5 Trivia at UTM’s Convocation Ceremony
I was invited by UTM to attend its recently-held 41st convocation ceremony. And I was proudly seated among the highly-regarded academicians. Here are the trivia.
1. It was my first time wearing mortar board! Haha. It was indeed thrilling to be part of Mortar Board Society (originally, this was a national honour society established since 1918).
Back in UIA, I didn’t have the opportunity to put on this mortar board because songkok was the more accepted apparatus that symbolizes Islamic identity (or Malay identity?). But hold on, this year will mark a new direction for UIA as it will also be part of this Mortar Board Society. For the first time, Malay songkok will be cast away in the closet for good (or bad!). Depending on your perspectives, it could be a congratulatory or condolent move (psst, come to think of it, UTM should have been more Malay-uprooted than UIA, right?).
2. UTM loves maroon. I love moron, ops, maroon. I could see that the Divine Maroon arrogantly established its sovereignty in the Dewan Sultan Iskandar. Logo, chairs, decorations, robes, and all that jazz.
I was wearing a maroon robe adorned with fine songket trimmings at the collar and front lapels. The colour of songket trimmings for graduates differed from which faculty they graduated. And there were eleven colours in total! And pink was one of them.
(psst, UIA will change its robe colour from green to blue this year. I don’t know – it could be either environmentally-motivated or politically-driven.)
3. The Royal Procession was rich with Malay cultural heritage. As the traditional gamelan music accompanied the procession, I was delighted to see the ceremonial commander wearing Malay warrior attire took the centre of the hall and led the Royal Procession.
The serious, tall, muscular commander carried a keris that weighs 6 kilograms! This giant keris is called Keris Ganja Seiras Melela (what a gracious name). Adopted since 1977, this insignia keris is the university’s official emblem that reflects nobility, valour and authority. There are 25 waves that signify 25 prophets in Islam. So Islamic and Malay, right?
4. The graduates’ achievements were applaudable. Of all 3,351 graduates, 358 obtained first class honours – an increase of 7.73% from previous convocation, which was only 2.4%.
There were so many award recipients that I could only recall some of them. Jasrul Jamani Jamian and Ratnakala a/p Sithravel received the highest award – the Royal Education Award. Both of them represented UTM in Harvard University through Asian Project 2007 (I wish they could further their studies there!).
However, the award that impressed me most was the Academic Excellence Award awarded to Noratiqah Mohd Ariff, a maths graduate (for an engineering-based university, the award was ironically given to a mathematician, not an engineer!)
5. When the amateurish choir group sang the UTM’s official song, I was dumbfounded and clueless. As a UIA graduate, I was asking myself – did I know any song related to UIA? Or was there an official song in UIA? Hmmm, very unlikely.
As I listened attentively to the UTM’s song and grasped the meaning of it, I began to understand why UTM community should be so proud of a century’s existence of the university.
Bersama kita menjulang
Keunggulan terbilang
Ke mercu jaya kita usaha
UTM puncak letaknya
Mertabat keilmuan
Cendikiawan beriman
Cekal bersama takwa
Menara cita-cita
Kami anak kandung
UTM rimbun bernaung
Usaha kami bukti cintamu
Dikau persada ilmu
Keazaman perjuangan
Takwa dan iman
Ke arah kecemerlangan
Perundingan Penulisan
Pengajaran Penyelidikan
Perkhidmatan kepada watan
Disini kami berdiri
Setia pada janji
Bermaruah berbudi bahasa
UTM sanjungan bangsa
Sheepish Hilmi Hamzah with his mortar board
p/s My own master’s convocation will be held in UIA this Saturday. I can’t wait to be there!
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UTM convo? I was one of the recipients during the 40th convo.
The mortar board? that was the worst part of my convo. It was uneasy for me to maintain the mortar board on my head at the exact position coz I’m wearing tudung. The picture taken on the stage doesn’t look nice because of the mortar board. For me, UIA will lost its identity by changing the robes color as well as the songkok and tudung embroidery. I love the maroon color, and cekmi that is my faculty which wear pink songket trimming. I love pink but for some guys.. it was embarassing!. huhu..
The official song? hehe.. that was the first and last time perhaps I heard the song. One thing that I really like during the convo was the ‘dua’ recited at the beginning of the ceremony. Its touching… you should write the text of the ‘dua’ here. It is written in the convo book.
Whatever cekmi, u attended the convo as the academician and I attended as graduate. We may have different perspective on it. I might be attending the 45th or 46th utm convo for my doctorate and you are the one who witness the moment. hehe.. pray for me.
* this is the longest comment ever… Congrats cekmi for your convocation this week.
well, after my convocation at UUM last 2004, i have yet get the chance to attend or participate the convocation as the graduate or accademician.
But then, the moment still last in my mind and truly would love to be apart of the ceremony again for my masters.
The question is what studies i would like to persue? hmmmmm any idea guys ……….
hej! hilmi…congrats on your graduation day…well, i guess the congregation (convocation) in malaysia is too much ceremonial event…and i don’t see any issues of wearing songkok as islamic (i think more on culture) because it just like other headgears…and over here, we don’t wear morar board, just the gown and hood…
zkea, i’d love to see your picture on the stage with your mortar board – must be cute hehe. eh, i didn’t know it was your faculty wearing pink. It was pretty, really. hey, i’ll be there during your Ph.D convo in utm, insyaAllah…
nicq, pursue your studies in a field that you love most. you’ll end up enjoying every single ‘happy’ problems you might face in the future, coz you dont care anymore – it’s your studies and life! haha
danial, i think i should agree with you. Convocation is really ceremonial gala right here, and it must be done in politically (and culturally) correct ways
i must say tht utm’s graduation robe is very nice plus the songket and all tht.um’s robe is blue and the trimming on the robe isnt songket. anyhow, i hope to wear tht blue robe in 2010 Inshallah. honestly i cant watch people wearing those robes and mortar.they just bring tears to my eyes.i know it sounds silly and weird but those baju burung hantu (as my mum calls it since in cartoon,the owls are the one who always wear those robes) just bring tears to my eyes hehe.
anyway congrats for ur convocation tmr!!!way to go cekmi!!i bet u must be saying to urself “phd here i come!”
congrats cekmi for ur convocation. tahniah.
CONGRATS CEKMI!!!! YOU MADE IT
siti, it’s funny that your mom called the robe ‘baju burung hantu’. well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? hehe
adibah & wtl, thanks. there will be more coming
Cekmi, mana entry convo uia? nak tgk cekmi in new robe.