Do you know that it IS THE WORST feeling ever when people asked you that?
Do you know I DREADED the decision made by my parents to send me study in Indonesia? In MEDICINE
I hated it at first. I dreaded it. I felt worst.
Comparing to my friends that are doing their MBBS in Malaysia or UK, in those prestigious, established, well-known universities? Bapak ah aku down gila.
Nobody knows UNPAD when you first mentioned it. Paling, they heard of it because of Fatin Liyana, which is not a full time FK UNPAD student, but twinning program UKM-UNPAD.
Okay sedih! Down! Semuanya!
Why?
People cakap,
'Apa kelas kau belajar kt Indonesia?'
'Do they even know what medicine is?'
'The worst medical students are from Indonesia.'
'Study kat Indon^ ni budak-budak tak layak ambik medik pun sebenarnya.'
'Untung lah belajar medik kat Indon. Tak pandai pun tak pe. Janji banyak duit.'
Those were the rumors I heard. Even after I stepped into the faculty, those 'stories' kept on circulating. When I got back to Malaysia, same gossips I heard.
I understand. Takde standard pun kan belajar kat Indonesia ni? Budak tak pandai je layak. Yang pandai, stay belajar Medik kat Malaysia. Or flew to better, well-known, established countries macam UK, US, India, Aussie dan lain-lain kan? Even those yang belajar kat Russia, are better than Indonesians' graduates kan?
I'd developed that kind of feeling yang takut nak jawab any medical quizzes on social medias especially I saw the answers from other medical students. Jawapan gila-gila, that I'd to Google half of them*.
Hebat memang hebat.
Okay paham. Kami tak pandai macam korang. Kami punya teori banyak ke laut. Kami memang paling rendah diri among other medical graduates. Kami tak sehebat kalian yang dari universiti negara hebat-hebat. We are just graduates/medical students from a third-world country.
Tak. Hebat. Mana.Pun.
But you know what...
I think I have learnt a lot; both in medicine and real-life. How to deal stuffs ethically. How to deal with bureaucracy.
We learnt that life is not always easy for everyone.
We learnt that there are a lot more unfortunate people that needed medical attention. '
We learnt there are people that are so poor that they couldn't buy the full medical prescription.
We learnt that even the smallest help could bring out the biggest smile.
We learnt to be humble.
We learnt to be a human being.
Memang teori kami tak berapa kuat. Tak macam kalian. But we got something better. We learnt from the people, from the patients. We learnt doing the smallest tasks but giving you the biggest result. A smallest act of kindness, brings out the happiness from the ill patients.
Seventh semester and counting.
Thank you Allah for this oppurtunity. Thank you for sending me here, in this 3rd world country. Thank you for putting me in Bandung. Thank you for surrounding me with such great people, patients, nurses, doctors,lab technicians, makcik nasi kuning, pakcik bubur ayam, abang Gojek semuanya.
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Footnote:
^ Aku paling anti orang cakap Indon. Dude, c'mon! It's either Indonesia or Indo. They don't like to be called an Indon. We ought to know that. We have been neighbours!
*Btw, tadi cuba beranikan diri jawab one question. Everyone else said heart-/renal- related diseases and only a handful yang jawab pregnancy-related (well I am one of them! XD) and guess what,I got the right answer! Thank you! At least this restore some of my confidence in learning medicine in Indonesia.
As long as you're willing to learn, belajar kat mana-mana pun boleh jadi.
Yang penting itu bukan tempat belajar, yang penting itu niat nak belajar, dengan attitude yang betul. Belajarlah kat Harvard ke John Hopkins ke UKM ke UM ke mana ke... attitude takde, berlagak gila, ke laut lah nak jadi seorang doktor yang berjaya.
As long as you are willing.
