MY MUM Journey
Abdullah Bin Abu Bakar Bafadhal
At the fire station (2018). ▶
Let me start by saying that my MUM journey was
THE most memorable three years of my life. I know it
sounds clichéd, but I truly feel that it has shaped me
(directly or indirectly) into the individual that I am today
(another cliché).
Being in a foreign land in 2005 (from the Singapore
National Service’s regimented lifestyle to the freedom
of living in Malaysia without parents) was as peculiar
(yet refreshing) as learning new terms such as
‘discourse’ and ‘discursive formation’, and being
introduced to eccentric-sounding names like Michel
Foucault and Roland Barthes. Over time, however,
the lectures and tutorials truly grew on me. Units like
Media Studies, Media Texts, Media Audiences and
many others got me eager to understand more about
this world of Communications and to do my own
research and readings.
This does not mean that writing the assignments was
a breeze though. I can recall the relief after dropping
my assignments off in the pigeon holes at the former
campus in Sunway followed by the customary chill-out
session at the coffeehouse with my mates.
It really helped that we had very interesting lecturers
like Dr Yeoh, Dr Pat Goon and Dr Helen Nesadurai,
who were true gurus at delivering course materials in
some of the most gripping ways one can imagine.
While my undergraduate studies was enjoyable and a
thought-provoking process, it was during my Honours
programme in 2007 that I felt I grew as a student (it
was also a significant year for MUM as it transitioned
from the old campus to the new one).
In addition to developing a dissertation, we also
had to undertake two interesting units in each
semester. One particular unit that stuck with me
was Communications and Cultural Studies Applied:
Industry Practice or better known as COM4020 (H).
This unit required us to work in pairs and my partner
(Nikhil Singh) and I decided to do a research piece
on “The Plight of Migrant Workers in Malaysia”. I
still can’t recall why we chose that topic, but what
was important was how we went about engaging
stakeholders who had interest in looking out for these
migrant workers (e.g. NGOs such as Tenaganita) and
applying our analytical skills in dissecting an ever-
present issue in many developed countries.
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I am proud
to have
graduated
from a course
that taught me
to ‘read texts
beyond its
face value’.
To be perfectly honest, drafting out this contribution
piece already reminds me of the ‘assignment deadline-
chasing’ days during my time at MUM, especially with
the recent Facebook Messenger ‘reminder’ to submit
this piece by the one and only Dr. Yeoh Seng Guan.