Unite 2006., Sigh...

Students paid RM 89 to attend Unite. And much more for their clothes, accessories and what not. That’s probably the only time you’ll catch a student paying this much, for a university event, besides graduation of course. Now what does that tell you? It’s a night that we want to enjoy, and have fun.

Sadly, this was never the way the organizers interpreted it. Our prom has sadly been turned into a peace-promoting event. Now I’m not against peace, but I doubt I’d want to be too passionate about it on a night we want to have fun.

RM 89 x 176 tables, as shown in the floor plan. Over RM 156,000 to be allocated as please, which could’ve been nicely divided to satisfy both students and VIPs (if wanted to). Sadly however, Unite has been turned into a VVIP and VIPs pleasing event, where the students comes last, even though we’re the ones paying for it.

The hall was grand. But the event was not. It was a record breaking night in terms of attendance, but not in terms of event flow. Unite has left many students disappointed, crying out in foul at the fact that since this was the ONLY night we could go to, it couldn’t have went down any worse.

Where VVIP and VIPs are concerned, there’s bound to be delay. You can’t get Tun Dr Mahathir and Tun Siti Hasmah, and a group of other dignitaries here right on time. There’s bound to be delays here and there. However, somehow, the organizers failed to see this. They did not successfully compensate for this, and as a result, fun times for students were cut short.

The opening ceremony was unimpressive, and the poor VVIPs were left standing at the stage, with Tun Dr Mahathir looking around aimlessly to see where the grand finale would be. I bet he was half expecting the hands to move or something. Perhaps someone should be up there to point the VVIPs in the right direction to look.

The guest performers might impress the VIPs, but surely not us. I don’t think a violin performer, and an ex-AF winner is what we’re looking for. Not to mention magicians who treated us like 5 year olds. Apparently, some of us think even the Tun was not impressed.

After failing to compensate for the delay due to VVIPs and VIPs, the night continued to drag on. Students have nothing really to do, but to take pictures of course. They want to commemorate their several hundred dollars clothes, and of course most importantly their friends who might be graduating.

The food was good, but service was not. The ‘student’ syndrome resurfaced, and waiters failed to treat us like the paying customers we are. Instead, in their eyes we were just students. When serving the food, they were totally unorganized. Empty seats were left without food, only to the dismay of the occupant when they came back. Perhaps they should have had more waiters, when they already know beforehand there were 1600 people to serve.

The only saving grace was the performance by MMU students, which was actually sufficient for that night. We do not need the so called popular artists like Vince to convince us to come to the prom, and to entertain us. I bet half of the hall did not know who Vince was either. Our own R&B group, Sierra, our own Michael Buble, the dancers from Expressi, Zippy and the South Africans were good enough.

When the VVIPs and VIPs finally left, an hour behind schedule, the fun was supposed to begin. Instead, we had another round of draggy performances, which includes a fashion show. Now I know they’re the sponsors, but draggy stuffs like that could certainly be pushed forward when the VIPs were around, and we’re still well mannered, not when it’s late into the night and all of us are wondering if we’re ever going to get to enjoy our night.

The emcee, Zik was probably the only one who knew what we wanted. He did his best to rush the unofficial part of the event forward, so that we do what we actually wanted, have the dance floor opened and enjoy ourselves. That did not come soon either, only after a series of draggy events of best dressed, lucky draw, etc etc.

When the dance floor finally opened, and students were beginning to enjoy themselves, we were abruptly cut short after 2 songs. Sure, we understand that the PICC has to be closed sometimes, but at the cost of our enjoyment? And that we’ve paid RM 89? And that we’ve sit through 3 hours of formality, and performances meant for VIPs to enjoy? That’s beginning to sound a bit too much.

As a last act of not respecting the real guests, the students, they decided to turn off the light as we slowly stream out, while some of us tried to take some last photos. The announcement over the P.A system to tell us to “Go home and sleep” wasn’t too well received too. Again, I know PICC has to close, but don’t you think all of this can be avoided, should the organizers know better and not arrange a barrage of boring and sometimes silly (think magicians) performance?

Other miscellaneous things that are not satisfactory include the camera, and the AV. Most of the time, the cameraman seems to be at lost, and does not know where to point. As a result, half of the crowd, which equals to about 700 plus which were sitting not directly at the red carpet were looking at empty stage on the big screen, while the real thing was going on somewhere else. As for the AV, they seem to be lost too, and not knowing the real flow of the event. Cue for music was slow, and the lighting was not fully utilized in the half lit hall during opening.

It seems that the organizers had the formalities and the VIPs in their hearts, instead of the students, who once again may I stress, paid to fund the whole event. Unite has been turned into a peace inducing conference, with Tun Dr. Mahathir repeatedly repeating about killing and such. And the fact that the organizers suggested that we pin a peace tag on our several hundred ringgit blazers, or tops, is blasphemy. Come to think of it, they insisted. But I guess you can’t really force us to do things we don’t want to now is it.

I believe most of us were pissed that the one night we were supposed to dress up, and enjoy ourselves were ruined. What I sincerely hope is that in the future, organizers of Unite has the students in their main consideration, instead of formalities, and failed tries to impress dignitaries and VIPs. It’s a night for students, not for older grown ups.

unite ***** big time. end of story

sapa suruh pegi :lol:

lucky me ... saveD my RM89 :lol:

+1

:angry: too bad for you..but please do not include or blame the artist..they were there because they were asked and paid to perform. Blame the organisers for that. Just because you don't like Vince or the other performers does not mean everyone did as well. Everyone might have been disappointed with the event itself..but not the performers. Blame the organisers k..thanks~

well... sori the event didnt go that well, but actually the one who paid for this event should be ready for anything rite? i mean about the vip giving speeches that u never imagined, and u also know who's going to perform, so whats the prob with the performers, they just performing.. its the one who paid for this thing should make the choice> going or not...
senang cerita, lain kali pergi, pikir dulu, klu regret, sendri rasa duit tu rugi.. betul tak... alalala~ :P

ehem...as a FINAL YEAR student, of coz la i pegi.

It was a huge disappointment for me as this year there were only one prom for all of us(excluding the FCM's award thingy.)and it turned out this way. When i first got to PICC, it all looked promising. the place looked gorgeous, the ambience was just nice with everyone looking in fabulous in their clothes. But as it went on, everything fell flat. I have nothing against the food, i personally think the food was ok..not great but ok although the portion as a bit lame (even a skinny girl like me could have finished her own food without feeling full). The event was too draggy as there were too many performance that all of us could have lived without. (yeah..wut's up with the magic show??) The whole event seemed to revolve around the VVIPs, but it shudn't as this is suppose to be a nite for students. Why were we were thrown out of the hall just when we started to have fun? whether you like it or not, students go to prom to dance, have fun n take pictures.

To my greatest dissapointment.. yes i had to agree what Lar_c had posted. uNite is suppose to be an integration of all the prom nites (IT-NITE , E-NITE,etc). Students can pay only once and attend all the prom nites in 1 single happy Night. "I think there is no need for a grand ballroom , a grand event, special VVIPs" we can just run uNite in MPH and food cater by Sirah Utara with cheaper price ticket ;) Everyone was busy taking photo and ignored the performance & the food. There's nothing to shout about the performance except those by Zippy and our Michael Buble. Rm89 for salad, rotted bread(refer to link below), canned food, chicken rice & cakes with worm(refer link below). With that same amount u can get a lot more at Victoria Station.

I was one of those 'late arrivals' due to the heavy rain and traffic jam in KL. I arrived at 8pm+ and i only enter the ballroom at 8.45+ All of us were waiting outside and the 'security' guy said we are not allowed to enter the ballroom. I asked "WHY NOT?" the security guy replied " i'm not sure, because of some reason i do not know, you are not allowed to enter now because u are late" then this bigger indian guy came and said " the VVIPS are coming now.. tat's why you can't go in" some of the gals participant even argued with the security ppls ;) Well i wonder, if the VVIPS are coming soon, why don't they let us in first before they come? Even the rest committees are going in and out while we argued with the security. Or they have no enough manpower and therefore need us to be the 'usheres' for the VVIPS? ( we stand beside red carpet to welcome them)

When i woke up this morning and turned on my monitor, my whole screen is flooded with forward message cursing and critics for uNite and its director. And a lot compared with last year's uNite`05 . AFter uNite`05, a lot went to nearest pub and disco to burn their calories. After uNite`06, a lot went to nearest mamak-stall to fill their stomach(dengkil & putrajaya) Notice the differences?

It was a great night anyway coz i get to take photograph with my graduating friend.

p/s there is 10 person in my table but only 8 chicken rice served. 30 minutes later, only we receive the remaining 2 plates of chicken rice. How lovely :blink:

attached link : http://chinese.cari.com.my/myforum/viewthr...3D1#pid13824206

I'm sorry if I sounded like I'm blaming the artists, but I'm not. I'm sure the organizers could've done a better job in selecting a more diverse, universal artist that are more well known by the majority, compared to those who only watches Akademi Fantasia.

Thank you for symphatizing, but I'm afraid if people have similar mentality as you are, events will never be good, since there's the 'tidak apa' attitude. Without critisms, be it in a bad way or good way, we can never improve. If everyone adopts your strategy of thinking, next year's prom might just be similar, since the organizers know that no one would really complain if the event is bad.

Accounting Perspective

Ticket = RM 89
Tables 176

Equates to $156640

Needless to say, theres sumthing wrong here.
Hall booking - from what i heard is $30k
AV System - FACT $ 12k
Printing of Books - ratio from Dot To Dot - $2.50 * 1800 pieces = 4500
Food - NOTHING MORE THAN RM 30 * 1760 = 52800
Bag and Pen and Car sticker and ticket - TOgether, because of quantity, it cannot exceed $3 * 1760 = 5280
Guest performers - 1k to Joanne Yeoh, 1k to Vince, 200 to Crap Magicians, and anohter 1k to miscellaneous = 3200
VVIP handling - 35 * 150 = 5250

Ok their expenses equate to $113 030
These expenses have been maximised to the optimum, jus to give them the benefit of the doubt.
THe revenue that they received is blatant - $ 156 640

Basic accounting Revenue - Expenses = Profit

156 640 - 113 030 = 43 610

Even if there is a Provision for Expenditure of another 3k, theyve made $40k.
and DONT TELL ME STAD didnt subsidize event a little .. thats just NONSENSE.

If you count on a per head basis its around $69 a head, the students are still short of $20 a person.
Think about where the profit went ?
Id take a wild bet that itll be involved in a Charitable activity involving the Committees and a Beach.

The night isnt supposed to be about bringing in profits ... its about the students.
Not to mention, there were students who experienced really rude waiters, and just because we're students, it doesnt make us any less of a customer.

The part which really cheesed everyone off, is that the agenda was dragged RIDICULOUSLY til late, and at a time, it would be difficult to find a decent mamak or a live club, and the clowns turn off the dance floor.
Which i must mention, the dance floor was PATHETIC ! given that they were playing ROCK music ???? Oi uNite COMMS ! have u ever gone clubbing in your life ?

If i wanted to go for a Peace conference, i wudve called nelson mandela for a teh tarik session.
DO you even know what a PROM is? its the abbreviation for PROMENADE.
do u know what PROMENADE means ? lemme diction it for you.

promenade

n 1: a formal ball held for a school class toward the end of the academic year

Do you see the words PEACE CONFERENCE?
or how about CRAP MUSIC ?
or CRAP MAGICIANS ?

Dont be an organizer ... be a student... then ull know what we want and what we rant about.

Id also like to point out another blatant disappointment. How can you proceed with the opening ceremony when you've realised that the Opening NIght for CCIP is exactly the same.
ANd i can proudly say that when CCIP did it, it was much more amazing.

THeres more of which id like to say and point out, but YOU COMMITTEES will EVENTUALLY hear about it from various sources.
My job as an FOM student is to provide the Accounting Perspective of the night. Jus to prove to you, and your SUCCESSOR, that MMU Students arent STUPID NOR BLIND.

Just to top it off, Malacca students came for the Night ... and they werent hesitant to proudly say that their Tri-Nite of LAST YEAR was better than uNite.

TO WHOMEVER IS GOING TO ORGANIZE THE NEXT ACADEMIC YEAR PROM, please .. be yourself, remain a student, and you and your event will be applauded.


TENTATIVE ACCOUNTS VIA OBSERVATION (UNCONFIRMED)

TOTAL PER HEAD
Expenses revenue
PERFORMANCES
violin 1000 1760 x 89 156640
af 1000
group of 5 1000
magicaian 1000
dances 1000
5000

hall 30000
AV 12000
TOTAL 47000
per head 26.70454545 = 27 <-- Per person


1760 students
pen
sticker
gift beg
ticket 2 3520 2 <-- Per Person

booklet 2 3520 2 <-- Per Person

FOOD 30 52800 30<-- Per Person
61<-- Per Person
subsidise VIP VVIP 8<-- Per Person
106840 69<-- What has been accounted for Per Person

Well excuse me, but that was a very rude remark. Unlike the years before this, we don't have a choice this year now do we? I am n FIT student, so of coz FCM nite wouldn't have been appropriate for me to go as all of my other friends will not be attending that, now is it? So was I not suppose to have gone at all? Sorry, when i bought the tickets no one told me it was going to turn out this way.

wow wow. i heard from unknown source that the booking for PICC has been done since last year? deposit has been paid by ISS last year, and that is why this year we're in PICC ?

Was the bus service cancelled last minute? There was no bus at all at the promised times, 6.30pm and 7.30pm in front of STAD.

Hall was grand..
performances were great..
food so-so..
services... bad
the time we waited for our food... >3hours
photography session with friends? ... priceless

The Barisan Alternative Unite (BAU) proudly present to you the message archive of Yahoo! messages that have been forwarded around to show their(mmu students) disappointments and also their disbelieve even before the event was officially started. Enjoy!

1)XXX(4/13/2006 1:33:59 PM): ppl..boycott Unite...mahathir not comin

2)XXX(4/13/2006 1:34:59 PM): ppl..boycott Unite...mahathir not comin...get your money back ASAP

3)XXX(4/13/2006 1:36:03 PM): ppl..boycott Unite...mahathir not comin....get money back ASAP....unite commitee plan to reduce number of dishes (true story)

4)XXX(4/13/2006 1:41:56 PM): boycott unite !!! high comm plan to reduce number of dishes, probably cater from Sirah Utara...damn pissed now ...i want my money back

5)XXX(4/14/2006 12:04:23 PM): those who don't believe the rumour....jangan kesal....

6)XXX(4/14/2006 12:07:46 PM): later when you go Unite, and you see no ex-PM there, please remember that we warned you already. Expect the likes of Raihan or XPDC there.

7)XXX(4/15/2006 3:54:35 PM): See? Told you they reduced the dishes. One lame salad, campbell's mushroom soup, long wait, and finally chicken rice. C'mone. "Struggling". Now i know why.after attending the dinner i've come to realize that the rumour was true. besides the fact that they have reduced the number dishes (money that we paid was used to subsidize the delegates) , we were also being entertained by lame ass performace show. The dance we totally nonsense and the comittee hired a magician from Sedang Lama to test our patience. If u noticed yesterday , even Tun got pissed off with his lame performance. Always believe whatever we say. The fact the we have enjoyed the night is because we get to gather with friends and shared wonderful memories and definitely NOT because we enjoy the event.

8)XXX(4/15/2006 6:13:03 PM): Please stop complaining about U-nite. We've warned you before the event about this already. Although Tun Dr. M did come for event in the end, we cannot deny that they greatly reduced the amount of dishes. Bottom line, you've been warned and adviced to get your money back before the event.

9)XXX(4/15/2006 6:20:03 PM): whoever knows Reza, head of Unite comm, pls tell him I send him my ****** finger. Your team is an embarassment to MMU in front of Mahatir. At least have the decency to apologize for all the blunders. We paid first class ticket prices and we expect first class services. I pity Josephine Yeo, one of Msia's most talented musician sitting behind in her miserablely small booth.

*this are the original msges that have been forwarded around.



A reply frm stad:
Assalamuaalaikum and good day,

Dear student and staff,

We found out that there are rumours spreading around the campus falsely passed on from one to another regarding the U-Nite dinner tomorrow. Please do not listen to these rumours.

We would therefore like to confirm that U-Nite will be on, the VVIP will be Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The U Nite team is struggling to present what they have promised you.

See you at PICC tomorrow and enjoy yourself.
STAD,
Cyberjaya.


*p/s: please note that they are struggling


Yours sincerely
BAU

oh .. one more thing ... i have to say ... GET YOUR SPEECH RIGHT !!! the speech was ridiculously HORRENDOUS ... i didnt ustand a word the director was saying, and not only was he mumbling, he was dead-boring. Its an event of 1500 ppl, the least the guy could do was to get his speech right. I cant fathom why he was talking abt changing tyres and using his speech as a tissue paper ?!??! cmon !??!?!?!

hmm...looks like, lots of complaints..then compliments...

ah!! nice thread. Although the starting posts quite say the whole story, but may be here is mine. I normally dont complain much, but I really cant help myself this one.

1. The serving of the food was horrible, horrible, pathetic and really crap. I got my food at 11.30 . And its not that we were out of the table, we waited so that we can get the food, and seeing that our food is not coming I myself went to ask how they are serving, because if there is a certain rule, I would wait for it to be followed. The guy answered, we go by numbers. Alright, so i asked, then how come table 70+ sthing can get food, table 170+ sthing can get food, table next to us can get food, but our table no 66 is always left beind? He says he will look into it, but I guess it was not looked into it.

So I went again around 11 to ask one of the waiters. And after asking a lot lot of times then only we finally got the food.

2. The quantity of the food was something similar to what we get in a flight which travels less that 4 hrs or so. In a flight that travels less than 6 hrs, u get a bun, butter, salad, and a main dish with 1 to 2 piece of chicken, or so on. Then u get a small dessert, and drinks.

Now, the reason why I mentioned this is because, that meal is called a light meal and its just to keep ur stomach not empty during a flight.

Now, a night, which is a prom night, I probably expect lot better. I am not saying they must give a 8 to 10 course, but at least better than this pls? And the quality was not that great either. It was ok, and i think the only praise will be it was not bad, for my table at least, but it could also be because of the reason that we were so hungry that anything would taste great.

We all were left so hungry that after they chased us out, we went to mcd in sk to eat and there we met some others who were coming from unite as well.

Surely we were not happy.

3. About the service quality, it was bad, really really bad. We had been asking for water a lot lot lot of times. But couldnt get, i asked at least 5 waiters but nobody bothered. Then I had to go and get a jug myself. The waiter said he will bring, but I insisted that I bring it myself, because I had been waiting for water or any kind of drink for almost an hr. My friends went to another table and asked them if they could have a sip or not. It was really pathetic. The event was supposed to make us feel good, not to make us feel like we are in a desert.

4. In a prom night ppl are expected to take photo. Now, the way committee has chased us out was surely rude. I understand every hour cost them 5k, but that doesnt mean you chase ppl out, do u?

If they cant afford such expensive rents, why not get something that is cheaper than that and let us stay more to take pictures? I am not saying cheap cheap place, but hey the year before it was in the palace of golden horses and you could stay lot longer. The FCM night last year also you could stay lot longer and take some shots.

This is the final year for so many of us who attended and we wont be meeting many of us ever, so why not let us keep some memories? They are giving us hope to come together and then taking it away? How bad can that be?

5. I am not sure should the nite be called successful because of the heavy turnout. And if I am not mistaken, the reason for this extreme interest was not because of the events, but because we dont have any other nites to go to.
=(

You should do like us, we have to go into the kitchen to get something to drink. My tablemate was so hungry at 10.30pm and started eating the butter because we did not get any soup nor bun...then at about 11pm he can not stand anymore and 'rob' the food from the waiter !!

A message to the organizer committee.

If you guys wants to protect youself from being bash like this,
we have few options for you guys to clarify.
Show the account of the U-Nite event and how it was spent.
There is no point of doing profit for own benefits. I believe most of the student wants to see the account. ;)