Festival Teater Pengguna Siswa UA MAKUM 2023: Sacrifices beget victory for IIUM!

By Mizan Mazfullah

GOMBAK, 23 December 2023: From 22 until 31 October 2023, the Festival Teater Pengguna Siswa Universiti Awam Majlis Kebudayaan Universiti-Universiti Malaysia (MAKUM) 2023 was held at Panggung Percubaan, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), organised by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) and MAKUM, in collaboration with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). 

The competition aimsed to create awareness towards the rights that one possesses as a consumer through theatre performances. Other than this the competition also was set to rejuvenate the spirit of ‘campus theatre’ in public universities, and to instil passion towards cultural performances particularly in varsities that are not offering the course on performing arts or theatre such as the IIUM.

This is the second time the competition was organised by KPDN, the main sponsor, that first started last year, where it was organised at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). The competition saw an outstanding improvement in terms of participation from public tertiary educational institutions, where the numbers jumped from 11 universities taking part in the previous year, to 17 institutions battling it out for the top prize in this year’s competition. 

Known for their creative twist to the themes of the competition, the IIUM Theatre Club (ITC) put forth its contender through the play “Langgan” from Produksi Kalimantang, which told the story of a family in a dystopian future, where the oblivious daughter named Trisya, played by MAKUM nominee Aneesa Nadira (KICT), succumbed to the evil plans of greedy capitalists Professor Malik and Encik Albar, played by MAKUM winner Khairul Ikhwan (KOED) and MAKUM nominee, Ammar Dawd (AHAS KIRKHS) respectively, who created an artificially intelligent robot namely Maya, played by Zafirah Adira (KICT), that is supposedly helping Trisya in her studies, yet the story took a turn when Maya was actually programmed to influence Trisya to spend her inattentive parents’ money, wastefully.

This gut-wrenching story of negligence and influence, which is encapsulating the spirit of one of the Maqasid al-Shariah under the objective Hifz al-Mal, was penned by MAKUM nominees Adam Syahmi (AIKOL), who is also the director and the lighting designer, Aiman Zulhakim (AHAS KIRKHS), who is also the props master, and Nabilah Baharin (AHAS KIRKHS), who is also the sound and music arranger, and was certified by the IIUM Murabbi. 

Even though the competition was stiff, Produksi Kalimantang, with full support from the IIUM Centre for Arts and Cultural Sustainable Development (CiTRA), managed to earn a whopping seven nominations during the Malam Anugerah Festival Teater Pengguna Siswa UA MAKUM 2023. The seven nominations included: Best Promising Actor for Khairul Ikhwan, Best Promising Actress for MAKUM nominee, Muizzah Ghadafi (AHAS KIRKHS), Best Costume Design and Makeup for MAKUM winners Aqilah Ithnin (KOED) and Asyraff Abdullah (AIKOL), Best Music Arrangement for Nabilah Baharin, Best Script for the aforementioned scriptwriters, Best Supporting Actor for Ammar Dawd, and Best Actress for Aneesa Nadira. 

This feat was further surpassed by the fact that ITC’s Produksi Kalimantang managed to snag wins for Best Promising Actor through the chilling performance of Professor Malik, Best Costume Design and Makeup through the vibrantly dystopian yet Shariah-compliant outfits and looks, and the creme de la creme, the coveted Judges’ Special Award, was awarded to the production team that managed to steal the judges’ attention through their brilliant portrayal of spirit and teamwork, bringing the title, “MAKUM winner” to all members of the production team.

Spirit and teamwork, the two words that perfectly capture the essence of ITC’s Produksi Kalimantang, a production team that consisted of passionate club members who had no background in theatre performing and the performing arts and they hailed from different Kulliyyahs yet they were brave enough to compete with varsities that were offering performing arts courses. The students were juggling various academic and societal workloads with no more than a week of rehearsals and a tight budget, but managed to grab the attention of the judges through their creativity, perseverance, and sacrifices. This win matters most to the various art clubs at the IIUM, as it shows that high quality and sustainable masterpieces, which are in line with Islamic values and principles, can be produced by the students of the IIUM.

The other members of Produksi Kalimantang were MAKUM winners Dahlia Afriena, Adibah Dalila, Adibah Kahar, Danial Iman (AHAS KIRKHS), Sol Hesani, Amirul Danish, Alim Erfan, Zaim Fathi, Muhammad Mikhail, Mizan Mazfullah (AIKOL), and Asmaa Aouache (KENMS). ***