If you work too long in your organisation and become eye witness to so many brain drains and brain circulations (go check wikipedia if you are not sure what I mean here), you'll notice how your organisation's vision and mission becomes diluted or that people seem not to care anymore.Or seems to forget.
IIUM thrives on its triple Is'CE: islamicisation, integration, internationalisation and comprehensive excellence. In the early years of my stint at IIUM (stint? like I'm thinking of moving on, huh?), young recruits were encouraged to enrol in islamicisation course in which colleagues from different disciplines would share with one another how they integrate and 'islamicise' knowledge of their fields e.g what is Islamic Architecture or Islamic Built Environment.Wough..I loved those days and we bonded.I was better informed of so many things I had taken for granted.I went beyond my own field (English Literature).
Today, 20 years down the road...I have grave concerns that some of us might be trapped by trivial things in life where in some instances we place individual needs before needs of the ummah.Take my Kulliyyah for example, it is called Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (we integrate knowledge of both worlds...what may be considered worldly cos' most of the subjects deal with human relations, human situations are studied together with what many see as theological, spiritual, religious). I have heard suara2 sumbang who seek to separate the two.Worse there is a proposal for some disciplines to be on their own like Language and Literature to have its own faculty.This is like moving backwards.Any graduate today will not survive being a specialist in one area anymore.She/he has to be jack/jill of all trades so that in difficult times like now, she/he would be able to move around more flexibly.Our grads who graduated with this kinda background are everyhwere in different industries:diplomatic service, oil and gas, advertising, human resource, politics, etc etc.Not everyone ends up teaching (which is mulia, I don't deny).We have the tendency to dismantle what works.Macam tikus baiki labu.This is because we fail to internalise our own organisation's vision and mission.We want to fix what is not broken instead of moving on, from peak to peak.
Ahhhh..I have a few years left (my bond with IIUM).I know I will leave some day.We all have to.Kalau tak pencen, kita mati.Kalau tak mati, kita resign.There are a few courses I will enrol in.I need new interests, new peaks.According to Oprah, this is the best time to re-evaluate your life.Ada orang kaya berhenti kerja nak jual pizza/cakes cos' they find themselves in the pizzas they cook.Heh.
I have discovered what my strengths are (selain aku garang).Will need to work on these more.You women out there, life does not stop at 40 something,Byk benda kita boleh buat selain kais pagi makan pagi.
Just have faith in yourself and that rezeki Allah is everywhere.
8 comments:
Dr faridah, suara-suara sumbang ini manusia yang mewakili kumpulan 'nonsensical,secular and trivial mentality. Membazir berada di kalangan islamic scholars.
You know MBI, it never fails to amaze me when outsiders faham kehendak zaman for us to integrate and 'islamicise' ilmu (scholars barat and some Muslim critics of Islamicisation of knowledge begitu takut akan ayat ini..."to islamicise".Gamaknya it reads "to circumcise".)
Tapi saya sentiasa percaya, Islam sentiasa dipelihara oleh Allah.Berapa banyak dugaan menghancurkannya gagal? Bak kata aruah Ibrahim Hussein (sebagaimana yang ditulis oleh saudara Rehman Rashid dalam NST semalam): we worry too much about the future.And the future is death."
Bila ingat ini, kita semua mesti work for the best.Not for us but utk agama kita dan utk pastikan agama mantap, kena jaga generasi yang akan tolong menjaga agama ini.Oleh itu, ilmu mereka tidak boleh kita persempitkan e.g belajar English semata2 atau satu disciplin sahaja.Saya lihat telah ramai di kalangan sarjana Muslim yang mula buat PhD atau Master dalam 2-3 matapelajaran.Ini sgt baik!
Hmm, now what brought on this change of 'voice' to an otherwise gung-ho person.
It's the top management who has to always be in touch of where the uni is heading & it should always be leading other staff the way there.
There are still many in the organisation who, I believe, still have faith in the vision and mission. But, once we stay too long anywhere, familiarity sets in, we do not see the beauty/ uniqueness of a place anymore. In CEO Exchange last night, this CEO had always been in the same company, but kept on changing portfolios to keep his outlook of where the company was heading fresh.
My bottomline is, though, it's the leadership that has to pave the way ALL THE TIME (not shouting, sorry: I meant to italicise that phrase, but it doesn't work).
UM tried someone 'from outside' to run the show, but it somehow did not meet with UM's needs.
My 2-sen. Have a good weekend.
I agree Jooli.Who and what our top management does is very important but it takes an overall awareness among the masses also to see that they too are doing what is expected.There ought to be a check and balance..on both sides.But as we know, transparency does not always take place in this country, kan? tau2 bukit tu dah gondol or that company dah berubah tangan to another.
I think I am just frustrated with what goes on in the country and it affects my morale.Pulak tu I think someone I trust at the uni betrayed my trust.It doesn't help!
Bak kata Hishamudin Rais: penat jadi Malaysian ni (he also said penat jadi orang Melayu!)
I'll enrol in cake decoration/pottery class soon.I'll find myself there.I need a cheerful life not be in doldrums. :)
Salaam, dr.
Looking back to those years in IIUM I'm so thankful that I had to complete courses from IRK dept just to graduate. I've learned so much from the courses they offered to BENL students, I'm not sure where would I be now without those courses. I heard 'suara2 sumbang' complained about those courses we BENL had to take but truthfully it makes us distinct from those who concentrate on one field alone. Such a loss if they decided to build a faculty of their own, there's so much to learn from other departments and not only from IRK. And under one kuliyyah there's so much to share, so many cooperation can take place.
just my two cents dr.F
Dear Syima,
I know.So many alumni like you had told me the same thing.Tak mengapa.We'll do what we can to ensure kepentingan our stakeholders are not sacrificed, InsyaAllah.Thank you for your comments.
Salam Dr. Faridah,
Saya rasa bukan UIA saja yg mengalami perkara yg backwards tu .. kat tempat saya pun, they never appreciate the generalist. If your MA is differed from what you did in BA, they will reject you.
Tapi satu masalah dgn islamization yg saya notice masa belajar di UIA, byk berlaku kat surface sahaja (tak tahulah kalau saya gagal menyerap apa yg sepatutnya) .. you touch bit here and there and voila ... toing, Islamization!
Apapun, sesiapa yg mencadangkan such proposal tu, mmg la ...
Semoga UIA akan terus tetap dan teguh mendokong visi dan misinya.
InsyaAllah.
Dear Fisha,
I think the world has changed (to survive).Specialisation does no longer work except perhaps for technical fields (itupun kalau that person ada skills/knowldge lain, he/she will move up the career ladder faster than his/her colleagues.Nak jadi CEO mesti tau bukan saja field dia tapi benda2 lain)
When IIUM started Islamicisation (namanya pun waktu tu Islamisation but through time and study, sekarang kita tau term sebenarnya Islamicisation...dan tak heran if this changes again as we evolve), memang semua teraba-raba sebab modelnya original.As we mature,we refine.Tapi tulah...kalau takda intensified effort to work further on this, habislah.I am happy to note that in a recent meeting with one of the top guys, this issue was raised.Lepas tu I tolong harp back at every meeting I have with everyone in decision making position.Kena create balik awareness of our own vision and mission.One comment made by APEX Uni team members was that most unis and employees TAK TAU apa vision and mission organisastion masing2.Baik dari cleaners to top management.He said yang ini paling penting if an organisation wants to move fwd, be consistent and unified.How you do to achieve tak kisah.
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