Report On Talhah Brotherhood At Brunei And Sarawak

 بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم

In the name of Allah

the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful

Talhah Brotherhood At Brunei And Sarawak (TABBAS)  was a program specialized for the residents of Mahallah Talhah with the theme ‘Brotherhood Across the Border’. The program was drafted as an event aimed to encourage and build self esteem among the participants and also establish relations between IIUM and University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD). Furthermore, it also can contribute to the emerging of new refreshing idea on how to conduct a program by sharing ideas with other college in other university. At the same time, the participants are given opportunity to live in the Sarawakians’ community in spite of having different background.

This event was an alternative way for IIUM students in order to achieve the great mission of IIUM by implementing soft skill elements for the sake of ummah. Hobnobbing with society, guiding youngsters and interacting together with them would be vital for the success of the program. This program brought significant impact to student awareness of importance of gaining knowledge and experiences. Besides that, the main purpose of this program is to promote the knowledge and qualities that we have, together with the Islamization concept that has become an integral part of this university toward future generation.

The objectives of TABBAS are to expose and inspire participants with the Islamic heritage, culture and sociology of Brunei nation, increase worldwide communication network skills by strengthening the relations between Brunei and Malaysian students and staffs, and explore the unique culture of Sarawak and nurturing participant’s da’wah skill by spreading da’wah to the local people. The journey to UBD was purposely to integrate many important contacts, learn new solutions, and bring home fresh perspectives and new ideas for our Mahallah Representative Committee (MRC) Talhah.

First place we went, SMK Agama Limbang was purposely to inculcate the awareness of undergraduates towards society especially to new generations at secondary school. All the students are from form 1 until form 6. The ultimate mission for this program was to motivate the students as well as to nurture them the quality of holistic excellence which is imbued with Islamic moral-spiritual values in the process of learning and student life. This event also aimed to expose the students to the university life so that they would have their goal after sitting for SPM and STPM. In spite of having different background and ethnicity, we managed to build a strong relationship with the students.

On the first day, we started our journey at 5.00am from IIUM Kuantan to KLIA and departed from KLIA to Brunei Airport at 1.00pm. We arrived at Brunei airport at 3.30pm then we took a bus to SMKA Limbang. The journey took about two hours which the tour guide used to introduce us to Brunei. At that night, we started our motivational program with the students of SMKA Limbang with the first module. All 34 participants were appointed to be facilitators 15 students per 15 groups. We managed to tie the bond between the students of SMKA Limbang and the participants by knowing each other. The slot was very beneficial and attractive for the students.

For the second day, we continued our motivational program with the modules given. In the morning, we had congregational Subuh prayer together with the students and completed our morning with the short talk delivered by Mohamad Fatihi bin Makhtar on Setting the Goal for Life. After having breakfast, the students were given a talk delivered by our staff. Then, we began our agenda on LDK 2 (Exercise in Group 2) handled by 2 facilitators for a group of 15 students which aimed to increase the students’ self potential. This event stimulated the students  to speak out their opinions and point of view about life and study as well as bringing the participants and students of SMKA Limbang closer. In the evening, we had amazing race which are held in the school itself. The students enjoyed competing with other group in order to place their group as a winner. Here, we can see they cooperate and help each group member to solve the task given. This event is very beneficial for students to tie the relationship between themselves, increase the level if confidence as well as promoting healthy lifestyle.

At night, the closing ceremony was held, however, before the event could start, we had blackout due to heavy rain. Praise to the God that it was only for few minutes then we could begin our agenda as planned. One of the most wonderful moments in this program was the oath ceremony by their representative. Their oath was very fresh and really pleasant. The feedback from students and teachers were very great and they also hoped that such motivational program will be held next time. One of the feedback received was, they had a good time with all facilitators, they learnt a lot from our experiences as a students through sharing moments. The participants also glad to gain knowledge about the culture in the East of Malaysia.

On the third day, we had a visit to Kampung Bidang with the goal to go deep in experiencing the culture of the people there as well as strengthening Islam in the society with da’wah. The people of Kampung Bidang consist of few ethnics such as Malay and Bisaya, and the Muslims there were minority. As we reached the Surau of Kampung Bidang, thelocal people gave us the warmest welcome. The head of the Surau told us a little bit about the background of that village which most of the villagers are working in Brunei Darussalam. Then, we had a ‘gotong-royong’ to clean the Surau by cutting the grass, cleaning the prayer room and arranging the items there. The people there provided us the lunch meal and we had a long conversation with them. We left the surau with some donations like Al-Quran and food for the villagers.

 After Zohor congregational prayer, we went to the Head of  Kampung Bidang’ house. He was a non-Muslim we exchanged ideas and opinions about religion and cultures with him. This program was enjoyable and very crucial in expressing our concern about the IIUM’s mission of Islamization. The participants got a lot of new experiences about the culture of community in Kampung Bidang and learnt to tolerate with people of other religion by not forcing them to accept Islam. Then, the people of Kampung Bidang took us to a place named ‘Lumpur Berbuak’ where there are a lot of muddy portions that coming out of the earth which is oily and good for the skin.

The journey was continued to Brunei Darussalam that evening. We safely arrived University Darussalam and given the accommodation there in the students’ hostels. At night, they celebrate us and the UTM’s delegation which had a program there too with the welcoming ceremony. We had been entertained with the performances by groups of UBD’s students during the dinner.

On the fourth day, we had dialog session and sharing moment with the Student Representative Council of UBD (PMUBD). Along this session, we shared among each other mostly about the program in our almanac and at the same time we also share-out any resolution and retrace about any considerations of each affairs related to college. One of the most contradicts between Mahallah Talhah and the hostel in UBD is the rooms itself. In UBD, a student is provided with a room however, in IIUM Kuantan  few students shared a room.  Another difference is, the Students Centre in IIUM is aimed to facilitate students  regarding students’ activity whereas in UBD, Student centre is a place where the student can spend their time in. Besides, the feedback from MRC Talhah participants was good and most of them suggest having more dialog session since that their time was really limited. That evening, the representatives of UBD brought us to tour around their campus, library and faculties. That night, we had a tour around Brunei town and had dinner at one of the participant house, Mukramah Abdul Shomad. 

On the last day, we were brought by the representative of UBD to have a visit at few interesting places in Brunei Darussalam. Among the interesting places are Pasar Tamu Kianggeh, Museum of Brunei, Kampung Ayer, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque and Royal Regalia. In Royal Regalia, there are a lot of items belong to the Sultan of Brunei and the descendants.  In Pasar Tamu Kianggeh, we can find local products produced by the local people there especially food and daily use items. Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque is one of the unique mosques in Brunei because it has a lake around it with a replica of a ship. All participants bought souvenirs during the tour to bring back to Malaysia. At 4.00pm our flight to KLIA departed. We reached IIUM Kuantan at 2.30am.

The objectives of Tahah Brotherhood At Brunei And Sarawak were achieved. The participants had tried their best in conveying Islam in Sarawak although there is some shortcoming that could not be prevented. This program was hoped to give some changes on students’ awareness towards the society especially those who get less attention. Besides, ideas shared between these two universities should be implemented wherever possible in order to provide a comfortable environment for everyone in campus.

 Prepared by Secretary of TABBAS.
p.s: pictures will be uploaded later insya-Allah.