From Silat To Malay Arts

thanks to the "french" girl, Sallyfah, for asking about my first appearance in MCG. i wanna talk about my CCA involvements in NYP, from silat to malay arts.

during the orientation for SEG-MIT, i made a friend with Hanisah. i remembered that we had the same interest in drama/theatre.
So during Club Crawl 2001, i was with my indian friend, firman, walking around the atrium, looking at the booths of most of the CCA for sports and martial arts. my friend joined Kendo while i signed up for Rugby, since i've played rugby during my upper secondary school days. at that time i think NYP made a mistake for not advertising properly. i didn't know where the rest of the booths for cultural groups and other clubs and societies. or maybe i was dumbed, i didn't check it out properly.


and then one day, i made a friend. his name was Mustafa. also a friend of my indian friend. so at one time, mustafa called me and asked if i wanna join silat. so i said yes without a second thught. it was actually Nazrin who invited mustafa to join silat. that's how i met Naz. and so it begins my 2 and a half years journey with the nyp silat team. at that year also, i wanted to join muslim society. but they were so called hiding in some cave in NYP, that's why i cannot find them. so i asked one of the muslim lecturer to help me out. he told me, the muslim society cannot be accepted by nyp because its a "malay" organization. they cannot have 2 malay organization (that includes MCG) in nyp. also they have a connection with outside muslim organization which, if i can remember, nyp didn't recognized them. but i still managed to meet the president of muslim society. but after that it became quiet.

by that time i was busy with silat. i enjoyed more on performing silat in functions held in nyp rather than olahraga. that's why i didn't join the IVP silat championship in NUS. one day, MCG held a hari raya show 2001 and silatnyp was invited. i didn't see any drama sketch or sketsa komedi so i thought maybe MCG got no drama club. but i remebered i watched this 2 guys, one of them holding a guitar, the other is a vocalist. they were from Belia Muda. at that time i thought Belia Muda was some kind of an organization to develop leadership skills for young malays in NYP. something like Mendaki.

then in late 2002 or early 2003, i saw this brochure about Pesta Peti Putih. i was surprised to see Hanisah's name in it. she won best actress i think. what's more surprising is that Pesta Peti Putih is a competition for schools performing malay theatres. i was like, "What the ****?!!! NYP got malay drama club?!"

Club Crawl 2003, i was year 3 first semester, i went to MCG booth with Wan(former silatnyp president) . good thing Aida was there so i was not that shy lah to talk to someone there. i asked her, "MCG got no drama?" she said, "yes, Belia Muda." in my heart i was cursing MCG. Double Thumbs Down to MCG. dissappointed. very very bad advertisement. MCG should have explained it properly. the 2001 hari raya show, if only they explained a little bit more about Belia Muda, i would have joined them much2 earlier!!! bodoh betul ah.

so i went to their Belia Muda orientation at a CD shelter at bishan. from there, the seniors, which includes Hanisah, made an audition to choose capable actors and actresses using the puisi script 'Aku Anak melayu', once used for Gema Puisi Artistik 2002. and the chosen ones that i remembered most, heikal, hafiz, rafi, myself, farhana and amalina. and so it begins a new journey in theatre world...

my first appearance with the drama people of MCG was the Hari Raya show in 2003, performing puisi-drama using the script done by Hanisah, Belas Nuraga.

What a journey with MCG. i've been with them for 3 years now. i've tried everything from acting to dancing and last year directing a theatre production involving all the sub groups of MCG. that was i thought would be my last. but now, i'm busy with NS but still involved in small shows playing kompang and hopefully in Club Crawl 2006 i will play awok-awok alongside with the MCG dikir barat boys.