By Luqman Johan

I’ll say it for what it is. A generally common yet unspoken irony amidst the reality of Malaysian student communities abroad is this: why are we paying so much money to travel halfway across the world just to surround ourselves with more Malaysians? Not to say that being around Malaysians abroad is bad; trust me when I say there’s nothing I love more than bonding over Malaysian food with my Malaysian friends and reminiscing about 24-hour mamak and cheap fuel prices, but surely the reason we have invested so much capital to study abroad is to put ourselves in an environment that we would have otherwise not been able to experience. At first glance, some might think that the dilemma I’ve presented here is a false dichotomy: just because we’re building Malaysian communities abroad does not necessarily mean that we’re not making the most of our time here. But in response, my question would be: why build Malaysian communities abroad in the first place, at all? And why join them? Many of us spent most of our lives studying and working hard to be where we are today (not home), so existentially, why are we actively building a community that aims to replicate the community that we’ve worked so hard to venture from?

To answer this question, I sat down to talk to Muhammad Shafi Ilham Bin Kamaruddin, the National Chairperson of the Malaysian Students’ Council of Australia (MASCA). In all honesty, after an hour and a half of chatting, I found that his responses were generally simple yet extremely insightful, revealing aspects of Malaysian Student Organisations (MSOs) that are lowkey cool and are generally unsaid in recruitment posters or the broader discourse. Here’s what Ilham had to say:

Question: Why did you join MSO?

Ilham: Before joining MASCA, I was the Vice President of the Malaysia Hall Residents’ Club (MHRC) Sydney - an MSO - where I got to organise community events, such as Raya, barbecue nights or just birthday parties, which I found really rewarding. To fulfil my hunger for creating more impact, I took the next step of joining MASCA, which I was already exposed to through prior collaborative events and friends in that ecosystem who put a lot of effort and care into initiatives that can positively impact others that they may not necessarily meet or never meet again.

Ilham’s answer proposes the first possible solution to our peculiar dilemma: it is that there is an altruistic element to joining an MSO, altruistic meaning unselfish or selfless. He joined MSOs for the benefit of the community, and he simply enjoys the sensation of altruistic actions. He didn't think about whether he’s abroad or not, or if the capital he’s invested is making a return or not.

Perhaps at this point we ought to talk about what returns mean in the context of international study. Because while many might define returns as social capital, meaning values like international networks, verbal confidence, and a sense of global-mindedness, we ought not to think that everyone has the same value system. Perhaps for Ilham and those who are part of MASCA, contributing meaningfully to the community is a much more valuable pursuit. Of course, pushing back on this, my next question would raise the allegations surrounding MSOs as Malaysian comfort zones.

Question: Do you think that MASCA serves as a comfort zone for Malaysian students abroad? And if so, don’t you think it hinders their access to international exposure?

Ilham: I think the reality these days is that people enter universities with a friend group already in mind, especially in Australia. Many students come from the same high school, both domestically and internationally. I think MASCA and MSOs could be guilty of being too much of a comfort zone. But at the same time, to be fair to our predecessors and us, there have been events where MSOs have collaborated with the Filipinos and Indonesian societies, which I think is a very good thing. MASCA and MSOs can become a launchpad for us to connect beyond the Malaysian diaspora. Therefore, I think it depends on how we operate our events, rather than MASCA inherently being a comfort zone. So I think if we only focus on internal events, then we are guilty of becoming an isolated comfort zone, but if we are more intentional with our events, then MASCA and MSOs can actually be a bridge that facilitates and enhances international exposure.

What Ilham is doing here is debunking a fundamental misconception surrounding Malaysian Student Organisations, which is that we are a community that’s built by Malaysians for Malaysians. The reality is that many of MSO’s events are often joined by not just Malaysians but also Indonesians, Singaporeans, Taiwanese, Indians, Japanese, and Sri Lankans. With this in mind, and recognising that the default state of student dynamics in university is naturally dependent on similarities in language, culture, and nationality, MASCA and MSOs can actually serve as a platform to counteract that initial gravity. Ilham is able to see that it is an intentional effort to direct MASCA and MSO’s into becoming a hub for international connections via the sharing of Malaysian culture.

I personally experienced this at a Game Night hosted by the Malaysians of Melbourne University (MOMU). After getting voted out of mafia, I scrolled through my phone to find a tau foo fah parlour for desserts after the game night. That was when a gentleman next to me noticed what I was doing and recommended that I go to a traditional Taiwanese dou hua shop in Carlton. It was, according to him, ”authentic Taiwan dessert”. To which I replied,” YOU’RE TAIWANESE!?”. He explained that he enjoys mixing and meeting with different people and learning about other cultures, which I thought was pretty awesome!

Alas, I think there are two things we can take away from this short article. Firstly, while it’s true that we have invested a lot to be where we are today, we shouldn't let those investments limit us from doing what we feel is meaningful; if you wish to contribute to the general student community, Malaysians and otherwise, then MSOs could be a platform for you to service the community and share your culture in the hope of making someone’s day a little bit better and perhaps a little bit richer. This I feel is the true essence of sociological altruism. Secondly, MSOs can be a comfort zone that you retreat back to for a piece of home, or timidly shy away to in search of your pack, recognising that this is the default reality of university life; but if done right, it can also be an openly accessible student platform for cultural exchange and cultural sharing which further facilitates international networking, akin to what Kishore Mahbubani refers to as makan diplomacy.