It was supposed to be just 1,000 students from all over the State of Perak, Malaysia for the occasion.
On that very day, Saturday 10th April 2010, a total of 1,500 students swarmed the Banquet Hall at the State Secretariat Building in Ipoh, Perak to meet their idol, Dato’Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the Malaysia first astronaut. Thanks to The Chief Minister of Perak and The State Education Director for making the event a reality.
Before 8.30 am, the crowd began to fill up the hall. Bus loads of students began to arrive from schools all over Perak some as far Gerik and Teluk Intan. Kids from the 3rd Regiment of Malaysian Armed Forces, Pengkalan Hulu too managed to make the trip. It was such a joyous and beneficial occasion.
The committee headed by the ever reliable and able Dato’ Ishak Mohamad from Keledang Club were executed the planning to perfection under the watchful direction of the great Dato’ who emceed the event himself.
By 9.30 am, the hall was filled to the brim and it was another hour before the astronaut was scheduled to address the students.
Outside the hall, sales of books and CDs on the space journey were brisk. Muzill and his gang of Keledang kids manned the sales booth well. The sales cry that every book purchased would be autographed by Dr Sheikh Muszaphar himself did the trick to push sales.
At 10.30 am, Dato’ Dr Sheikh Muszaphar appeared amid the usual pompous ceremony, the drum beats and the cheering crowd.
The national anthem music was played and the whole crowd proudly sang along. The official ceremony was kicked off by an opening address by Dr Zakaria, the President of Keledang Club, the event organiser followed by the official opening by the Chief Minister’s representative, Dato' hj Najmuddin Elias.
The first Malaysian astronaut and the guest speaker, Sheikh Muszaphar took to the stage to the wild cheers of the students.
Calm and poised, the man narrated his experience piece by piece from the first day he was 10 years old when he set his sight and focus to be an astronaut. As he poured his dreams and experiences meticulously choosing his words, the students steadily went into silence as if to absorb every single word that was uttered especially so when he mentioned that the talk would only be a 30 to 40 minutes session.
The iconic Malaysian Master of Caricature, the legendary Dato’ LAT was among the crowd as a member of Keledang Club, the organiser of the event. Dato’ Sheikh Muszaphar paid tribute to the great master and casually mentioned that LAT is his idol and the crowd responded with a loud cheer. He said he still enjoyed LAT’s cartoon as LAT is an exemplary figure of success if determination, sincerity, hard work and focus is the motto in life.
Ably assisted by photos and film slides, each and every step of the journey into space from the day when 12,000 applications were received by the government, the training days, the liftoff and the 12 days stay at the ISS till the day he made the return journey were clearly narrated slice by slice to the delight of the audience which include state dignitaries.
The Q&A session was hugely popular. Kids as young as 12 years old raised their hands and beating the queue to attract Dr Muszaphar’s attention to their questions.
One particular question from a 13 year old student from Sultan Yusoff School, Batu Gajah caught everybody by surprise. His question on the economic impact of the space program was really cool and smart. It clearly indicated that kids nowadays are very smart and far sighted. They do read on the space program and they do understand the dynamics of the country!
One particular observation I made during the Q&A session was the elasticity of Dr Muszaphar’s patience with students. All questions were carefully answered though at times students tend to repeat themselves.
His action of coming down the stage to tackle questions from the floor was very noble. All students from the front right to the back of the hall wishing to forward their questions had equal chance.
The group photo sessions before lunch were hugely popular even among the photographers.
Our Club President too has his fair share of attentions from the kids.
After lunch it was the Keledang’s turn to have photo shoots with the handsome astronaut in the VIP room. Not to be outdone by the Keledang Ladies and the Keledang Kids, the Keledang men too tumpang sekaki.
Then back to the hall, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar was ushered to the stage for the autograph sessions with the students. A marathon session that lasted an hour and a half.
At the end of the day, it was safe to conclude that the motivational talk to the students by Dato’ Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, the astronaut, was exceptionally successful and inspiring.
The objective of the Perak state, the Education Department and the Keledang Club of bringing an iconic figure as source of inspiration to the students was achieved.
The story of the day was, to achieve success in whatever endeavour, the attributes remained the same viz. smart work, focus, determination, careful planning, organisation and intelligent execution
...and it all begins from the first moment YOU DARE TO DREAM. What the mind believes the body can definitely achieve, insyaallah
Written by and from the eyes of:
dmansorahmad
www.limautambun.blogspot.com
P/S Those interested to obtain a copy of cd containing full photos of this event, please contact the moderator of this blog @ +6010-3010018
Masa yang diruangkan sempat untuk meninjau suasana bilik darjah, dari tahun satu hingga tahun enam. Teruja melihat kesungguhan anak-anak belajar dengan tekun bimbingan 20 orang guru yang berdedikasi.
Kemudahan tersedia dengan cukup. Ada makmal computer lengkap dengan perisian komputer bagi setiap mata pelajaran. Sebuah surau untuk kegunaan para guru dan pelajar juga tersedia.
Padang sukan luas berlatar belakang bukit bukau indah dan amat memukau.
Kesungguhan Cikgu Idriss dengan cadangan program-program yang disusunnya 
