So, there I was, working on the certificates we were going to be putting up in our sponsor's stores after the break.

All of a sudden, our intrepid Secretary Suvs sent me this message on MSN:

selfless su says:
MOMU BLOG GOT FLAMED!!!

So I went over to the blog, and found 7 comments under Su Ann's beach picnic post. Unusual for our normally peaceful comment box. So I clicked on it, expecting...well, something less malicious than what I saw.

My first instinct was to FLAME BACK. Why not? If someone can make assumptions about the club, our integrity, our elections, our committee and our activities, why can't I make assumptions about him /her too?
Why can't I defend the club as aggressively as he/she attacked it?
Why can't I be a child too?

It took a while for those feelings to die down, and of course some online counselling from Suvs. But now, thinking about it, this doesn't need to be a bad thing. All famous blogs get flamed all the time. So this means that we're officially famous!

I suppose, for purposes of my dignity and as the club's President, I cannot take each and every jab he/she made at us and systematically tear it down on our blog. It is both beneath me and the club, and it is no longer necessary because, as I'm glad to see, several people have already done that job for us, which means more to the committee than I can say. But I will say this.

I understand that we cannot make everyone happy. I also understand that there might be things about the club that not everyone agrees with. Heck, even people within the committee don't always reach consensus (hence the long meetings *sigh*).

That's why we encourage feedback. If *someone* even bothered going to the Committee page (there I'll link it here even though its *right* there in the sidebar), he/she would see that every single one of us asked specifically for people to come up to us and give it to us straight (and we all wrote our profiles individually, at home, it's not like we had a template to follow).

Now, whether anyone takes the initiative to do that or not is beyond our control, but we have done what we can short of taking people by the neck and forcing feedback out of them.

Stooping as low as to criticize us for being on Blogger is, as one commentator has mentioned, purely ridiculous. Award winning journalists have blogs. Major newspapers have blogs. Why can't we?

Considering we've only been around for 3 months, and we don't even have an IT officer yet, I personally think having a nicely laid out blog is better than doing some noob website on Tripod or Geocities with scrolling marquees, Times New Roman font and millions of "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" signs plastered everywhere. In addition, rather than to confront you with an "official" website, we chose to use a blog to establish a more open and casual dialogue. This blog says that we are human. Students. Mostly broke. Struggling to cope with assignments and deadline. Individuals with different personalities, working together to shoulder the additional burden of getting a spanking new Malaysian club off its feet.

Anyone who thinks this is easy is, frankly, an idiot. We are not paid, neither are we professional event organizers or managers. We might smile and laugh when we see you at events, but in meetings we disagree, worry, have doubts and fears. We have Publicity, Liasion and Activities departments for a reason - there is a lot of work to be done in all these aspects. We go home and wonder if we can make this club into what we want it to be by the time our terms are over.

And you say we formed MoMU to party? That's more saddening then it is offensive.

Recently, we sent an email out asking for volunteers and people to come join the committee. I'm immeasurably glad to see the number of responses we got. Because really, what is the club without its members? Without you guys, all we have is a name. With you, we have a spirit. Your support tells us that all we have done has not been in vain.

If anyone has a problem with the club, please do not complain behind our backs or flame us without giving us the chance to hear you out and respond. Come do something about it. Talk to us. Join the committee. University is the last chance you'll have to really learn about yourself, your capabilities and your weaknesses. Do you want to spend at this time doing nothing but going to class, going home, and going out occasionally?

I apologize for the formal-ish tone of this post, and a hearty congratulations to those who have actually stayed awake to read it to the end. As you can tell, MoMU means a lot to me as it does to the rest of the committee.