Deepavali Lunch

Last Saturday, we went to Trimurti Indian Cuisine at Queen St W to celebrate Deepavali. About 30 of us MASAT members went there to have their delicious lunch. And it's buffet, which was awesome, since everyone (especially us Malaysians) loves buffet.

TFM Info Session

A big thanks to Shannon Scott, a representative from Teach For Malaysia (TFM) who gave a very insightful info session on what TFM is about, its vision and how every single of us can take part in making changes in the state of education in Malaysia.

Far too many Malaysian children are deprived of access to educational opportunities because of where they are born.

Teach For Malaysia - Info Session

Teach For Malaysia (TFM) is now accepting applications to its 2015 Fellowship cohort! If you are wondering what TFM is, it's a non-profit organization that addresses the education inequity problem, happening in our beloved Malaysia. We always see the brighter side of the spectrum, but in reality there are thousands of young kids that can't afford or didn't have the resource to get a good education, which is the single factor that determine their future. Teach For Malaysia believes that this problem is one of the greatest and most urgent challenges in our country and the world today.

MyMAC vs MASAT: Match Report

MASAT players dressed in white.

Its been a week ago, but I can's still the sting. MyMAC invited us to yet another friendly soccer match with them in their campus. We couldn't resist but to agree. We picked the best among us; they picked theirs. Historically, we had no chance against them. Two head-to-head; two losses. Not good.

Welcoming BBQ and Mooncake Festival

We had a major blow to this event. Rain start pouring in on Friday night, and never stop till 6 PM on Saturday (September 21), the day which this event supposed to take place. We had to abandon the original plan of doing the event at the Toronto Island, and use the usual UTSU lawn. And since the rain never stops, it got postponed the next day.

Group photo taken before it was too dark. (location: Hart House entrance)

The gloomy weather changed Sunday into a beautiful day, with the sun shines all day; not even a single drop of rain. Apart from fall chill, it was a perfect weather for the BBQ.

Islamic Youth Talk

Another collaboration with Canada Malay Association Youth (CMAY). This time its for the Islamic Youth Talk that were held last Friday at the Galbraith Building, UofT.

The two speakers invited were:

• Ustaz Jamir Kodiang who just recently moved to Toronto with his family on July. He has a lot of experiences giving talks in Malaysia at schools and colleges.
• Aiman Azlan who is our very own UofT student, MASAT member and a well-known Youtube vlogger. Check out more of him here: http://www.aimanazlan.com/

After the prayer recitation and some introduction from CMAY representative, Ustaz Jamir started his talk, reminding the audiences (which is mostly our students) about the obligation of a youth in today's world. How the youth will shape the future. What are the things that a great youth should have.

Salam Aidilfitri 2013

Great turnout at the event. Event started a bit later than the scheduled 2:30 PM (apologize from us as organizer), but I do believe that everyone didn't regret coming to the event.

After the opening prayer recitation by Ustaz Jamir, representatives (in this case, their President) from MASAT, MyMAC and CMA took turn in delivering their speech to about 130 attendees. Then, thanks to Uncle Howard as the owner of Restoran Malaysia; everyone get to taste authentic Malaysian dishes. Among them were 'Kari Ayam', 'Sambal Udang Petai', 'Mee Goreng' and 'Keropok Ikan'. I think I speak on behalf of everyone that I wish I can have the same kind of food everyday here in Canada. But, nevertheless a big big thank you to Uncle Howard. You're the best!

Invitation for Eid-ul-Fitr Celebration

To kick off the year, MASAT will organize an Eid-ul-Fitr celebration on the first week of the school. Collaborating with Canada Malay Association (CMA), Restoran Malaysia, and Malaysian at McMaster (MyMAC), we promised you a very festive event with lots of traditional foods and performances.

Eid-ul-Fitr 2013

As you might already know, after a month of fasting, yesterday marked the first day for this year's Eid-ul-Fitr or 'Hari Raya Aidilfitri'. I want to take this moment to wish every Muslim student in MASAT and also everyone else Eid Mubarak. May you have a blessed and enjoyable Eid. On behalf of MASAT, please accept our apologize if we ever did anything wrong (i.e. insufficient food during events, not being punctual with time, not providing enough event for you guys, etc.) to you guys (Muslim and non-Muslim). We will try our best to make MASAT a great group to be in.

Upcoming Plans and Events

August

• Eid Celebration
• Islamic Lecture

September

• UTSU Club's Day

Details will be announced shortly. Stay tuned !

2013 Malaysian Students Graduation

MASAT would like to congratulate the class of 1T3 & 1T2 + PEY for ending their undergraduate careers at U of T !
All the best in your future endeavors !

Here are some extra pics from the day:

The Graduate Dinner at Momo's Middle Eastern Cuisine

MASAT 2013/2014 Committee

On 10:00 pm today, the new committee that will serve MASAT during 2013/2014 term. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) started with the ex-President, Wen Cheng Chong laying up the events that were held during the previous term, and then with a presentation on MASAT financial status by Siti Zahira. Next, a number of certificates and hampers were given to the winner of MASAT's sports league (Futsal, Basketball, Badminton).

Badminton mixed double champion, one of few winners tonight.

After all attendees had their slices and slices of pizza and some cans of drink, the election starts. This year, we used a more fair voting system, where everyone vote in a voting paper, then submit them into a box where two independent members (Anas and Syahmi) acts as the Election Commision or 'Suruhanjaya Pilihanraya (SPR)' will tally each vote.

After some time of tallying (it does takes time, thanks to Anas and Syahmi for doing this), we finally had a result. Here is the new MASAT Committee for 2013/2014:

MASAT 2013/2014 committee

The new MASAT President, Zakkeeyyah addressed all the members.

For full results of the voting, click the link here: http://bit.ly/171T2xV For the record, there are 20 spoil ballots in the voting. Spoil ballot happened when the voter only put a tick on one of the candidates' box instead of ranking the candidates. Also, if the voter did not put the full ranking (i.e. he/she only ranked 2 candidates when there are actually 3 candidates running for the position), it is also considered as spoil ballot.

Congratulations to all the new committee members and I on behalf of them thanks everyone who came tonight and give your support. We will try our best to serve MASAT and making it another memorable year. 

Masterchef Toronto 2013

MASAT’s Games Night presenting the inaugural cook-off, Masterchef Toronto 2013. Such a competitive battle among 4 chefs in Noodle-Oodle Competition and 11 pairs of talented decorator in Cupcakes War, of course everyone had a blast! Not to forgotten, two intense video games competitions were there as well, none other than FIFA and Street Fighter. After all, this was a good opportunity for MASAT members to have a quick escape from school work, chilling out with friends, playing games while enjoying the complementary pizza and drinks.

Results:

Cupcake War (out of 11 pairs)

1st: Dayana and Milan
2nd: Nelisa and Anhar
3rd: Zakkeyyah and Filzah
4th: Fatin and Dalila

Noodle-Oodle

Champion: Ashwin & the gang

Consolation: Farah Hani, Farah Zaini, Nik Arif

FIFA champion: Zahir

Street Fighter x Tekken: Chew

Teach for Malaysia Recruitment

It's time for Teach For Malaysia (TFM) recruitment! To those who doesn't know what TFM is; it is a non-profit organization that is addressing the education inequity problem that happens in Malaysia. Sadly, the descriptive pattern we see in Malaysia and around the world is : Children in low-income communities are many times more likely to have limited educational opportunities and attainment. It is an unfortunate reality that a child’s socio-economic background determines the quality of his or her education, and therefore life outcomes. Teach For Malaysia believes that this problem is one of the greatest and most urgent challenges in our country and the world today.

This is TFM are recruiting outstanding Malaysian graduates from all fields of study to teach full time in high-need schools in Malaysia.The Teach For Malaysia Fellowship is a two-year, full-time and fully-paid leadership development program. There are currently 2 former MASAT members, Tsuey Xin Ho and Nur Thuraya Sazali now serving as TFM Fellows in Penang and Perak.

I don’t buy the idea that they are incapable of doing well. I will push myself, and them, to prove naysayers wrong. Because these kids deserve so much more than what they’ve been dealt. Because they deserve opportunities. -Wan Farihah Ahmad Fahmy, TFM 2013 Fellow

If you believe that every single child in Malaysia have the rights on good education, and you get what it takes and willing to be the next game changer on improving Malaysian education, it is highly recommended to sign up and join TFM. To learn more about TFM and their vision, take a look at this e-brochure (Teach_For_Malaysia_e-brochure), their website (http://www.teachformalaysia.org/) and their Facebook page (Teach for Malaysia).

Note: Application deadline is March 18th 2013 (we're so sorry for posting this late). So be fast!!

Shout Out to MB13

It's been nearly a month, but I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the huge effort of the Malaysian Bazaar 2013 organizing team with their awesome volunteers for making the Malaysian Bazaar 2013 (MB13) a huge success. We had a great turnout that January 11 night, much more bigger than last year's. Only thirty minutes after William Doo Auditorium opened to the guests, crowd had filled in all parts of the hall, having a taste of Malaysian traditional food or playing the Malaysian traditional games.

Lots and lots of foods (all made fresh by volunteers), were sold. Among others were Herbal Egg, Roti Jala, Nasi Lemak, Pan Mee, Kunching Kolo Mee, Teh Tarik, and Soy Bean with Cincau. Simultaneously, volunteers taught eager crowds on how to play traditional games such as Congkak and Batu Seremban).

The fashion shows, traditional dances and song performances were great, with crowd cheering on the performer each time, basically appreciating the uniqueness of our multicultural value of Malaysians.

 All in all; awesome event, awesome team, awesome, awesome, awesome. Looking forward for MB14 next year.

Thank you organizers and volunteers!