Lu Sheng’s Reflection

It is said that the most valuable lessons aren’t taught, they are experienced. Therefore,
I would like to express my appreciation towards the module lecturer, Ms. Fadhilah Raihan
Lokman for giving us the opportunity to experience and explore the indigenous cultures of
Malaysia personally. Throughout the module, I overcame difficulties and enjoyed the
satisfaction gained from achievements. I also went through a series of self-development and
learned from my past mistakes, which in turn shapes myself into a better person. At the end of
the day, I realized that the only journey is the one within and ‘Malaysian Indigenous Cultures’
has taken me on a journey of self-development, of self-fulfillment and of self-actualization.
As I ventured further into the module, I recognized the limitation of my knowledge
regarding the indigenous cultures in Malaysia and how biased my preconceptions of them are.
I used to think that indigenous people were a group of uncultivated people living in seclusion,
scavenging anything they can find from the forest floor. Contrary to my belief, they are actually
a group of dignified individuals living on the Earth that they have had forever; a group who
shows a virtuous connection with nature in their way of life, their land and their resources.
Through my research and findings, I came to respect and admire their innate love for nature
and their indisputable adherence to their own values and customs. Consequently, I became
aware of the vast difference in perspective between us as indigenous people believes that man
belongs to the world; while civilized people believe that the world belongs to man. From their
values, I have learned to stay true to my own ethnic customs and traditions, as they are the
embodiment of my own identity; an identity that goes all the way to my roots.
Over the course of four weeks, I came to acknowledge my shortcoming in presentation
skills in the beginning of the module, while striving to improve myself in every given chance.
I learned that progression takes time, it is a work of art that comes naturally and little by little,
I would eventually arrive at my goal. Without realizing it, I came to find myself brimming with
confidence after four weeks of presentation, blessed with a proficiency to convey eloquently
and articulate my thoughts. Additionally, I realize that the goal of a presentation is to impress,
rather than inform. I observed and learned that during a presentation, the best way to engage
and captivate the audience is to bring out values that they would appreciate. As a case in point,
I noticed that the audience tend to show more interest and engrossment when we added
elements of humor into our presentation. Ultimately, I was able to fulfill my self-actualizing
needs through the spur of confidence and conviction attained throughout this module.
On the other hand, I came to realize the importance of teamwork while planning for our
presentations. I learned that it takes a combined effort of a synchronized group; a group
working independently towards one goal in unison, to accomplish great achievements. Despite
some struggles and occasional fall outs in the beginning, we managed to form an intimate bond
among us; a bond which foresees each other’s hardship and overcomes it together. I believe
that the teamwork we nurtured is the most prominent feat we have accomplished throughout
the module, as it lays the foundation of building better relationships in the future. In the long
run, it would be an essential experience I would recall upon to initiate teamwork and resolve
impending conflicts.
Nearing the end of this module, I have learned to acknowledge and value the diversity
around me. Being part of this module reminds me of this unique country which I reside in; a
country that represents a potpourri of ethnicities and culture. As a Malaysian, I believe that we
can learn from these indigenous populations, as they have a really good and intuitive
understanding of why we are here; an understanding that transcends our current knowledge and
inspire goodwill among all of us.

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Joshua’s Reflection
Through this module, Malaysian Indigenous Culture, I have gotten to know more about
the vast indigenous ethnic group in Malaysia. Previously, I only knew about Kadasandusun
and Iban. This is because they are very well known as the largest indigenous ethnic group of
Sabah and Sarawak. Through the presentation of my peers, I realized Malaysia is a very unique
country with many different cultural heritages. This gave me a huge insight on other ethnic
groups for instance Bajau, Melanau and Bidayuh. I find it interesting that each of this ethnic
group actually have more sub-ethnic groups.
These four weeks of presentation has also taught me how to manage my time properly.
Time management is a very important skill for a student to have. It actually helps us to cope
with finishing all our deadlines on time. I had to schedule all my activities so that I can balance
out my leisure time and my studying time as well. Having a good timetable can help with
managing my time properly and ensuring there is no waste of time.
I have learnt a lot through presenting in front of my peers. When it comes to speaking
formally to a group of people, I find it hard and I tend to get nervous. One of the factors was
because I was not physically prepared for the presentation. Even if I was mentally prepared,
started with confidence, I always ended up being lost in the points that I had to explain. During
presentation, I stutter and I use the word ‘like’ too many times. This is something I need to
work on as presentation gives the impression of what kind of person you are. Hopefully with
some practice, I will get better in presentation in the future.
This course also helped me to spend more time on researching extensively. The source
online is very insufficient because there are a lot of things that we do not know about
indigenous ethnic group unless we meet them in person. Also, people rarely search about small
indigenous group, therefore is a little difficult to find more information. I am very grateful that
my team worked very well with each other to find more information about the indigenous
group. The workload has been evenly distributed among us.
Most importantly, I realized that as a Malaysian, we must treasure the different diversity
of ethnic groups in Malaysia. Unlike Malaysia, not all the country has so many indigenous
groups. This module made me more curious about indigenous people in general. The way they
live, what they eat is so is so different than those that live in cities. I realized that not many
people know about the traditions of these indigenous people and this subject is really helpful
for our general knowledge as it exposes us to the indigenous cultures and their way of life.
Learning about indigenous culture also made me learn how to cherish my culture and traditions.

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Jayavarman’s Reflection
This module has thought me many valuable lessons in my undertakings of becoming a
better person. Firstly, I have learnt to be more organized and scheduled when it comes to
finishing up my tasks. The online MOOC tasks kept me on track and made it easier for me to
see my progress in the module. I made sure I meet up with the deadlines of each activity. This
has made me more consistent in finishing my work and ensuring I get the best of every class.
Secondly, I have learnt a lot more about the rare and special ethnic groups all over
Malaysia. The presentations from other students has made me learn about more the cultures
and beliefs from all over Malaysia. This was very helpful for me as I get to know more about
the country I originated from. This will make me a more proud Malaysian when I go to other
countries to explore and if I do get questioned about where I’m from, I will have a lot to talk
about.
On the other hand, me being able to watch my fellow peers present infront has thought
me many skills about presenting. I have learnt to be more confident and speak more confident
infront of the crowd. Other than that, I managed to study how the style of the slides does make
a very bold impression in the audience attention. Since then, I made sure that each of my slides
could capture attention and attract their eyes.
Fourth, I learnt a lot about making new friends and meeting new people as the class
was combined from people from different courses. This made me see the opportunity of making
new friends and learning more about where they came from. Hence, I have made international
friends and also some friends who are part of the ethnic cultures being studied in the module.
This has opened me up to the different types of lifestyle that these people live. It has taught me
more about the diversity in this world.
Lastly, the most important lesson I learnt from this module is to appreciate the diversity
that’s around me. It has made me very grateful for being a part of this diverse country as I get
to experience and learn about so many more cultures. This wouldn’t be possible If I was in a
different country. I am now more grateful and proud of where I am from. It has grew the love
I have from this country. Apart from loving the country, I am now more aware of my own
culture after learning about all the other cultures, I get to see the difference between my culture
and the culture in the modules. This has made me dig deeper into my own culture due to
curiosity and resulted in me knowing more about the culture. I can confidently say now that I
am a more well rounded individual spiritually and mentally.

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Johnson’s Reflection
Malaysian Indigenous culture is a UCM module that I took during my degree, semester
four in Mechanical Engineering. The purpose of the module is to explain the cultural aspect of
indigenous community in Malaysia. It gave me a new experience to new cultures as well as
helping me in writing detailed research paper regarding the unknown cultures. As a Malaysian,
this module enabled me to compare other people’s culture to my culture.
This module also taught me several ways on how to become better at communication
and presenting skills. Being a good listener is one of the best ways to be a good communicator.
No one likes communicating with someone who does not take the time to listen to the other
person. If you're not a good listener, it's going to be hard to comprehend what you're being
asked to do. Good communication skills also requires clarity and concision. Good
communication means saying just enough - don't say too little or talk too much. I have learned
to try to convey your message in as few words as possible. Say what you want clearly and
directly, whether you're speaking to someone in person, on the phone, or via email. If you
ramble on, your listener will either tune you out or will be unsure of exactly what you want.
Think about what you want to say before you say it; this will help you to avoid talking
excessively and/or confusing your audience.
Towards the end of this module I had a final group assignment to help us in research
writing and presentations. The assignment requirement was to choose an indigenous group in
Malaysia and research on the background of the culture. This assignment gave me to chance to
learn about different traditions, beliefs, new music and many more. Learning difference
cultures stimulates the mind, and forces you to think in new ways. Learning about other cultures
is an interesting way to challenge your thought processes and expand the way you process
information. Make it a point to learn more about other cultures and you will find that your
propensity to keep learning helps you grow your mental capacities. Learning about other
cultures has also made me foster a better understanding. Many of the problems we have in this
world are due to misunderstandings. When you learn about another culture, and see why others
do the things they do, it’s easier to understand them. You can develop sympathy with others.
It’s harder to justify things like hatred and war when you understand where another person is
coming from.
The assignment involves a lot of writing. This certainly improved my writing skills.
Having good writing skills have gave me many benefits include critical thinking. Critical
thinking skills are crucial in helping students achieve more than a cursory understanding of any
topic and helps them form their own opinions. Reading requires a person to think and process
information in a way that watching television may not. The more you read, the deeper your
understanding becomes of what you are reading and its application. Developing writing skills
can help me strengthen my ability to make reasoned arguments on a variety of subjects, which
is useful in school and on the job.
In this project, I have the chance to work with my classmates. I always feel that working
in a group is harder than individual assignment. However, there was enough contribution to
enable us to finish the assignment within the required time. I’m the type of person that likes to
finish my task earlier and if a team member delays his/her task, I might get frustrated. This was
a problem for me and it has caused some arguments among team members. But this module
has help me in solving this issue and I am now better at working with others. The
communication skills that I have learned has prevented many misunderstandings or
unexpressed difficulties between team members. Giving and receiving feedback well is also
essential in any team-working situation. Being able to give clear and effective feedback to

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others is vital to keep the group process running effectively, and to plan. It also helps to ensure
that I do not get irritated and angry with the way that others are behaving. It follows that I also
need to be able to receive feedback gracefully, and then act on it calmly.
In conclusion, this module was great as I had the chance to gain knowledge about
different indigenous people and it helped me in understanding the module’s objectives as it
was done in creative way of presentations by my classmates from different groups.

Shankar’s Reflection
I have learned a lot of things through this subject. There are few skills I have gained.
One of it is communication skills. We got the chance to meet different people with different
kind of mentality. We also got to interact with them and communicate with them. Through this
we educate them as well. So there are benefits in both ways. Besides that , we also learn about
teamwork. We must have a bond within our team members. We must ready to accept each
other ideas when they voice out. Moreover , I learned how to manage my time. It was very hard
to gather everyone for a discussion for the presentation . This is because all of us are from
different classes. So, we created a watsapp group. We discussed everything regarding the
presentation here . It was very effective because it is very flexible.
Besides that, a lot of knowledge I have gained about indigenous culture. There are
various culture such as, bajau,melanau,Sandakan, and so on. My group was assigned to do
research on bajau culture. So every week we have to find information about bajau and present
it. So we have 4 presentation in total. It was quite interesting because I learned about their
culture really well.
As a conclusion, knowledge about cultures are very important because it will make you
a better person. My teammates were very awesome because we really had each others back.
My lecturer was awesome. She was very friendly. I really love this module.

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Leo Chan’s Reflection
First of all, Im grateful for taking this subject and doing this report because throughout
the journey, there’s a few skills I’ve learnt and improved such as writing, time management
and public speaking skills. Our MPU module teacher, which is Miss Fadhilah Raihan Lokman
helps us a lot by guiding us the correct path, so that we are able to complete this module with
ease and flying colours.
Next, as mentioned above, I’ve learnt a few skills throughout this journey and among
all, the most important one is public speaking skills. Public speaking is important in our lives
because no matter when, where and how old we are, we have to use it to communicate with
others, so that others receive our message clear and they feel more interested in it. Not only
that, voting yourself to be one of the presenters during presentation time will also boost one’s
confidence and their knowledge and understanding towards the subject or topic.
Moreover, this module encourages us to do more public speaking by having 4
presentations in a single module. For an engineering student like me, in our 4th semester, which
is now, we have to complete our project for our design module, doing a crowd funding
campaign for our business assignment and etc, hence time management is another skill which
we have to learn and improve. A good time management skill allows us to do many stuff which
is more efficient and makes ourselves more discipline. Unlike others who procrastinated a lot
which cause them to waste their precious and limited time, hence when it’s close to the
deadline, all of them will be panic and ended up in a negative results.
Besides that, doing this report actually do improves our writing and researching skills
because from the sources we found through the internet or articles, we have to make it short
and clear for our presentation so that others won’t feel boring and fell asleep while we’re
presenting. Later on, we have to paraphrase and elaborate the points we found to write a 10+
pages report. Since we have to know when and how to retrieve the main point for our
presentation slides and then elaborates them to write a full report which throughout the writing
journey, it will eventually improves our researching and writing skills.
After that, since this module is important to us because firstly, we get to know and
understand other ethnic groups which some we probably don’t even hears them before such as
Bajau and Melanau. Second, it’s counted in our CGPA and we have finals for it and lastly, we
get to learn many skills that is beneficial and useful to us. In an addition, we can prevent the
extinction of other ethnic groups by learning them because we can promotes and pass them
down through several generations.
However, there will be ups and downs throughout every learning journey and for me,
the most difficult things I’ve gone through is the topic “Bajau”. Previously, I’ve never heard
of them before, not even in my social media post, hence im totally clueless about them. Since
this is the most challenging problem I’ve met, I and my group mates decided to distribute the
work by doing research about them and teach each other so that we learns much faster and
easier. Most of the points we found are mostly from the internet which saves our time because
there are not much and it’s really hard to find books or journals regarding to the “Bajau”.
Last but not least, my personal goal is to be a successful engineer which has the ability
to manage my time really well and able to deliver my message clear and interesting when
meeting new people or presenting to others because back then, when the days im alone for most
of the time because of my shyness and stupidity which I failed most of my subject due to
misunderstanding of the question given. Later on, I’ve trial and error to get things right which
now I’ve friends from different races which im used to be racist before and now im getting a

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3.0 CGPA in my University life which I’m very grateful for the supports I’ve ranging from
family to friends.

Agilan’s Reflection
This module has thought me numerous significant lessons in my endeavors of
improving as a man. Right off the bat, I have learnt to be more composed and planned with
regards to completing my undertakings. The online MOOC errands kept me on track and made
it less demanding for me to see my improvement in the module. I ensured I get together with
the due dates of every action. This has made me more predictable in completing my work and
guaranteeing I outdo each class.

Also, I have learnt significantly more about the uncommon and exceptional ethnic
gatherings all finished Malaysia. The introductions from different understudies has influenced
me to find out about increasingly the way of life and convictions from all over Malaysia. This
was extremely useful for me as I become acquainted with additional about the nation I
originated from. This will make me a more pleased Malaysian when I go to different nations
to investigate and in the event that I do get addressed about where I'm from, I will have a
considerable measure to discuss.

Thirdly, me having the capacity to watch my kindred associates present in front has
pondered introducing. I have learnt to be more confident and talk more certain in front of a
group. I have also learned to make eye contact with the crowd and to not talk too fast. Other
than that, I figured out how to think about how the style of the slides makes an exceptionally
strong impression in the group of onlookers consideration. From that point forward, I ensured
that each of my slides could catch consideration and draw in their eyes.
I have also made a lot of new friends and was given the opportunity to meet more people
with different backgrounds and character as this module was combined with other course.
Ultimately, the most critical lesson I learnt from this module is to value the assorted
variety that is around me. It has made me exceptionally thankful for being a part of this diversed
country as I get the chance to involvement and find out about such huge numbers of more
societies. This wouldn't be conceivable If I was in an diffrent country. I am currently more
thankful and pleased with where I am from. It has developed the affection I have from this
nation. Aside from cherishing the nation, I am presently more mindful of my own way of life
and culture to finding out about the various societies, I get the chance to see the distinction
between my way of life and the way of life in the modules. This has influenced me to delve
further into my own particular culture because of interest and brought about me find out about
the way of life and the uniqueness in my very own culture. I can certainly say now that I am an
all the more balanced individual profoundly and rationally as i am very well versed of the
indigenous people in my country.