People Inspire People.

Oscar Pistorius. Image courtesy of wjla.com.

If one were to go around looking for inspiration these days, they probably wouldn't have to look much further than the Olympics. From 15-year-old Katie Ledecky winning gold, to Usain Bolt becoming the first man to retain both the 100m and 200m sprint titles, and amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius making the 4x400m sprint final - the list goes on.

However wonderful these and many other stories from the 2012 Olympics may be, I recently found inspiration from a rather different source.

On Thursday, my Foundation in Science (FIS) April Intake class had an English class, as we usually did. However, this one was different. Our juniors, the FIS June Intake had to deliver their presentations for their own English class, so our two classes merged. We, the April Intake would serve as their audience. Of course, we had no problem with this as (a) it meant no studying and (b) they had been the audience for our own English presentation during our first semester.

As it turned out, a third class would be joining in as well, also serving as audience members - the Certificate in English (CIE) international students. These guys came from such countries as Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan and even Myanmar.

So anyway, the presentations soon began. To be honest, not a single one of them really caught my eye. The topics were dull, the presenters had neither charisma nor confidence. Sure, there were a few exceptions – some did appear to know what they were actually doing – but even then they failed to impress me, and dare I say the watching lecturers as well.

But then one Indian kid, who appeared to be around my age, stepped up. Just like most of his classmates, he had a lot to learn about presenting. What really set him apart from the others, though, was his topic – terrorism.

He then started talking (mumbling?) about what terrorism was, what kind of activities were considered as terrorism, and of course, the various terrorist organizations. The moment I saw the words Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden on the screen, I knew there was bound to be some controversy. His presentation went by mostly without incident, but nobody foresaw what would happen afterwards.

Right at the end, during the so-called Q & A session, the Pakistani from the CIE class stood up. He then proceeded to give a speech about how not all Muslims were terrorists and how the Western media manipulated information to fit their own agendas. He also said something about how his people (Pakistan is where Bin Laden was allegedly killed) were working hard all over the world, although I can’t remember how that was related to the main part of the speech. But still, it was a good speech. He was applauded by the whole room when he was done.

I was awestruck. That was quite frankly the best speech I’d heard all day. I was amazed by the man’s guts to stand up and defend Islam just like that, especially since I knew I couldn’t have done it myself. The whole suddenness of the speech made it seem even more amazing.

I could have cried. It seemed as if the poor kid presenting the topic might have, though. Of course he hadn’t meant to call all Muslims terrorists, and perhaps the Pakistani might have overreacted. The kid did apologize to him afterwards.

Anyway, the short speech made me think about a few things. First was that people were being cruelly killed and tortured all over the world, and a large number of people were unaware of this due to the way the media manipulates and twists the truth. Sure, a man who blows himself up in an American subway is called a terrorist, but there’s nothing wrong with certain global superpowers going to war with Middle Eastern third-world countries? Come on.

Also, I realized that it was kinda true that Pakistanis were working hard all over the world (In 2009, around 600 000 Pakistanis went to work abroad). These people leave their families to work in far-off countries and for me, this just shows their admirable work ethic. Here in Malaysia, we Malays are generally much less hardworking, as we hold ‘special rights’ in this country. Well, what happens when those special rights are abolished? What then? Hmm.

*****

When I think about it, I would probably have never seen anything like the Pakistani's speech had I gone to  KMS or UiTM. It seems to me that enrolling in a public institution, where Malays are the dominant race, would be like going to an SBP all over again - quite frankly a dream world. On the other hand, my time at Nirwana has exposed me to many facets of life - cold, hard truths, if I may - that I might never have experienced in an IPTA. As time goes on, my choice of Nirwana seems to become increasingly more justified.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with public institutions. Everything has its pros and cons. I'm just taking everything in my stride, looking on the bright side every time. God knows what's best for each of us, and I'm just going with the flow.