Star Q
It had been a long and tiring drive all the way from the border of Johor and Negeri Sembilan right up to Padang Besar; all eleven hours of it. It had been a sleepless night at the inn, trying to organise last minute documents and other things for the registration and the idea of parting with my daughter. I underwent all these things just so that the registration for the next day would go smoothly without a hitch and that everything would end before noon (just like my son's registration into a more prominent university!)
But all my hopes went down the drains, as did the hopes of many other families and relatives who had travelled long distances to see their children/relatives enter this university and continue their tertiary education. These people who had travelled from all over Malaysia as far as Johor, Kelantan, Terengganu and Sabah (among those whom I managed to get to know during the long wait!) were frustrated and downright sad when, the simple process of registering their children turned into the university's media fiasco when the official opening of two of it's facilities were done on the same day!
As if it was not tiring enough being lethargic after the long journey, the long wait at the campus was even more energy-draining with what we had to go through during registration because the university decided to do the official opening of it's new (slightly ill-equipped facilities!) with the invitation of a pair of royalties delaying what ever process that could have taken a mere half an hour into almost two hours! All the waiting parents and relatives, who were initially herded (like cattles!) into two lecture halls, then herded again into one lecture hall, were made to wait for the appearance of these royalties to officiate this facility, listened to a dull and droning speech and finally herded again to the students' new residential college about 29 kilometres away.
And so, as if that delay was not enough, another long and frustrating delay also occurred at the students' new residential college where the university decided to carry out another official opening of this facility with the presence of the same royalties. The sad thing was, all those parents and relatives in the midst of the smouldering heat and tiredness, were made to wait for the inconceivable and wrong-timing of this event! Registration for students to get the keys to their residential colleges, which was going on perfectly, albeit the delay, was inhumanely stalled for forty minutes just because the university officials wanted the two royalties to officiate the opening of this facility. After all that wait, the two royalties finally arrived amidst all the pomp and grandeur, scribbled their signatures onto a banner and went off without a single "I-am-sorry-to-have-caused-all-of-you-this-royal-ruckus" wave to the tired and frustrated public already drenched in sweat and anger; all this in less than five minutes!
The irony of these two fiascos was that the vice-chancellor in his lack-preparation speech (who kept asking everyone he caught within sight, to close the lecture hall door!) acknowledged that there would have been at least five family members (to which he also added that some came in five separate cars to send just one student! You do the Maths!) sending each student to register. He also acknowledged that if you multiplied 2900 new students (the number expected to register on that day!) by five family members, they would have a huge crowd of 14,500 people!
I agree that a huge turnout for such an event, plus with the added attendance of some royalties, the establishment tends to gain a lot in terms free publicity for the university and a field day for a media circus; a typical 'end that justifies the means'! But, alas it is typical of an establishment hard-up to gain as much attention from the public in order to make itself a name amongst the top universities of the country, even if it means sacrificing others in the process.
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