I still remember as if it was yesterday when I reported to KMB. The day was Thursday, 11th of July 2000. The strength of the intake was 130, from which 14 of them were future engineers, outnumbered significantly by the pre-medical students. At that time, we only had 24 senior students (10 boys and 14 girls). I was the only OP in my batch but that didn’t mean I was alone. Actually, from the 54 new male students, 11 of them were from KMNS, including myself. Even my roommate in KMNS joined me again in KMB, this time occupying the room next to mine.
It didn’t take long for me to make new friends, especially among the boys. We lived together in the A block, exclusively for IB students (there were also matriculation students in KMB) both seniors and juniors. Our batch were divided into 6 classes: Medic 2, Medic 3, Medic 4, Medic 5, Medic 6 and Engineering 2. I was randomly selected to enter Medic 6, a class with 23 students, consisted of 8 boys and 15 girls. What amazed me most was the quality of my classmates. Most of them were the top students of their ex-schools e.g. Tun Fatimah School, Taiping MJSC, STAR Ipoh, Muar Science School, ACS Ipoh and Methodist Boys School KL just to name a few. With such quality students, it really took me by surprise when they unanimously voted me as class rep, a post which I held until the end of my 2-year stay in KMB.
The IB Diploma program is definitely different than A-Levels in many aspects. The subjects, its scoring system, CAS activities, Extended Essays (EE), Theory of Knowledge (TOK) assignments, these are all just a part of the program. To know more about IB, it’s better to visit the official website of the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO). In short, I took 6 subjects: Malay A1, English B, Business and Management, Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry. For each subjects, the grades ranging from 1 up to 7, with 7 considered as excellent. This implies that the maximum cumulative grades that can be obtained from these subjects is 7 x 6 subjects = 42 points. However, by completing the EE and TOK assignments, students can be awarded up to 3 bonus points, giving the maximum 45 points that any IB Diploma student can achieve.
Life in KMB was much more stricter than KMNS, but nowhere near the strictness level of the military life in RMC. Similar to most boarding schools, meals were provided in KMB free of charge, which explained the lesser amount of monthly allowances given to us by our respective sponsors, JPA and MARA. Outings and overnight leaves were only allowed during weekends. There were also a dress code for classes, for both male and female students, and it’s only in this area that KMB was more lenient than KMNS. We need to put on our neckties everyday in KMNS, while it’s optional to wear it in KMB. But like most OPs, I still put on the RMC tie every Wednesday.
The facilities in KMB were also much better than the ones in KMNS in terms of maintenance, simply because that KMB was a more established college being opened in the early 90s. There were enough lecturers for each subjects and most of them are very experienced. One thing for sure was that I loved my KMB lecturers more than my teachers from any other schools that I have been into. They were superb not solely in their teachings, but also in the manner they treated the students. As most of them were females, they always provide the students with motherly advice and care, although they treat us as adults. The homeroom (mentor-mentee) program was excellent; it was something that I have never experienced before.
In KMB, I was elected to become an executive committee in the Students’ Council. I was also chosen as Head of the A block besides becoming President of the Guidance and Counselling Club (G & C). It was in KMB that I started to become seriously involved in rugby. We formed a club in which I became the secretary. At the same time, I played at the backline for the college rugby team, the Roughnecks. We entered a few tournaments and even managed to organise our own tournament, the KMB Invitational Sevens.
I also played football a few times for KMB, competing in friendly matches against teams from other colleges and schools. I started to get involved in other games which I seldom played before, such as volleyball, sepak takraw and hockey. To stay fit, I usually ran the jogging track twice every week, which was also a hit to most of the students choosing to release the tensions accumulating in their heads.
One of the memorable events that took place in KMB was the Islamic Week, somewhere in August 2001. I was elected as Chairman of the organizing committee, and it was indeed a new but very useful experience for me. There were many programs being arranged for the whole week such as a forum, a visit to the Muslim cemetery, and various competitions i.e. Azan, Tilawatul Quran, Islamic Quiz, and an-Nasyeed. On top of it all, we invited one of the most popular nasyeed group in Malaysia, In-Team, to perform at the College's Hall.
It was also in KMB where I joined a group of students called the G12 for a study visit to Melbourne, Australia. We stayed there for one week, from the 19th to the 27th of May 2001, at the Clayton Monash Motor Inn. An unforgettable experience it was, we visited 2 IB schools (Lauriston Girls' School and King Khalid Islamic College of Victoria) and 2 universities (Monash University, Clayton and University of Melbourne). We also spent 2 days sightseeing and shopping in Melbourne. The trip did provide me with the experience on how to cope with the environment in a foreign country, as well as giving me more insights on the life of a Malaysian medical student overseas.
As a whole, I could say that my memories in KMB are just as sweet as the ones I had during my days in the RMC. In Sungai Besi, the boys were growing up together, being transformed from innocent children into young men with military discipline. In KMB, it was a 2-year stay together with friends who have a similar goal in their minds, to become successful doctors (and engineers) in the future. KMB was the place where I started to feel, think and act as a full-grown person. It also gave me the chance to display all the traits that I have acquired from my stay in RMC.
I left KMB with the whole batch on the 23rd of May 2002, the
day after we completed our IB exams. It was a sad moment for me, to part again
with my friends and comrades after living together for 2 years. The experiences
that I’ve had here are just as priceless as the memories I gathered in Sungai
Besi. For all my friends and teachers, it was certainly a pleasure to get to
know you guys. Keep in touch, ok!