Memories of Regional Coordinator of Malaysia...

"What, you are a Regional Coordinator of Malaysia, for Asian Medical Students' Association?"....."Hmm, what is that?". Basically that were the responses that i get from peoples when i had to introduce myself, as what, my position was before. It was nearly 2 years ago. But why the entry suddenly appear tonight...i just found a photo CDs that contained memories through my few last days as what so called "RC of AMSA Malaysia".Let walk through the memory lane.....in my last conference as a RC of Malaysia, in Thailand 2004


This was taken during welcoming dinner. "Guys, i hope everybody can wear batik tonight. Girls, traditional clothes, something that can show who we are". It was hard, i had 24 of my collegues from 3 universities attending the conference. Luckily, most of them were my friends from the same posting, but at the same time, that make it really hard to be a leader. It was held by the Governor of Thailand, food were i guess a lot, but not all were lucky enough to end in my stomach....hmm...basically, these few pictures show some of malaysian delegates. I barely really spent time with the malaysian, these few pictures were lucky enough to be in the CD

Haha, i really like these few pictures. "Adli, adli, have u seen your picture? I bought one of it. I hope you don't mind",a hong kong girl was eagerly informing me about something i didn't realised. Hmm, i was not really aware, that by the end of the day, there were booths opened at all our event venues that will sell pictures taken earlier, even pictures that we just taken few hours ago. Talking about being efficient and oppurtunistic. So, i was like " What picture?". And she showed me. By than, lot of peoples had gathered around us, and were looking at the same picture, and i have to admit, it really put a smile to my face, and laughters to most. I didn't realised that proffesional photographers were taking our photos, when my group rested for a group photo on the stairs at a traditional health centre. It was that Thai girl beside me that was jokingly asking me to do all that action, and luckily i did join her, because i will regret if i don't....

Being a regional coordinator, or basically, when i had to explain, than the word president of AMSA Malaysia will come out, was not an easy task. It was not just an academic + scientific leader, but i was expected to be an all rounder. One of a good example, was shown in the pictures, haha...chewah. It was during one of a dinner. We were sitting down with our own groups, when suddenly the organizer announced that they will start a new segment called something like "asia fun " or like that, which basically, something like "kotak beracun". They will play a song related to the country, and that country should perform on stage, and it was something that we had to perform spontaneously. Yupp, i'm not sure why...but malaysia end up to be the first to perform....i was laughing and eating, when they announced "MALAYSIA" i was stunned, and all my group members were looking at me, and said.."hey, adli, your country,malaysia"...and by than..the stage already annouced, "Where is Adli, and the gang?".I had no chance to hide....so being a gentleman,haha, i went up the stage, asking all my delegates to climb up. Time was running, and we were clueless. Being the first, we had no chance to look at others, infact we will set the tone that night. That time i realised, i had compiled a back up CD, ran off the stage, ran back to back stage, and informed my delegates about the song, asking tupong to take the lead, and wallaa....we were singing out heart out, out of tune for sure, haha, but with lot of enthuathism. I remembered, at time, when tupong, suddenly lost his stage appearance, i had to take the stage, grab the mic, and try to create back the mood. That was part of my job as an RC than. As u can c by now, i was still wearing the same clothes and tie till night, as i had no time to change it. Running around, meeting and barely have time to eat, was part of the unwritten agreement when u were an RC...

Some people will say "It look like what you do are having fun, right?". It depends on how they actually look at it, and what will you do when you are in that seat. I have to say, yupp i had fun, but that was part of it, and i was trying hard to have fun. People, most of them , don't see the part where every night through out the conference, except for the last night in the resort, we slept at 4 and have to wake up at 5.30 to attend the conference. We barely have time to really join and have fun with our group members, and my own delegates, as i had to attend meetings, at all oppourtunity that we had. I remembered someone said "Adli, tak pernah nak practice nari pun. Nak duduk gan budak malaysia pun tak nak" . I heard that, even not through my ears, i felt it. I'm so sorry if they felt that way, but how i wish people will try to look at my situation. Nobody really really knows what happened behind the EC door. Reviewing the constitution, voting and etc.

Being the RC of Malaysia in Thailand conference was a tough job. I was not just bringing delegates to attend the conference, to present paper and poster, to perform and be ambassadors to our culture, to potray a good malaysian medical students, but at the same time on top of that, i was bringing a task to promote and introduce malaysia as the host of the next conference. These few pictures, was taken during my last moments, giving a speech as RC of Malaysia. I remembered the feeling so well, a year being an RC, the ups and downs, the joys and sadness, as i was standing there, behind the mic, giving my last official speech as outgoing RC of Malaysia.

As i stepped out the hall during that closing ceremony,lot of peoples came to me and congratulated me and malaysia. There were some peoples who cried of joy, touched by the last Malaysia presentation. But among the most memorable part of it, was when a friend of mine, came to me,someone important, personally said to me.."Adli, you are a real RC"....

It was neither a smooth ride nor fun, it was totally the opposite. Nevertheless, by the end of the day, only one thing matters. Yupp, i never regret being a Regional Coordinator of AMSA Malaysia 2003/2004.