Am back from a bootcamp as a ‘payment’ for the morning rest that we are going to have on the day we arrive for Mekar. The PLKN (the M’sian national service) camp was situated not far from the village that we’re having for this community service programme : Kampung Leban Chondong. The camp was known as Sommerset Camp, less than 2kilometres to the village. Also situated nearby was Sommerset hotel, which I heard was owned by a Singaporean Chinese and I believed that, because we visited the hotel and oh my god, there were so many Singaporean cars, I actually felt my rindu terubat seeing those cars.

A dreading three-days and two- nights that me, sr ex-president, br president and the programme manager himself….yeah all, the ‘big’ names that had to be the ‘sacrificial’ assets. but all for good cause…there’s a seminar on Belia Benci Dadah at the camp, for teenagers and the four of us were ‘invited’ to ast as mentors to the youths ranging from 16-19 year of age. Nothing much that was needed from us, just that we have to be present during the plenary sessions and incur the spirit of righteousness and anti-drugs- These are rather simple job to do, I actually managed to create a rather debating session among the sisters and brothers, but I don’t know why the sisters in my group were passive to the max! And because it was a rather dreading porgramme, I honestly did not put my whole heart into it. And furthermore, we were running around meeting all kinds of people for Mekar during the day and rushing back to the camp for the plenary session, it’s like having two roles at one time. Personally, I did not achieve anything from this bootcamp, it’s more for the sake of Mekar.

What I do learn was, to be more efficient in our own Mekar, because, the management at the bootcamp was ridiculous!! For a camp which was supposed to be all DISCIPLINED and ON TIME, they don’t really act out their image.
For one, they had to prepare the technical stuff at the last minute, and the participants had to wait idly for almost an hour, obviously losing focus and excitement for a talk by this officer from their Anti-drugs organization. And having a lousy MC who was, I understood as the Penghulu (Village leader) of some area there. For someone whom we are supposed to respect, well, he doesn’t really respect the teenage participants, looking from the way he talked and being so unprepared on the script and some elder committee kept interrupting, whispering whatnots to him. Again, the participants lost interest, and he ended talking to himself. Served him right.

And, as per the TRADITION here, the VVIPs had to come late, not few minutes late, but an HOUR late. WHAT THE @%^&*$!!! And we, the supposedly laymen, had to wait for him!!! Full of CRAP. Full of butt-licking. Full of CRAP.

I received a certificate for attending this ‘bootcamp’ but seriously, it’s just a piece of paper which I did not appreciate at all. So much for being professional/well-known/disciplined. CRAP.

I went through it all and am back ALIVE to relive the tale, though there’s nothing significant abot the whole thing, I do learn something: Big names are a bunch of actors, they act terribly well, their ‘script’ well-crafted with deep meanings that the audience had to read between the lines and understand from their face expressions and be critical with their speech. DO NOT BE NAIVE. A valuable lesson indeed.