In conjunction with the pandemic of Covid-19, Universiti Tenaga Nasional did not let that interfere with their very own Merdeka celebration titled ‘Kita Merdeka’. Organised by a collaboration between two notable clubs, MPP UNITEN and VOLTEN UNITEN, the event was held through two platforms which were Microsoft Teams and Discord.
On 31st August 2020 around 2pm until 5.30pm, various activities were conducted without any difficulties. There were a total of 30 participants which were broken down to 10 teams with 3 members in each. 6 challenges were presented to them in the course of 3 hours and 30 minutes.
For the ice breaker of this event, players were instructed to create a virtual background for their respective teams. Each of them had to follow the theme for Malaysia’s 2020 slogan which was ‘Malaysia Prihatin’.
After their introductions, competitors had to rack their brains in three rounds of cryptographic puzzles which were surprisingly quite difficult to decipher. For example, a substitution cipher was provided to change numbers to letters which revealed names and cuisines corresponding to our beloved country. Interestingly, the enigmatologists had adopted the very popular ‘Gibberish’ Instagram filter to create their own Malaysian edition in the first round! Other than that, sign language was also included for the last round.
Next, players had only 20 minutes to solve 40 questions in the unscramble words stage. Surprisingly, answers ranged from Malaysians must eat breakfast to a history lesson from when Independence was still being discussed.
During the quiz stage, the hosts used quizizz.com to present the most favourite elements of Malaysia which covered topics from foods, tv shows, movies and festivals. The competitors had to submit their respective responses through a Google Form given.
In the modern era of technology, one of the most well-known social media served as a challenger for the contestants which was none other than TikTok. Each team’s video was named ‘Malaysian Teams’ to showcase their traditional clothes.
Besides that, Kahoot was also present to take up the role of the mind blogger as competitors had to swiftly answer multiple questions. Participants were tested from Malaysian history to Malaysian’s daily cultural routine and finally, general knowledge every citizen should know.
Towards the ending of a successful Merdeka day held online, the majority portion of the cash pool of RM300 awaited its winners. Hence, the champion of all 6 activities was awarded to Riot Pigeons, first runner up went to Pak Belalang, and the third place was taken by PRIMARIUS. Nevertheless, each team logged off with some money and delightful memories of a once in a lifetime Merdeka celebration.
Written by: Nur Adriana binti Mohd Nizam (Bachelor in Cybersecurity, First Year)