BTN Camp

I made a promise to blog about BTN Camp 2 weeks ago (LOL) but due to laziness, the plan was procrastinated.

Thank you Lee Chin for reminding me to blog about the camp (it was few days ago, haha). It’s time to work my fingers.

First of all, allow me to do some definition.

BTN = Biro Tatatnegara

BTN Camp = A mandatory 5 days 4 nights camp for all JPA scholars and whoever using government’s $$ to further their education overseas.

It’s a very controversial camp, with rumours (some are true) about racism and discrimination. Well, it depends on the facilitators, trainers and location of the camp.

If you are lucky enough, you can survive the camp without serious hardship. If you don’t wanna risk it, DON’T EVER ACCEPT GOVERNMENT’S $$ TO FUND YOUR EDUCATION. Go for other scholarships / use your parents’ $$ to study abroad / replace your parents with wealthier ones / study locally etc.

I think I was quite lucky because most of the facilitators here were good and open-minded, or at least they tried their best to act that way. Some were irritating, but not a very big issue.

The name of the camp is Kursus Kenegaraan Mahasiswa ke Luar Negara. If you didn’t fail BM in SPM, you can get a rough idea of what the camp is about. Basically the sole objective of the camp is to instil a sense of (or great deal of)patrotism into all attendees.

So throughout the entire course, you’ll get a recap of the nation’s history. It felt like attending history lessons in secondary school, the only difference is that this time, you have to prove that you really understand what it means by being patriotic. You have to do something to show that you love this country. Just try your best to ACT.

OK, enough boring stuff. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. I won’t tell everything here because 5 days is not a short period.

Duration of the course: 31 May to 4 June ( 5 days 4 night)

Venue: Kem Bina Negara, Tanjung Rhu, Sepang

(An extremely secluded piece of land, escaping will only put you into

another worse position, and very poor mobile signal, almost nil.)

The Dorm

16 person sharing a dorm, not something I enjoy…

My bed, the upper bunk

No wall fan around, super hot in the afternoon.

School boy-looking dorm-matezz

Daniel (photographer) and Ah Wong missing.

The formal dress code was short-sleeved white shirt and dark-coloured slack.

I know…

Auditorium

The super comfortable and sleep-inducing “theatre” where we

attended facilitators’ slide presentation and other activities.

People cramming to sign their attendance

Every aspect of us will be evaluated, contributing to 40% of total score,

the other 60% comes from exam on the last day.

Fellow Manipal-ians

Me and Chee Kit (the tallest guy I’ve ever met).

Guys watching girls dancing

We were asked to close our eyes and mimic the gestures of a musical conductor,

but it turned out that some were dancing instead.

I wasn’t allowed to use my phone to snap pictures, but since the facilitators were enjoying the show so much, no one would notice me doing that.

Tower for flying-fox and abseiling

I wanted to try that sooooo much but too bad, no chance due to lack of trainers.

Picture taken from inside of auditorium through window pane.

A comical scene displaying factors contributing to the fall of ancient Malacca

In one of the LDKs (Latihan dalam Kumpulan), we were asked to list the characteristics of the people in the picture. So we came out with “pembelot”, “pengkhianat”, “berpeluk tubuh”, “mata duitan” etc etc etc…

Then my group’s facilitator asked: “Adakah anda familier d’ngan semue ni?”

No one answered. Then he continued: “ Ini adalah sifat-sifat yang saye nampak dari diri anda semue! Kalau anda masih tak berubah, andalah yang bakal menghapuskan negare kite ni… … … Saye rase anda TIDAK LAYAK menerima biasiswa JPA… … Name Agong tak tau! Name permaisuri tak tau!… …”

Kembara

My favourite activity of all. It was the first and dirtiest and stinkiest jungle trekking ever had.

People emerging from the “hole”

Crossing leech-ful river

Eric, me, Stephanie and Vee Kee.

More climbing

We destroyed people’s vege farm on our way back to camp. Sorry~~ XD

Kem Bina Negara!

What a seclusion…

The first batch of survivors who made it back to the camp!

Back: Ah Wong, Vanessa, Stehanie, Vee Kee, Eric.

Front: Susu, me.

We waited for the others to arrive and were not allowed to take shower. All of us were dirty, smelly, tired, hungry and wounded. When we were released to have our dinner, I rushed back to the dorm to bath so that I don’t have to compete with others for the washroom later. After refreshing myself, I went to the canteen to have dinner with Eric. My group members left us plenty of food.

Million thanks for being so kind and considerate!

It was Thursday night, the last night there. I had the BEST dinner since arrival with Eric, later joined by Gabriel, Mizan and Christine. We stayed there until it was almost time to assemble at the auditorium for the last session with the facilitators.

On Friday, we were allowed to wake up and assemble late so that we can do last minute revision for the exam and to pack our stuff. The exam was ridiculously easy. I think all of us managed to pass. We had our lunch after that and waited for the buses to come take us back to KTT.

Back at KTT, I waited for a few hours for a van to arrive, to take me and some other desperate friends to KTM. Not long after that, we were already lying inside coaches, on our way to Singapore…