By Azanis Shahila
GOMBAK, 8 April 2017 : A Cultural Integration Night 2017 was held on Thursday (6 April) drawing participation from students of many nations across the globe studying in IIUM sharing their various cultures along with the ‘Diversity, Unity and Integrity’ theme.
Organised by the Students Representative Council (SRC) and held at the Moot Court at the Ahmad Ibrahim Kuliyyah of Law (AIKOL), the event was officiated by Deputy Rector (Student Affairs), Datuk Dr. Mizan Hitam.
Among the guests who attended the cultural show were representative of the Saudi Cultural Mission in Malaysia, Prof. Zayed Ojair Al-Harethi, Deputy Rector (postgraduate) AIKOL, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Naqib Ishan Jan, Students Affairs and Development Division officer, Hafsah Mohd Yusof and the administrative officer from the Office of IIUM President, Mir Azrul Shaharudin.
“Alhamdullilah, this event was very good for the students since it unites them as one community and it can put away their stress by enjoying the performance tonight,” Datuk Mizan said.
“I saw many participants who are not only coming from among Arabic students, there are students from other countries as well,” he added.
There were performances by CITRA, the Indonesian Society, the Afghanistan students, and Saudi Arabia Club. There was a band called ‘Earth Band’ consisting of three international students from Russia, Indonesia and Yemen singing special Malay, English, Arabic and Turkish songs.
The performers were not only consisting of IIUM students, but also came from other universities such as students from the Multimedia University Malaysia (MMU) who performed the wedding ceremony, displaying the Arab culture.
The event’s programme manager, Benazzi Hamzah said, “We collaborate with the Saudi cultural mission, therefore, people can see performers are not only coming from among IIUM students but also from the other universities as well.”
“This is the third cultural integration night in IIUM since we started the event in 2015, therefore, I hope the SRC’s international section will keep this programme in mind because it’s a very good platform to exhibit culture richness among international students, and I have big hope for the next cultural integration night,” he added.
He said that more than 50 committee members were involved in the event and “they worked very hard to ensure success of the programme”. Preparations for programmes, according to him, started two months before the event was held.
As Abrulrahman Ba Dheeb, who was one of the active committee members said, “The event achieved its goals to unite and integrate all the students in one night and the attendance was really huge as 400 people attended this event tonight.”
“I think most of the students were enjoying this event and I hope there will be more participants in the future to make this event really successful,” he added. ***
