By Auni Zarifah
GOMBAK, 9 April 2021: Two days to IIUMSU Election 2021 which is set to be held on Saturday (10 April), IIUMSU Election Commission conducted a manifesto presentation session on 8 April 2020 (Thursday) that witnessed three candidates seeking election to general seat defending their manifestos.
Anasofea Ridzuan and MD Muhibbullah from Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences are running for the Deputy President I seat as the caretaker for Gombak campus, while Danial Zubir from Kulliyyah of Medicine is the sole candidate for Deputy President II seat.
Danial Zubir won the seat unopposed when the results were announced on 4 April (Sunday).
Deputy President II will act as the caretaker for Kuantan Campus.
The session was moderated by Nur Salinah Zazali, a Communication student from Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences.
In her virtual manifesto presentation, Anasofea said, “If running for this seat for the sake of perfection of the image, it will destroy my passion in helping students and to cater for responsibility in the union.” Given her experience in Public Relations and Advocacy IIUMSU 19/20, Anasofea manifests two aspirations to empower the students in the union.
That no one will be left behind is the first point she highlighted during the session. Providing first-class welfare for all the students of IIUM regardless of the locality which also applies to the marginalised communities.
She wants the welfare of every single student in IIUM to be taken care of and for every voice to be heard. Empowering the function and productivity of Office of Welfare and International as well as Office of Public Relations and Advocacy is the main step that she will take once she is elected as Deputy President I for IIUMSU 20/21.
She will create these two offices as the leaders for the union when it comes to welfare-related matters since these two offices are the frontline for students’ welfare. Both offices also act as the decision-maker with her to confront every concern of the student by ensuring no one is left behind.
The second manifesto is that she wants to fulfil once she is elected for the seat is equal representation. “A union is not built just on one locality, one gender and one community. It is more than that,” said Anasofea.
IIUM is a very diverse institution with different ideas, potentials and aspirations to benefit and gain from. She wants to ensure representation from each community to realise the aspiration of equal representation.
A committee from each community will be set up and she will include them under the Office of Deputy President so the concerns and voices from each of them will be elevated higher to the level of Deputy President I. By that, any matter concerning the students will straightaway be brought to the attention of Deputy President I.
Winning uncontested as Deputy President II, Danial Zubir said, “The best of people are those who do services to others (Prophet Muhammad pbuh). We are given many platforms and opportunities to offer our services. For me, this is the platform and a great opportunity to exercise the sayings of Prophet Muhammad”.
Despite hectic schedule as a medical student, Danial Zubir said by running for this seat it will ensure the students in Kuantan campus will not be left behind and he will provide the best services he can.
To preserve and enhance the parliament of IIUM Kuantan student union is the commitment that he will make sure to realise. “At this point, IIUM Kuantan Student Parliament (ISPA) is the programme-oriented body and ISPA does not have its own committee.
By that, I aspire to bring ISPA to another level by having fixed committee members where the establishment of this committee, members will discuss students’ matters and bring the collective student voices to the university administration successfully,” Danial explained.
By preserving and enhancing this platform as well as having a good system in ISPA the manifestation of students power will become a reality.
Without a platform and a good way of conduct, students will feel that their effort will not be heard at the end of the day. He manifests his aspiration to make sure it will bring an impact and change the views of student empowerment in IIUM Kuantan.
The session ended with a question and answer for both candidates as a way of interaction with the audiences. This manifestos presentation provide students with some insight of the candidates’ credibility.
Meanwhile, MD Muhibbulah, who is the opponent candidate to Anasofea Ridzuan in the contest for Deputy President I seat, did not attend this manifesto session.
For full recording of the session, readers may check IIUM Election Commission Facebook Page. ***