No one’s left behind. The real awareness is that, maybe I could not make them smart; it is they themselves who can. My duty is to assist them to discover something good during their learning. Even, maybe when I was teaching them, they did not learn something, but probably days, months, years later on, a piece of their memory will rise and at the right time they will learn something. What I have to do is to believe, to stay positive whatever happens, to believe whatever happens that is for the best.