KOTA KINABALU, Oct 1 — Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) student Rafida Saiddin has expressed surprise at the attention over her offbeat choice of a gunny sack as luggage to attend school, which even got her financial assistance for her first semester.
The 19-year-old accounting student’s plastic gunny sack had stood out among the sea of trolley bags at the school’s registration, catching the eye of Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek among others.
“We didn’t think anything of it. It was just a practical way to carry a lot of things together so I could bring more without losing them,” said the Sandakan-born Rafidah.
The former SMK St Cecilia student credited her father, a fruit and vegetable stall owner, for the idea of putting her things in the plastic rice sack that could hold more items given the university’s two bag policy.
She dismissed the notion that it was a financial decision more than a practical one.
“Half of my belongings were put in the sack, while the rest went in my luggage and backpack, and it made it easier to carry onto the bus from Sandakan” Rafida told reporters at UMS today.
The younger of two siblings, Rafida is the first to attend university where she chose to study accounting when her initial interest in science was not working out. A straight-A student, she first underwent matriculation in Labuan.
Her unconventional luggage choice earned her a personal video call and some extra funding from Fadhlina, who wrote about it on Facebook.
“Her story of bringing a gunny sack to carry her belongings to the hostel during registration at UMS touched the emotions of many. I managed to contact her and immediately took care of all her financial burdens and the needs required for her to continue her studies.
“Why is Rafida’s issue so close to my heart? Because on that same day, I was also sending off my eldest child to university,” said Fadhlina.
“Thank you, Rafida, for reminding us that the struggle for humanistic education is Malaysia's strength.”
