Autobiography
FROM SIK TO ST ANDREWS
My name is Edie Erman Bin Che Johari. I was born on 1st September 1988 in Kedah. My parents (Che Johari and Sapuan) are both Kedahan. I started my primary school at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kampung Betong in 1995. After just 5 months, I moved to Sik and subsequently changed my school to Sekolah Kebangsaan Sik. I finished my primary education in 2000 and started my secondary education in 2001 at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sik. I obtained my Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) certificates in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
Soon after I finished my SPM, I was called for Program Latihan Khidmat Negara (PLKN) at Kem Guar Chenderai, Padang Besar, Perlis for three months from January to March 2006.
In July 2006, I registered at Universiti Teknologi MARA Merbok campus to enroll my Diploma in Banking. I completed my Diploma in May 2009 and then enrolled my Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Islamic Banking in the same university in July 2009.
After completed my first degree in 2011 (for 2 years), I was offered three jobs which are from Intel (Penang), UMW Corporation (Selangor), and Maybank (Kuala Lumpur). After went through a careful decision making process, I opted for Maybank. The reason I chose Maybank is because I wanted to apply what I learned during my studies in my work. I was attached at the Maybank's headquarter on Jalan Tun Perak as an executive.
After 14 months of service, I quit from Maybank and continued my master's degree with Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) scholarship. I flew to Bangor University, Wales, United Kingdom in September 2012. I enrolled my Master of Administration (MBA) in Islamic Banking and Finance for one year from September 2012 to September 2013.
After completed my MBA, I returned to Malaysia and worked with Malaysian Electronic Payment Systems (MEPS) as a senior executive in January 2014.
Not long after that, in April 2015, I started my new job with Universiti Utara Malaysia as a tutor. Within 6 month period, I secured my scholarship from Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education to further my doctorate study in the University of St Andrews, Scotland. I started my doctorate degree on 27th September 2015.
On 27th January 2017, I married to Muhaimah Abdul Rahim, who is a medical officer at Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar, Kedah.
After three and half years living in Scotland, I returned to Malaysia on 22nd March 2019 following my viva voce held on 8th of March 2019.
On 22nd June 2019, I received the greatest ever gift from God. My wife safely delivered our first baby girl, and we named her Hanan. Hanan means "compassion", "sympathy" and "love". I do hope she will become exactly like what her name means.
In July 2019, I received another good news, which is the letter of completion of my doctorate from the University of St Andrews. On 5th of September, I started my new role in Universiti Utara Malaysia as a Senior Lecturer (Banking) in the School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia.
WHAT DOESN'T KILL ME MAKES ME STRONGER
There are something I have learned from my own life experience.
First of all, we are the one who is responsible to change the fate of our life, not our friends, not our enemies. If we were born and raised within an average family, we should work harder to make our life better so that we can help our family and others who in need. Being a wealthy person is not wrong. It is wrong only when we do not use our wealth to help others.
Second, financial constraint should never be a reason for us to be left out from education. For me, I used a study loan from PTPTN to support my diploma and later on I secured scholarship from the government to do my first degree. Then I obtained a partial scholarship from MARA for my MBA and a full scholarship from the government to do my doctorate. Despite raised in average family where my parents are both rubber tapper, I have managed to achieve what I have so far. That is why when people are giving such lame excuses to me, I simply laugh to them. As the saying goes "kalau nak seribu daya, tak nak seribu dalih".
Third, the courses that we learn in the university come to second important things. The most important thing is to learn to be a good human being. When we are good, we can be successful in both academic and life. When I started working, I barely applied the courses that I learned during the university time. What I used most were the skills to communicate with others, the skills to complete the task given, and the skills to learn new things. When we work, we might only use twenty percent (my own feel) of courses learned in the university. The rest eighty percent comes from the soft skills that we build. Hence, as a student, please build your soft skills as much as you can.
Fourth, I always hold these words when I am facing a difficulty in my life. First is "when other people can do it, why not me". We have the same brain, the same limbs, and same as human being. Nobody has two brains or four hands. So what is the reason for us not to achieve with what others have achieved. Of course we are not in the same shoes, but at least we try at our best. Slow or quick result is another thing. Like Allah says in the Quran (2:286): “Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear", so we just need to believe that we can overcome every difficulty and challenge we face in life.
Fifth, I quote the saying of my Greek supervisor during my doctorate study. "Life is like a marathon, not a sprint race. What we do today is not for the next two or three years but for the whole phase of our life." Never compare our life with others otherwise we will always feel bad. Some people might get something earlier than us but our time will come. Don't worry, be happy, enjoy life as it goes.
Last but not least, be kind to our family. If we do not help our family, who else is going to help them unconditionally.
I have learned many things during my 32 years of life. Surely I will share this with my students and try to lead them to a meaningful success InsyaAllah.
Still a learner,
Edie J.
April 2020