By Wafa Aula Alias & Azra Farzana Shuib
GOMBAK, 24 September 2017: The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) held last Monday (18 September) went palpable with parties ardently voicing out their views.
Issues regarding mahallah, academic, facilities, welfare, finance and wellbeing of students were the highlights.
The AGM was held to review the activities, achievements and latest progress of the SRC for the 2016/2017 tenure before passing the duties and responsibilities to the upcoming tenure for the SRC 2017/2018.
Also present at the event was the IIUM Deputy Director of Student Affairs and Development, Tuan Anuzi Nik Him.
Asked about the performance of SRC, Tuan Anuzi said that they have done their part and their best especially in dealing with the university management. He expressed the hope that the future SRC line-up will look up to them in terms of achievements.
“It is everyone’s responsibility to protect the image of the university and this is for the future of our graduates,” he said.
“We have to show people that our students have good reputation, and with that, hopefully we will have better employability rate for our graduates. So, students must put aside all negative issues, as well as any political inclination.”
Tuan Anuzi also emphasised the role of SRC to bring the voices of the students in taking care of students’ well-being. He said that it is their responsibility to consider views of all students, regardless of their background, when making decision.
“They need to bring the best out from the Executive Committee and the students generally,” he added.
The tagline ‘Beyond Barriers’ was chosen for the AGM as SRC had wished to highlight that the Automatic Lane Barrier (ALB) is not the only issue in their tenure and to emphasise transparency of the AGM, according to SRC President, Amirul Hisham.
The SRC President pointed out that SRC had tried their best in their dialogues with the administration to make sure that the new policy will not burden the students.
Other issues raised by the students during the AGM included mahallah, wakaf walkways, and reported cases of flashers.
The SRC acknowledged that there are intangible aspects that cannot be easily handled and changed even after various efforts have been made.
Amirul Hisham said, “It is hard to instil values based on the physical things that we have done. For example, we can conduct grand congregational subuh prayer campaign. Yes, people came to the mosque. But are they feeling the sense of unity among themselves when performing the obligation?”
“This is the intangible part that we cannot do much to control. Both are important and they must complement each other, but it is quite challenging to acquire both.”
The meeting was chaired by Abdul Aziz Abdul Rashid, who is also the president of Engineering Students Society, and more than 200 students were present at the AGM. ***