Bullying is a serious issue in today's Malaysian society. According to UNICEF Malaysia, 80% of children experience bullying in school. In the past, when we reported a bullying case in schools or anywhere, most of us will just shrugged it off and tell the victim "it will get over it". No, it will not get over it! It will leave a psychological impact on a person's life. How many of us will stand up to say "Hey, it's okay! I got you! If you need someone, you will always have me,"?
In late 2017, The Star Rage collaborated with SP Setia, RHB, and UNICEF Malaysia to come with a campaign that fight against school violence. With that, #StandTogether was born! The campaign is to spread kindness in Malaysian schools. Students and teachers in the country are encouraged to take part, on how they can create a kinder school environment. The top ten schools will be nominated with the best kindest projects, and they will be rewarded with Malaysian celebrities coming to their schools to know more about their projects. Two of the best schools will be rewarded with the title of "Malaysia's Kindest Schools" in the primary school and secondary school category respectively.
Running for the second consecutive year, the campaign has now urge the public to join in the campaign by giving a five-day challenge. After completing each challenge, you will receive a message that says you have completed the challenge and moving on till the next one on the following day. I took up the challenge throughout the first week of April, it felt so good after completing each challenge. The last challenge was quite tough- doing five random acts of kindness, but I managed to complete them all.
What's more? #StandTogether having its first Kindness Concert! How cool is that! The day of the concert has arrived, I'm super excited because this is my first concert of the year! After my daddy drops my mum and me off, we go to the counter to retrieve our VIP tickets which I had registered earlier after completing the last kindness challenge.
The meet and greet area is packed with Malaysian celebrities and influencers like JinnyBoy, Lisa Surihani, rising stars Ismail Izzani and Nik Qistina just to name a few. I'm not allowed to go in to the meet and greet area at first because it is only for the nominated schools for having the best kindest projects. My mummy brings me to a side so that I can have a glimpse of my favourite stars. One of the crews asks me: "Who do you want to take a photo with?" I say "JinnyBoy!" they let me through the red line. Jin regcornised me! I give him a big hug. I tell him that I'm a big fan of Mamak Sessions and hope to be on the show one day.
My goal has achieved when I meet the national ambassador for UNICEF Malaysia- Lisa Surihani! It's been my dream to meet a UNICEF ambassador. "I wanna be a UNICEF ambassador just like you, Kak Lisa," I say, Kak Lisa says "I'm so happy that you are so passionate to be a part of the UNICEF family. You know what, you are a UNICEF ambassador in your way," Well, maybe I am because I wanna be the ambassador for UNICEF Malaysia.
After having a chat with Kak Lisa, I walk up to Arwind Kumar. "I remember you! How are you? I haven't seen you for a long time!" he says. "I'm good! I thought you have forgotten me," I say, "No, how could I?" he says. As I'm going out of the meet and greet area, I bump into rising stars Ismail Izzani and Nik Qistina. Before heading to the concert, why not a cup of ice cream from Inside Scoop?
The doors are opened and the audience starts to fill up the hall. I also have a brief starstruck moment with Malaysia's celebrity chef- Chef Wan. The countdown of the concert begins, with the remaining 10 seconds, the audience countdown together. #StandTogether Kindness concert has begun! It starts with video footages of violence that is happening around the world. With #StandTogether campaign coming in, we can create a kinder Malaysian society. The first performance starts up with Ismail Izzani, singing his very single Sabar (patience in Malay) and a cover of Ed Sheeran's Perfect.
The other performances follow by Nik Qistina and the world's funniest man- Harith Iskander! The top 10 schools are invited to come to the stage to tell the audience about their kindness projects. There are several rewards are given out such as "The Kindest Student", "The Kindest Teacher" and "The Kindest Principal" and a surprise award of "The Kindest School Staff". We have performances from Rabbit Mac too, as well as The Venopian Solitude, they incorporate with a bit of folk music.
At the end of the event, the kindest schools in Malaysia title go to SK Taman Maluri and SMK Chung Hwa (CF) Miri in the primary school and secondary school respectively. The last performance of the night is Kyoto Protocol, and they are joined by Manbai to end the concert on a high note. But wait, there's more! Another meet and greet session! This time is with the singers and actors. I have a brief interview with the emcee before meeting the stars.
I have a brief chat with Qistina, Kyoto Protocol and the Sharifah sisters- Amani along side, Aryana. Amani asks me about the course I'm studying and which year I'm in university right now. "I'm in my final year, studying communication," I say. She also asks me about my ambitions, so far I'm not sure about just yet. I still have time to decide.
Spreading kindness through music is the best way to bring people together to fight violence. I think music is a powerful tool to spread positive messages. I think at one point in our school life, we will experience bullying and discrimination from our school mates.From my personal experienced I had been throughout my schooling life. In primary school, I was one of the English education students in class, most of my classmates teased me of not knowing my mother tongue which is Mandarin.
As being only student with special needs in class, the discrimination doesn't stop in school. I still face discrimination at tertiary education as well but on the bright side, I have met amazing friends who stand by me at all times. I'm enjoying my university life! I think Kindness Week should not just be limited in primary and secondary schools, it can be held at tertiary institutions as well.
Have courage and be kind. When there is kindness, there is goodness; when there is magic- Cinderella (2015). Let's stand together to fight violence, replacing them with kindness. Kindness always starts with a word. I'm hoping to be a Kindness ambassador in the next Stand Together campaign. Kindness starts with a word.
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