Two days ago, I went for the oh-so-prestigious JPA interview. (Haha I purposely post 2 days later because I want to hear everyone's experiences 1st before posting my own).
I woke up fresh and energetic, mind, body and soul all ready for the interview. I anticipated some questions regarding current affairs. I looked at my wardrobe and tried my best to find something formal. Man, my clothes are mostly T-shirts and pants. In the end, I found a dress which can be buttoned(i['m not sure whether it's a dress or a skirt...too bad no picture of it). But it was too short so I had to wear pants inside and I looked weird...
I arrived at the place at 7.45am and went into the waiting room at 8.15am. Yay! It's not April Fool after all!!! I'm really called for an interview!!! Me, Anne-Marie and Amalina talked for 1 hour and a half while waiting or our turn. At first, I was expecting a one-on-one interview, followed by group but when I saw the first group walking into the panel room, I was relieved. Now I feel more like waiting for my turn in a clinic rather than waiting for my turn to be interviewed.
One thing to worry. BM. When the 1st group walked out from the 1st panel (fyi, I'm in 1st panel), I asked them about the languages used and they replied, "We all speak BM". I was like, shit! Although I had spoken BM in NS for 3 months, but my BM did not improve the slightest bit. I was rather worried and began flustering.
Then, finally, it's my group's turn to enter the waiting room. I get to know a Kolej Abdillah girl who applied medicine and she's a total contrast to me. She badly wished the whole interview was in BM while I was the total opposite.
It's 9.45am and the time has come. The moment of judgement. There were four of us in the panel: Song Ee Rong(law), one Highian(quantity surveying), Fatimah(medicine) and yours truly. Ee Rong was the first to intro and he talked about gaming! The panel seemed interested with his stories about his games and lol. Then there goes this Highian who started with BM and went on ranting until the panel stopped him and asked him to converse in English instead. Then Fatimah spoke in English and in the end, yours truly. I kept my intro short and simple, focusing on how important is education to me. However, after the intro, I remembered one thing.
Shoot! I forgot to tell him which course I choose and how can I contribute to my country after gaining the knowledge overseas!!! I'm finished!!!Then, the panel judges gave us a topic entitled, "Rising Oil Prices Is A Threat To Malaysian Economy". Of course, since he mentioned it in English, of course I jolted down the notes in Englishlah.
Ee Rong started his discussion first in English, then the Highian, who thought "a threat" as "attract" and somehow screwed up because he contradicted his points, Fatimah, who did okay. They all spoke English.
After that, the panel judges looked at me and said, "Peningkatan harga minyak merupakan satu ancaman kepada ekonomi Malaysia. Adakah anda bersetuju dengan petikan ini?"
Me, still half-blur, asked the judge, "Excuse me, can I answer that in English?" (Damn, what a stupid question!).
Then he said, "Tidak boleh. Kerana bahasa Inggeris awak sudah sangat bagus. Jadi awak mesti jawab dalam bahasa Melayu."
Shit.
I looked at the notes I had brainstormed within these three minutes. They were all in English. Fluent English.
Fuck!
Fine. If BM's what you want, then I'll answer in BM. However, my BM sucks and I constantly paused to find the appropriate words in BM. So, it's not only bahasa baku, but cacated bahasa baku. Then, he argued with me and of course, I retaliated in BM(damn it's had to retaliate in BM) and everyone somehow followed me;p
Good luck to all JPA scholars but of course, hopefully I obtain the scholarship(although I know the chance is very little).
Really, I'm fooled by the panel. On April Fool. Me alone some more!!!
Sigh.
