Putting all this down in words is so hard. and just now i saw Arinah walk the corridors of AIKOL with the same haunted expression as i myself must have worn at my lowest. i think the story should be written down. wipe my hands clean off and hopefully leave this burning hurt behind.
Going in as a law student of IIUM, you would be stupid not to know what the hell mooting was. Even in matrix they had workshops for it. During my batch of 2006 the workshop was conducted by Miss Siti Aliza Alias and Miss Nani respectively in two separate halls. This was to prepare us for the course Basic Legal Methods where a moot will be conducted as part of the curricular.
So the interest began there and people were ready to take it up in Gombak. But the hype of first year made me lose focus of what i wanted. So instead I joined debate naturally. And by naturally I mean debate was not new territory. Everyone knows what debate was since SCHOOL. And they were very accessible. They held tryouts weekly. Practice. And new people were welcomed to join. So "naturally" debate was my outlet. But not for long. I joined one competition and knew it was not for me. Having to have such general knowledge at your fingertips and having so little preparation left me with a feeling that it was way too messy for me to handle. Then life as a student took control and I enjoyed myself. Immensely.
At the end of my first year, Dr Aiman Nariman told me and a few friends to try out for moots. Unfortunately the tryouts was held yearly at the end of every first semester. So I waited.
In my second year we had Compulsory Moots. (yes AIKOL loves mooting) and our lecturer was Miss Siti Aliza Alias. At the end of the class she asked a few students (including yours truly) to join the moot workshop as briefing before the next tryouts. Again at this point, there was no advertisement. Mooting is SUCH an exclusive society that it was almost a secret one. But that I would soon learn is a great trait.
During the workshop Prof Naqib gave a brief lecture on Public International Law. Then the issue that we had to prepare for tryouts was given out. With zero knowledge and at a confused state of mind I prepared the issue best I could. My bench on the tryout was Raja Bad, Madam Suzana and Kak Fitah. Yes. KAK FITAH. Was marvelous.. I plunge it. And she attacked (as she should). i crumbled but held my grounds. The ONE clear thing from that day was a question that i was successfully able to answer. And by successful I meant I knew the answer and I directed her accordingly to my authority. The rest was nothing short of a train-wreck.
That day I spent crying...
So imagine my surprise and relief that I survived the tryouts and was one of the lucky four handpicked by Kak FITAH HERSELF! to be in Media Law 2009.
MEDIA LAW 2009 was overwhelming. I am unable to put in words my whole experience. The sleepless agonizing nights. The intensive training and the one who shaped us all newbies was Kak Fitah. She was there every single night despite still chambering and had to juggle grueling work while at the same time training us just by the sheer love of mooting itself.
The thought that the university was prepared to send us to London makes me appreciate the magnanimity of it all. Besides going to Mecca when I was a little girl (in which i have no recollection whatsoever), I have not traveled outside of Malaysia. And suddenly I was representing the university in London!
Kak Fitah was hard on us and we pushed hard. The whole experience was surreal. At all points I question my decision for joining because moot is life-changing. It absorbs everything and break your very essence. Needless to say I was very traumatised but confusingly excited at the same time. I LOVED mooting as much as i despised it. I could almost imagine my 2 side arguing as different person while i warily stand on the sideline.
But the competition itself.. damn... I was in my element. The people we met, the rounds we went through, the questions, the judges. Adrenaline pumping, my head was pounding. I never knew orals could be so fun.
My regret was perhaps not being all i could be. i wish i was older, more experienced. I wish that maybe by winning I could convince myself that I am good enough. Its childish. But moot and debate traced back to the desire to feel good. I want to bring the trophy home and shove it in front of my school teacher's face and show her that I was good enough for the school. I have always been good enough. I am not some faceless script-writer who watches her friend speak her words for her. Yes. School has ended but i was still scarred with rejection..
But moot (or maybe time?) changed that. After media ended, moot was more than a cure for that memory. It was a life. So i managed to move past that.. Moot was bigger than petty revenge.
BUT then 2nd sem results came out..... hahahahahaha. Imagine. Less than 3 weeks after the competition was final exam! do the math.. :p
So with not so heavy heart (because i still remember the desperation i felt during training and though it was worth it in the end, the smell of moot room just reminded me of the bad times, the fights, the work, the arguments, the long long hours...)i quit mooting...
Life took control and though I always had the itch. I didn't give in. Until IHL....
I worked so hard. I learned from ALL my mistakes in media. I was more matured in my thinking and my work. I did not waste time. I did not procrastinate. Was it as depressing? surprisingly no. Without a trainer or a coach, yes it was difficult because we needed that person who can point out what we did wrong, what we are doing wrong. But i think in all honesty we manage pretty good.
During the competition itself, first round, i sucked! we won but nerves got the best of me. it was full 5 minutes before i warmed up and i was the first speaker! sigh~
But i thought that in the end we were better than in practice. I was feeling ok.
The second round though... damn! haha.. i really felt good about myself. I was confident..
My opponents for first round was USIM who have grown so much in terms of moot. and UUM just sucked. i have the video to prove this claim.
SO imagine my surprise when UUM went into the semis and went out to win the whole competition in the most undeserved manner....
and we lost.. in preliminaries.......
and my heart just broke into pieces.
So i say goodbye to moot now and forever. i wish to never revisit the painful memory of losing. because though we could have been better, (given time we would be) we were the best in the competition. I am profoundly proud of my juniors. And thoroughly sorry that I could not lead them to win it all..
MOOT [the end]
p/s: never join moot unless you have a tayan... because at the end of the day, someone needs to glue you back to pieces. To hold you while you cry.
who knows just how much it hurts because she loves you so much she understands.