PLKN Kem Akedemi Kepimpinan Segari, Manjung

It’s the time of the year where you see anxious faces sitting in classes holding their phones waiting for that one message. Whether if it was a tahniah or maaf. At that time, some would be cursing or laughing with happiness. I remember going through that last year. Tahniah! Anda terpilih untuk menyertai Kem PLKN Siri 7/2010. I can still remember that it cost me RM0.20. It was a mixture of confusion. I didn’t really want to leave but at the same time I wanted to.

Then came the letter, at that point everything just warped into place. It was real and I had to go. Packing my bags were not an easy job. Not sure of what to bring and what not to bring. Even though there was a manual, i just kept having this feeling that I’ve forgotten something.

Note : They tell you not to bring jeans but actually you’re kinda needed to wear them there cause it’s Kemas and Sopan.

I reported to camp 7 days later than my supposed date due to an event. Brought a diary in hope of recording my thoughts in NS. Total epic failure I would say. There was not much leisure time to do anything. When you had the free time, you would be rearranging your locker stuffs, sleeping or just plain hanging out with friends. Reading those pages in the diary, I realized how much someone can change in just a short 3 months.

The days of full lorengs were not easy at the beginning. Then, slowly we just got used to it. It was heavy, thick and hot but I guess all the leaders got used to it. The boots were not something easy to wear but if you have been wearing them for a week, you would have no difficulty in putting them on quickly. :)

Then the cheers, it was fun with all the cheer wars going on. Especially when we had nothing to do while waiting for the rain to stop or for another activity.

Wira Wira
Hisap Rokok
Terjun Kolam
Hebatnye~

Wirawati Wirawati
Makan Maggi
Tekan Mesej
Ape Lagi?

And then there would be cheer fights between companies. It’s always fun to see what crazy cheers they can come up with in such short time. The cheers are normally good natured teasing.

Remembered being admitted into the hospital due to Gastritis. 5 Needles in less than 2 hours. Being admitted into a hospital so far away from home was not fun at all. Phone battery was dying half the time and the nurses refused to let me charge my phone anywhere. Luckily, I only had a day in there so all was good when I could check out the very next day.

19th May 2010 : Chu’s death.
That was the saddest day of the entire camp. A few of us got chosen to pay him a last respect. We all got into the car and throughout the entire journey, tears were just streaming down our faces. When we saw him, he was just lying there with his eyes closed. No longer laughing. I remember, he was one of the first few people I met when I entered camp. He had so much life in him but now it has all been drained away. RIP Chu Kar Wai.

Two stripes to three stripes. Had my fair share of stressed out moments and of course the waterworks. It was also an awesome experience. But being the leader, calls for many responsibilities. In which there were many things they did that I couldn’t do. Free time was scarce when you have the stripes on your shoulder. Nevertheless, we had a great team of leader that made everything worthwhile. :)

So yeah, here’s a little something I put together.

Few things you should know about NS that they will not tell you.

1. The clothes will not shrink
They will tell you on the first day that the clothes will shrink later on so that you get a bigger size that doesn’t show off your body figure. Honestly no, if anything, it’ll only just keep getting longer and bigger.

2. Aggressive flies
Bring fly traps, the sticky yellow paper kind.

3. You can actually bring that but not that??!
You can bring makeup, ear rings and bracelet in but you cannot bring in medications. Which I find a little hilarious because whatever the medic gives you there, doesn’t work.

4. Cash
RM350 allowance doesn’t exactly come in until much later. So in order for you to survive, for all you picky eaters out there, remember a steady cash supply. On weekends, you can tumpang other friend’s parents to get you like McD’s, Pizza Hut or like KFC. Trust me, you will definitely want it.

5. Instant Food!
Maggi mee is not the only kind of instant food. You can get instant mash potato, mushroom soup, porridge and many more. Due to the cultural issues, they only serve fish and chicken. And if you are not a big fan of spicy dishes, like me, prepared to survive on food like these.

6. Leisure Time
Is rarer than a blue moon. On weekdays, night time you have to be out watching videos or they will find something to “entertain” you with. Also, on weekends, they usually have ceramahs and what nots. You only get your phone back after those ceramahs and they will threaten you with the usual… if you ain’t good, we will keep the phones.

7. Whatever goes in, stays in.
Basically means, whatever songs you had in your phone at the time will be whatever you’ll be listening to for the next 3 months or so. Bad romance was a big hit in my camp cause it was the most popular song before we entered NS.

8. Toilet Paper
I’m not sure about other camps but my camp, they couldn’t even afford to provide toilet paper. So bring your own rolls of them so that you won’t need to keep asking from friend when you need it.

9. Mosquito Repellent
I know you’re into vampires and all but mosquitoes doesn’t give you pleasure by sucking your blood. So yeah, mosquitoes will keep you up at night if you don’t repel them.

10. No water?!
I am not so sure for other camps but if you got KEM PLKN SEGARI… after 8PM there will be no water supply. SO yeah, that’s about the time you get to take your bath and wash your stink clothing. So prepare a sarung or something so you can use the kolam air to bathe. :)

11. Sentries!
Oh yeah, the late night sentry. It started out pretty okay till the paranormal activities started then everyone got too scared to do it. So normally they would do it in groups of four and get lesser sleep.

12. Buddhist? Christian?
Don’t be stupid and be like me to put FREE THINKER. Cause once you are a known free thinker, everyone will try to grab you into their own religion. They have those classes every night so if you have no religion, you’ll be in the dorm ALONE. Also, when everyone goes out to pray on certain days, you’ll be alone in the camp.

I think I basically covered most of it. Just go to NS and have fun because you’ll meet the coolest people that you’ve ever known. These people will be your family for 3 months. Practically doing everything together. You get to fire 30 bullets from a M16, what more can you ask for?

- signing off, Lynnette

P.S, It’s not as hardcore as everyone think it is. It’s more relaxing than a DU scout camp. :)