My BTN experience

Back at home! Yeay! My five days in BTN is over. It was held in Kem BTN Kuarters KLIA, Nilai. People kept telling me that it was a brain-washing camp, but I decided to keep my mind open about it before I went there. Truth be told, it wasn’t as bad as people say it is. Kelvin was right, it really is a mind-opening experience as I got the chance to exchange ideas on various subjects with other scholars like me. We talked not just about politics, but also on a few other aspects regarding the country, both from local and international perspectives. These scholars do have very interesting views on these issues, I must say.

the name tag I have to wear at all times for 5 long days~

Back when I was a debator in SAS, I never liked to talk on the grounds of politics. The reason being, it was too complicated, one can never seem to tell the truth from the lies. But I was 17 then, now three years later, I now find myself to be mature enough to understand it. During the course of the BTN, my group of 13 people including myself was supposed to have a dialog to decide which is the single most dominant factor among politics, economy, education and social? We were then put into groups of three and four; I was in the politics team. I never expected to get so involved in the activity, but when Ameenah’s team representing education factor tried to dominate the room, I chipped in and challenged her ideas with mine. In the end, the whole dialog seemed to revolve around the two of us, she fired me, and then I rebutted her idea, on and on. Man, she really can talk fast, I tell you! hahaha.

What I get from BTN? All of us were taught about the Constitution of Malaysia (Perlembagaan Malaysia), the early history of how our country gained its independence, got up very early in the morning to march and many other activities. Slept my way during most of the talks, which surprisingly were given by Kelantanese. It was not that fun of an experience, but it was alright.

the view of the camp, that is the block where we have our LDK (group work)

me, Bukh and Mehul's room

BTN was surely a worthy experience, though it may be tiring, especially to the brain since most of the times all we have to do is sit down and listen to talks. I could not agree more when my KTJ friends all say that OBS is way more exciting than this, because at least in OBS we do things rather than having to think too much in BTN. Other than that, it's pretty alright to me. Not that challenging as they claimed it to be, just a normal day in a camp with schedules to be followed. But again, maybe that's because I'm used to living in such an environment where people talk about all these topics everyday, I read and I do have knowledge about politics and all,while the retired-soldiers we have as our trainers speak like as if they are screaming, well that's pretty normal to me too, I've been through worse than that. 


On the last day of BTN, we had a test. Don't worry, the test was only 60 objective questions which requires you not to study at all. All you need to do to prepare is to have common sense, and perhaps some feeling of love towards your country, Malaysia. I finished mine in about 45 minutes. Did I mentioned I didn't give my phone to the Urusetia though we're not supposed to have any contact with the outside world? I kept my phone with me the entire time, but I hardly use it at all since Bna is in OBS. I only used it as an alarm because we Muslims need to wake up very very early to attend Subuh congregation prayer as well as to look at some pictures of Bna before I go to bed every night, boy how I miss her so much.

The only thing that got to me the most is the fact that I miss Bna so much! Just ask Bukhari and Mehul who were my roommates, how many times did I mentioned to them how I miss Bna. Please be safe, Bna.

I leave the rest to you…….