KOTA KINABALU, Oct 1 (Bernama) — The almost seven-hour journey from Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu was the reason for Rafida Zaiddin, 19, a student at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to use a sack as an alternative baggage to avoid dropped items, which has gone viral on social media recently.
The student majoring in Bachelor of Accounting said that the items she was carrying were quite a lot and made it difficult to move, so her father took a sack in the kitchen and put half of the items in it.
Additionally, the entry requirement that allocates only two bags only allowed when registering for residential college is also the reason why she used sacks to carry buckets, pillows and blankets.
“At first I wanted to bring six bags, but only two bags were allowed so I took the initiative to put half of my stuff in the sack to save space,” she said here today.
Rafida who is one of the 4,450 new students at UMS this session was met by reporters at the New Student Pledge and Pledge Ceremony in conjunction with the 30th Session Friendly Adaptation Week 2024/2025 at the Chancellor’s Hall, UMS which was officiated by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor today.
The youngest of two siblings said she did not expect the pictures taken by the seniors during the registration process, would go viral.
However, she still felt moved and grateful for the concern shown and wanted to use this as a motivation in continuing her studies to help her parents who work as fruit traders and housewive in Kampung Sim-Sim, Sandakan.
Rafida is an excellent 8A student in the Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM) and a former student of Labuan Matriculation College. She feels very grateful to be able to continue her studies in the field of accounting which is her main interest.
“I aspire to become an accountant and hope that I can repay the sacrifices and services my parents had rendered to send me to study until now,” she said.
Commenting further on the video call she received from Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek recently she was also given RM3,000 in spending money and received a call from another party about her Sabah Government scholarship process which will be accelerated in the near future.
