Today is registration and icebreaking day.

Upon registration, one has to pay RM100, then it’s off to the other room for online registration.

At 9.30am, the icebreaking session started which lasted all day.

There were 76 of us, 4 from Sabah. Apparently there’s a fifth Sabahan, but at the time of writing, he hasn’t showed up yet. Among those from Sabah, predictably, I was the only one from the state civil service.

The other 3 are: Zamzam a.k.a. Zam (Tawau), Halizah Hanafiah (Tawau), an Information Systems Officer and Rohiman Rahia (Sandakan), an Admin & Diplomatic Officer.

There are 2 guys from Sarawak: Jabu anak Dugu (a town planner) and Setebin @ Roslan.

There were 2 icebreaking games in the morning.

The common self-introductions, where we were divided into groups of 10. Then the whole group made a big circle, and each small group goes into the centre, facing the big circle then introduce themselves. Once in a while the 2 very polite session facilitators (Imran and Bet) would do a “memory test”, asking a random participant to recite the names of the persons who’ve just introduced themselves.

After that it was the “lagu terhangat” game, where we were divided into 4 groups. The facilitator would shout out a word, and each group, in turn, is given 5 seconds to sing a verse of a popular song containing that word. The words used included “bulan”, “wanita” and “jiwa”. So it was no surprise when “wanita” was called that a member of our group started singing “pencinta wanita” by Irwansyah, followed by another group singing “tamparan wanita” by Elite, then another that song by Anita Sarawak. This is indeed a good icebreaking game which I would definitely use when handling sessions like this in future.

Then it was lunch break, and there were 4 more games in the afternoon session, which started 2.30pm.

First, it was the “tali rafia” game, where each group, numbering about 10, would tie their hands with a piece of string, in such a way that the left hand is loosely tied to the right hand. Then everybody ties everybody’s hands together. After that, try to “escape” from the tie, one by one, without taking off the tie on either hand or stepping over strings. The trick to escaping is knowing which 2 person should do it first, then one person putting his string into the hoop of the other guy’s string (near the wrists). The important thing is to realise that the string has to go in an outward motion, i.e. from the other guy’s forearms outward to his palm/fingers. Then you’d have to pull your string over his hand, position it under his hoop, then pull your hands away. Done correctly, you’d have magically separated from the other guy.

Second, the “Charade” game which is basically each group appointing a mime actor, who’d need to use purely body language to tell his group members of either one of these (after randomly selecting from a list): movie title, saying (peribahasa) or song title. His group members would then attempt to guess whetever it is that he’s trying to say. Time given: 2 minutes. Our group managed to score 3. There was a second round, this time only 1 minute was given.

Third, “nonverbal communication”. Similar to charade, but this time all members of a group had to line up sitting down. Imran would tell the person at the back the name of an animal, then that guy would tell the guy in front of him to turn around and act like the animal described. Having done that, the 2nd guy would then repeat the act to the 3rd guy, and so on. It’s hilarious because not only due to seeing humans attempting to imitate animal behaviour but also the fact that the information conveyed became more and more corrupted as it goes down the line.

Lastly, the Chikara game, which is a coordination game. Everybody is given an empty mineral water bottle with 4 marbles inside. Then we’d sit down in a circle, and pass the bottle anticlockwise in sync with these words: “bagi, bagi, bagi ambik bagi”. At each utterance of the word “bagi”, one would pass a bottle to his right. At the third “bagi”, one would pass the bottle while still holding on to it. When one says “ambik”, the bottle is pulled back, then at the fourth “bagi”, it is passed on to the person on his right. Then one would bring back his hand to the middle and shout “C C”. Then the round continues. At the end of that round, one would shout “H H”. So what everybody is doing is spelling the word “Chikara”, every letter being shouted out after ecach round. The ultimate goal is to finish seven rounds, with the word “Chikara” spelt, and no mistakes done. This game is a good demonstration of systems thinking, where everybody is absolutely needed to be perfectly in sync. One person stumbles, the whole system collapses.

The session ended at 5pm, when participants were invited to share what they have learned through the games and the facilitators wrapped up.

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