I can't deny, the truth is this camp is the BEST I have ever attended in my entire life. Of course, I don't hope to keep this wonderful experience to myself. I hope that all of you can feel what I felt at the camp. I know, many of you don't even know what PKTR is. Many have been asking me about it from the moment I filled the application form, to when I was called for the interview and later when I attended the camp. Now, I am a proud alumni of PKTR 07' and I would gladly share my experience.
Well, during my trip there, the same questions were bothering me. What is PKTR? Will it be yet another discipline orientated camp-since part of its name is "kepimpinan"? And the best part, honestly, I hoped that it would be over as soon as possible so that I can go home. However, the first impression PKTR gave me was pretty convincing. We went there by bus - a long and tiring journey. We arrived at Hentian Putra at approximately 4.30 a.m. To my surprise, the Yayasan Tun Razak officers arrived soon after we were there. As we know, in Malaysia, punctuality is not a hobby - 7.00 means 7+ etc etc so they are considered very punctual. Good for a start. We were brought to Casa Majlis Sukan Negara, Bukit Jalil and were allowed to sleep until breakfast at 7.00. Room was far beyond expectations - air-conditioned, hot shower. Breakfast was not as good as expected - fried mee was extremely salty, coffee and tea tasted the same. Next we had an ice-breaking session. It wasn't easy. We had to collect signatures from those who agreed to 10 statements ex: bathroom singer? big spender? went to indonesia? no astro at home? etc etc. and we had to remember their names. Next, we were to gather in a big circle and each of us were required to name a thing in the kitchen or bathroom which we don't like. Some gladly named "tahi", "berus tandas", "katak" and "kuman" while I chose "air tandas". What was next put the whole hall under a laughing spell. We had to say aloud "HARI-HARI SAYA BERUS GIGI DENGAN (the thing we named). Imagine... Next, we were randomly sorted into a few groups and are required to rearrange ourselves according to height, shoe size, month of birth and..................size of nose (GREAT! - How do we judge that?). That night, we had group activities - solving crissed-crossed threads and walking non-human style in groups of 10, 5 and later on in pairs. There were all kind of styles because the participants were all very creative. I admire them.
After a good night's sleep, we had a talk on "Presenting With Impact and Purpose". To our surprise, public speaking is rated the no.1 fear above all other fears. Thus, we were given some tips on how to be an effective speaker. Next up was a less interesting session - "Tun Razak Yang Saya Kenali". Nothing much, just some stories on Tun Abdul Razak. Later that evening, we had a visit to the National Science Centre.
The folllowing day, we visited Memorial Tun Abdul Razak and the opening ceremony was officiated. After that, we had forums - "Tun Abdul Razak - A Visionary Leader" and later "Career Exploration and Decision Making". That night, we did the first module by Alumni Yayasan Tun Razak (AYTR) - "5-10-5". Just a simple name but not as simple as it sounds. Each group was assigned to 2 alumni. We were then given 5 minutes to ask 7 questions about them, 10 minutes to prepare the presentation and another 5 minutes to present about the alumni. Most groups did short sketches while my group violated the copyright of the "YMCA" song to "AYTR".
The following day, we did module AYTR 2, 3 and 4. Module 2 was named "Topeng" and it was a hot and raging debate about the construction of a nuclear power plant. Lesson learnt - At some parts of our lives, we have to be a hypocrite (wear a "Topeng") in order to survive. But the objective of this module was to make sure everyone are themselves during this camp. The third module is "The PKTR Show" which is to encourage freedom of speech. We were given a motion and we are supposed to agree or disagree or be confused (50/50) with it and the fun was one of the motions was "Is Abdullah a good PM?". That night, we just had some career guidance session with the alumni which was module 4. Later that night, when all our eyes could hardly open, the alumni taught us the "Poco-Poco" dance which kept us wide awake. For many of us including me, it was our first time but we were very glad when the alumni praised us as the fastest group to catch the dance.
Fifth day of PKTR, we had to wake up early for "riadah" but me and my roommates actually "ponteng-ed" that activity. Who cares, we were sleepy ok. The next module, module 5 was "Kertas Litmus Biru". We were divided into groups of 7, 4 who admitted they are talkative were blindfolded, and one self-volunteered charismatic person was muted. The remaining 2 are left to be normal. The 3 groups of different people were then asked to stand in 3 different circles. The blind was then given a pail with water inside, a plastic bag, a mat, a hanger and a raffia string. Instructions were earlier given to the mute. I was the normal but it was a tough job. I and my friend had to be the mediators who had to interpret what the mute was trying to say and pass the instruction to the blind. I interpreted that we should not step outside the circle at first, then to pour the water into the plastic bag, tie it up to the hanger and hop on the mat to the blind (If I interpreted correctly). At that moment, the noisy and blind people were impatiently demanding for further instructions while we were very busy trying to figure out the next step. Frankly it was chaos. Later on, after all teams succeeded, the instructions given to the charismatic person was read out to us : "Pindahkan air di dalam baldi ke bulatan orang bisu". Imagine our frustration when the fascilitators told us the easiest way to it : "Aim and SPLASH". And it was named "Kertas Litmus Biru because outside the circles was an acidic sea. After that was a game named "The Return of the King". Long story short, it was everyone's favourite - a water balloon fight plus a moral behind it. We had disabled citizens, soldiers, normal citizens, and of course the king and the disabled were the ones who have to be taken care of and protected the most throught the 3 tasks. Next up is one session I would not wish to remember but will never forget - "Gunung Berapi". We were gathered in our respective groups and were given a brief explanation - "This is basicly a game of survivor. You and your team members are on a deserted island. There is an active volcanoe which will explode soon and nothing on that island will survive. A helicopter will arrive in 5 minutes but it can carry all your team members except one. Your team member left behind will DIE! In 5 minutes, decide which team member you will leave behind." At first, we thought it was merely just a game so many tried to volunteer to be left behind. BUT, the seniors kept on instigating us, raising their voices, shouting "IF THIS REALLY HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE, YOU WILL EVEN KILL AMONG YOURSELVES IN ORDER TO SURVIVE!!! NOBODY IS SO STUPID TO CHOOSE TO DIE!!!" So we decided to let each group member introduce themselves before we decide. After we came to a decision, again we were being shouted at "WHY?! WHY?! WHY DID YOU CHOOSE HIM?! CUT THE CRAP!! EVERYONE HAS PARENTS, EVERYONE HAS AMBITIONS!! IF YOU LEAVE HIM BEHIND, WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF HIS PARENTS?! WHO WILL PURSUE HIS AMBITIONS?! SO NOW YOU ALL THINK YOU ARE GREATER AND BETTER PEOPLE THAN HIM?!". Later, we were asked to bid our last goodbye to our dear friend we were forced to leave behind. We were then brought to a deserted place and were lectured again. We really felt guilty for being so stupid to judge our friend only from the outside. Later, we were brought back to where we left our friend behind. The people we left behind were then asked to express their true feelings. I do not know about the others but I really felt guilty for selecting one of my group members to face death. Tears flowed from almost all (at least I'm one of them) our eyes. It was really hard to contain our feelings at that time.
