By Ain Nawawi
The newly elected Students’ Representative Council (SRC) will face challenges in their tasks to meet the promises as spelt out in their manifestos. I have been assigned to interview winning candidates who won the Kuliyyah of Information and Communication Technology (KICT) constituency.
Three candidates stood for the election – Wan Shakrawi, Luqman Kamal and ‘Afiah Ali. However, only two were elected to represent their constituency, Wan Shakrawi and ‘Afiah Ali.
Wan Shakrawi
Wan Shakrawi bin Wan Razali is a fourth year student majoring in Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT). He was born in 1993 and originated from Perlis. His educational background began at Tadika Yayasan Islam Perlis, then continued to Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Pendang and MRSM Berseri. After that he furthered his study at Centre for Foundation Studies IIUM, and currently in IIUM. He is the eldest son of three siblings.
He gained lot of experiences and is actively involved in many societies like ICT Student Society (ICTSS). Â He has portrayed impressive involvement and commitment throughout his years of study.
Besides, for the election he indicated some manifestos that can convince voters on issues that can bring benefit to the students. He listed four manifestos in the election, which were: 1) to create a systematic welfare fund to distribute monetary aid to students in need, 2) to improvise and facilitate the suspended meal system at KICT, 3) to transform the musolla to be more user-friendly and comfortable, and 4) to revise the food pricing at KICT cafe.
When asked about why he took part in the election, he said that he wanted to be the one who criticises and gives solution about programme implementation in this university. For example, if something is against the norm of happening during the programme, he will try to give advice and find solution to it.
It can also be called ‘Shari’a adviser’. He added that he wanted to make sure that ‘bi’ah solehah’ is not only in words, but should be implemented in this university. During election, he put so much effort by doing posters, flyers, and others for use during the campaign. Plus, he had support from friends who always help him in this election.
On his expectation to be elected he responded saying that he did not expect to be elected but his friends gave a lot of support and encouragement that he be elected.
After the announcement was made, he jokingly said he felt normal but then he realised that another responsibility will be on his shoulder. Since the portfolio has not been assigned yet to him, he expressed the hope to hold academic and intellectual post. The reason is  that he wanted to make sure that students have a good understanding about current issues while being matured when criticising and judging on certain issues.
He said Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and  the late Tuan Guru Dato’ Bentara Setia Haji Nik Abdul Aziz were chosen as role model because they are described as the best scholars and had contributed a lot to this country. His words of encouragement to the students were that “we should make a change for the better future and give benefit to the community”.
‘Afiah Ali
‘Afiah is the second candidate who was elected to represent KICT. The name given was ‘Afiah bt Mohd Ali, born in 1994 and came from Shah Alam, Selangor. She received early education at Sekolah Agama Menengah Tinggi Tengku Ampuan Jemaah (SAMTTAJ) and furthered her studies to CFS IIUM, and now a second year student majoring in Information Technology. She is the daughter of eight out of 12 siblings. She is graceful, have a great visionary and open-minded. Plus, she is also actively involved in societies.
Both Shakrawi and ‘Afiah have seen their name and have listed manifestos that show concern about; 1) enhancing safety and comfort in IIUM, 2) encouraging students to contribute to university by applying knowledge and skills, and 3) calling for cafe operational hours to be extended until 8 p.m.
Besides, she took part in this election to contribute something beneficial to IIUM. She added that she should be more concerned about the issues that involve safety especially in female hostel.
Another thing is she wants to create a platform for IIUM students to contribute ideas and skills to solve IIUM issues. During campaign, she received many help and support from her friends and even help in training her to conduct rally. Plus, she was also actively campaigning through social media.
When asked about her expectation of winning, she said, “Actually, I did not put high expectation to win the election because the other two candidates (Shakrawi and Luqman) are popular figures in our Kulliyyah.”
She said she cannot believe what she had heard and felt worried about the responsibility she will be holding but she believes that Allah already have plans for the best.
As she was in the information and multimedia secretariat she wanted to continue the legacy of TVSRC and also to enhance the use of SRC website so that students will be aware of certain issues.
‘Afiah praised the chairperson of SRC’s information and multimedia for last tenure for the job well done. She said that he was really good having successfully established TVSRC as one of the platform to deliver the news. Thus, she took it as a benchmark for her to achieve her goal.
‘Afiah has this piece of advice:Â “I like to point out my tagline, that is, to encourage students to walk together with us, SRC members. We really care about students’ welfare but we can’t do it alone, so we need all of you to work together with us.” ***