From 5th to 9th April 2021, five prefects joined the Malaysia Future Leaders School organised by The Ministry of Youth and Sports along with the Ministry of Education. These are their reflections on the camp.
Ehlena Lau (F5 Phi)
MFLS camp will definitely be a memorable one. For that privilege alone, I am grateful. Daily selfies and clicking “submit assignment” was the most unique thing about this online camp. We were also challenged to reinvent ourselves, think without the box and be resourceful. Despite this, I would have appreciated better communication between the organisers and participants as well as live interactive sessions. I was disappointed that I did not have the opportunity to work with or meet any aspiring leaders from the other participating schools. Nevertheless, it was 5 days well spent. •
Bong Nyie Yuin (F5 Delta)
On the first day, we were taught camping skills like setting up a tent, cooking, tying different kinds of knots and other essential preparations on surviving in the wilderness. On the second day, we had a CSI session where we played detective for a day. Then, we talked about loving our body and touched on a few social issues like sexual harassment and drug addiction. We were also taught how to use a map and a compass.
The next day, we had a little history lesson on our government and our country. We also had a mini session on kayaking and other water activities.
On the last day, we had a session on wall climbing, flying fox and abseiling. Those are some pretty unrelated and random activities in a leadership program right?
But rather than listening to talks on how to be a leader and what it means to be a leader, these activities touch on the qualities a leader or anyone should have. In our CSI session, we were taught to be rational by deducting and making decisions based on the clues, evidence and testimonies by people rather than making a final conclusion based on pure instinct and feeling. How about those survival skills? Well, it taught us how to be independent and resourceful depending on our surroundings. The history lessons? How it’s always better to set up a boundary and draw a line on where some things are acceptable and not meant to be crossed while working on something. All and all, it was a great experience and definitely a pretty interesting program. •
Max Ng (F5 Phi)
The MFLS leadership programme was definitely an interesting and eye-opening experience for me as I have never been exposed to much of the topics they covered. It taught me new things such as camping skills, tying ropes, setting up tents and even starting fires. Besides that, it also showed me the necessary capabilities of a good leader, and helped me identify areas in which I was severely lacking in. Overall, this experience was really educational, and I got to have lots of fun with my friends. •
Bliss Lam (F5 Phi)
I feel grateful to have been given the chance to attend the MFLS camp this year. Although it was conducted online due to the pandemic, the organisers were wise in choosing Google Classroom as a medium to conduct this camp.
I was excited to start the camp and it did not let me down. The activities and tasks given were very fun and practical. We watched videos on camping techniques and some outdoor activities such as the flying fox. It was a bit disappointing though that these activities weren’t conducted physically. It would be very fun if we got to experience this camp with our friends and also make new friends with students from other schools. The activity I liked most was solving crimes. We were taught to think holistically and rationally when dealing with unknown situations that require a decision to be made.
As a whole, I find this camp very useful in strengthening our leadership skills, thinking skills, and self-reflection skills. We also learnt facts about the world’s governance history and also Malaysia’s government system since independence. I would definitely participate in this camp again if i had the chance and i would like to thank the organisers and our teacher in charge, Ms Chin in coordinating this camp. •
Irwin Fong (F5 Phi)
Being able to participate in the virtual Malaysia Future Leaders School Camp this year is one of the greatest opportunities for me to enhance my leadership skills as a youth. Through this camp, I identified my strengths and weaknesses and managed to have a deeper understanding of myself. Not only that, I was also exposed to a wide variety of skills which include camping, starting a fire, water activities, tying knots, abseiling, flying fox and many others. Despite the fact that I did not have the chance to physically try these skills out, it was still quite interesting and fascinating to learn how they should work in real life.
On top of that, learning how to solve a mystery or crime case was also included in this virtual camp. Last but not least, one of the modules taught was based on the history and background of Malaysia and it served as a reminder for me so that I will always remain faithful to my country as a citizen of Malaysia.
In a nutshell, this five-day online camp has broadened my knowledge and at the same time motivated me to continue to learn as a leader in my secondary school life. •
