PHILOSOPHY : WHO AM I?

WHO AM I?

In my opinion, I define myself to be a human. According to the definition given by Google, the word ‘human’ means: “a human being, especially a person as distinguished from an animal or (in science fiction) an alien.”

Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species. The scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favored competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution.

As a Muslim who believes in Allah s.w.t., it is mentioned in the Qur’an in Surah Al-Mu’minuun, the 23rd Surah, in Verses 12 – 14:

“Verily We created man from a product of wet earth; then placed him as a drop (of seed) in a safe lodging; then We fashioned the drop into a clot, then We fashioned the clot into a little lump, then We fashioned the little lump into bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, and then produced it another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators!”

I was born a Muslim Malay, and I stand by the belief that we were created by the Almighty Allah s.w.t. as one of the most honored species. I shall submit my will to the Almighty Allah s.w.t.

Now, I will speak about myself. Who am I? I am a son of both of my parents, my father being Johorean and a mix of Bugis, Java, and Malay, and my mother being from North Peninsular, and a mix of Minang, Siam and Malay. It means that my DNA is a mixture of a variety of sub-Malays, and therefore, I am classified as Malay under the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.

Article 160 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia defines “Malay” as ‘a person, who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, and conforms to Malay custom’.

After studying in an international school, my thoughts on who I am became confined to ‘a person, who likes music and can speak fluent English’ alone. These two fields of study helped shape me into the person I am now, and formed my perception as stated above. A likely thing is that I inherited both my English and musical talent from my father. As a Johorean, he loved and still loves to listen to ghazal and zapin. That is also a reason I like ghazal currently.

And then, there comes my talent in mathematics, which mostly came from my mother’s and uncle’s sides. When my mother was pregnant, she was pursuing her Master’s in Science and she received straight As in Mathematics. The same goes to my uncle, who received professorship in Economic Mathematics at the age of 41.

Then, I began to fully explore this untapped potential at the age of 10, when I moved to Stella Maris. One of the reasons I was able to explore this talent was of two very talented teachers who tutored me in Mathematics; Mr Teh, and Mr Francis. They helped me to explore this potential, and helped increase my level of knowledge in Mathematics to where it is today.

Later on, when I moved to PERMATApintar in 2014, I was tutored by a special Mathematics teacher, Ms. Su, who taught me the fundamentals of SPM Mathematics and gave me the ability to sit for Level 1 and Level 2 papers in Mathematics, which made me really happy and excited.

Other than that, there is also my somehow extraordinary talent in writing, which came around when I began writing back in 2014, in my first year at PERMATApintar. Before this, I was exposed to the arts and crafts of literature, from learning poems in Primary 1 at the age of 5, and blogging via MySpace when I was 3 ½, and moving to Blogger from the age of 5.

Back in international school, there were no limits in exploration and students were actively involved in arts, filled to the brim with creativity. Just a short note, I have written 10 short and unfinished fanfictions, and they are on a website called FanFiction under the pen name of ElementalTransvoid.

When I entered Kolej PERMATApintar, at the age of 12, it began to affect my inner perspective, because I had to adjust to the new system, where almost everybody was speaking Malay as their first language. At first, I sounded really weird when it came to my Malay, but overtime, it has become better and better. There were many subjects and the concept of so-called ‘holistic-ness’ was emphasized on.

At the same time too, I expected that it would be possible to increase my level of talent in Mathematics, English, and Music, with outside help, but somehow, I was brought down with long class hours, regulated prep classes and too many subjects. In PERMATA though, I had been given lots of opportunities to enter competitions that I would not normally have entered before, and it gave me chances to perform in the traditional performing arts, which previously, I was only exposed through the piano, choir, and orchestra.

So, I ask myself again, who am I? In reality, I may be able to perceive of myself, but I am unable to fully grasp the concept of knowing myself. Maybe, in due time, after lots of experiences, guidance, exposure, and help, I may be able to finally know, who I am.