Life as a student in Malaysia

Located in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is perceived as the land of opportunities for youngsters in the future. It is in fact the ‘Las Vegas’ of the southern part of Asia where the skyscrapers and the wonderful structure of the shopping malls are being built to attract people. The transportation network is vast, consisting of train facilities, bus lines, aeroplanes to travel to other states and in addition to the implementation of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) last year, everything is moving smoothly along the right tracks.

As a 20-year-old young man, I was looking for opportunities and I was compensated by obtaining an offer to study in Malaysia. Initially, it was different and difficult, especially having to leave my family and my close ones, but already one year has elapsed, and my life has changed significantly. Besides meeting lots of people and befriending them, I have visited different parts of Malaysia, learned about its customs, its culture, and its gigantic and iconic 451m Petronas Twin Towers, which, at night, demonstrate its grandeur with luminous lights.

I arrived in Malaysia on 22nd December 2016, after approximately a 12-hour trip. I had to transit at Singapore for two hours and I was exhausted by the time I reached my destination. On my arrival, I had to do a lot of paperwork at the immigration checking point, which was so intense, and I also met some students who were in a similar situation, waiting for visa approval. They were from countries such as Egypt, Soudan, Morocco and Brunei.

We were very worried but we got each other’s support while we were talking. I developed a close relationship with the Moroccan because of our French speaking background and sometimes, we do communicate in French. For six months, my Moroccan friend and his girlfriend were Malaysia and we were always helping each other, even going shopping together. During Ramadan, we did our ‘sehri’ and ‘iftaar’ together and we share our food.

This was the first Ramadan we did without our parents and for Eid equally, we used to spend our whole day together after prayers. While studying at University College Sedaya International (UCSI) University, I made friends with different students coming from different parts of the world. They were from Russia, Uzbekistan, Algeria, India, Sri Lanka, and I believe that these kinds of interactions are important for adaptation and socialisation.

What I have learnt is that we should not snub someone in a foreign country. We need to make friends, as we are all newcomers in that place. The development of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, has been fully beneficial to the whole nation even though there are both first-rate and appalling conditions.

As a student, I had to acclimatise myself to the native ‘bumiputra’ language, that is, ‘Bahasa Melayu Komunikasi’, which is quite close to Hindi and mixed with other languages. For example, ‘Apa khabar’ means ‘How are you?’, ‘Khabar Baik Terima Kasih’ means ‘I’m fine, thank you’.

Personally, I decided to study this language because I was interested and moreover, I had to take the ‘Bahasa Melayu’ (BM) as a part of my degree programme. At first, I had thought that I would fail this course but actually, I got an unexpected result, a B grade for ‘Bahasa Melayu’. I was so happy and I kept on practicing with my Malay friends for further improvement. Below are a few samples of the language:

• Satu, Dua, Tiga (numbers 1, 2, 3)

• Selamat pagi (Good Morning)

• Selamat petang (Good Evening)

• Selamat malam (Good Night)

Studying and living abroad bring changes in one’s life. You need to feel that you are not alone, and luckily, Malays are polite and kind enough to support and guide foreign students. I have experienced this in March when I got food poisoning, which spread through my blood. Eventually, my Malay friends helped me but it took me a long time to recover fully. However, they were always by my side to and I was proud to have them as my support and backups.

As for fun or entertainment, we are most likely to favour the aquatic park known as Sunway Lagoon, due to its vast structure for extreme park amusement.
It is a very popular and interesting place for families to enjoy time together, weekends and holidays, too. The park is always fully packed and it has been nominated as the best amusement park in Asia. Sunway Lagoon has implemented different attractions to suit the wishes of the new generations like the Nickelodeon Lost Lagoon or Scream Park, famous for its thrilling and breath-taking structure.

Malaysia has an immense food chain which has been transmitted across generations and still exists in the Malay Peninsula. The traditional food, Nasi Lemak (coconut rice), is an important dish appreciated by both foreigners and locals, as it is delicious, yummy and cheap. We have the ‘satay’, which is eaten with some sauce and also ‘roti telur’, which is made with eggs.

These have helped to promote the Malay traditions and people find them suitable for their lifestyle. As a student in UCSI Malaysia, I have tasted the foods and I have enjoyed them, even though they are spicy. I remembered that I ate ‘Nasi lemak’ and as it was the first time, I found it to be very spicy. My friends never warned me and it was so painful for me to eat that dish.
Malaysia is a country which is culturally and economically diverse and which people love to visit. I have been living there for one year and I can say that it has a lot of strategies for future expansion and the locals are looking forward for more developments. Wonderful Malaysia. Malaysia, the dream land.

By Sajjaad Moedeen