The Philosophical Guard
J-on
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Thursday, April 22, 2010
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By Chin Poh Nee, Karyn Anne Krishnan
You see him every time you pass by the huge double doors at Block A. Perhaps, you may have even exchanged smiles, or a hi or two. More often than not, you just pass him by, thinking that he is merely a security guard and nothing more. You could even be guilty of thinking that he isn’t worth your time, that his job is merely guarding the peace and security of the place.
However, those who know him would know that he is not just a security guard.
He says he goes by many nicknames, amongst them being Mamat, Ahmad, Mat, and so on. We settle for Mamat, after he declined giving j-on his real name even after much persuasion.
Hailing from Malim Nawar, Perak, this 28 year old is the middle child of the family. Having only two sisters, he voiced a desire to have an elder brother to look up to.
Nonetheless, this philosopher at heart has a mind of his own and is ready to share with j-on his philosophy on life.
“I may have had only secondary education, but most of my knowledge comes from experience.
My father and grandfather were my teachers of life. Whatever experiences they’ve been through, they passed down to me. In turn, I take those values, experience them myself, and gain my own experiences,” he said.
Few of those experiences were gained when he was on the job as a security guard in UTAR’s Kampar campus.
Mamat showing j-on the log book which every guard on duty needs to write in.
Mamat started work as a guard when the campus was first opened, back in 2007. He said that he started out guarding the grounds of the campus, mostly at night.
“My favourite place was at the Block I area. Back then, it was still a jungle,” he elaborated.
When he mentioned that he preferred guarding at night, j-on couldn’t help but ask if he had any supernatural encounters.
Laughing it off, he refused to share any juicy stories, claiming that there were too many circling around the campus, mostly blown out of proportion.
“Sometimes, people just see things wrongly, or what they want to believe. For example, you see a tree, but at night in the shadows it might look like a man standing there.
These things are just trick of the eye. If you want to believe that you’ve seen something, then you will,” he philosophized.
He added that these things exist all around us – we just can’t see it.
“If your spirit is strong, you won’t be affected by ‘them’. ‘They’ only prey on those who are weak-willed.”
Nowadays, Mamat’s regular working hours are from 7am to 7pm. He comes in half an hour earlier to attend the daily meeting with the other security guards at 6.45am. During these meetings, the guards are given memos for the day, such as happenings around the block, or whether there will be events happening in the block.
Block A, where Mamat does his guard duties.
“I like guarding Block A. It’s peaceful here, and it’s also windy,” Mamat joked.
All jokes aside, he muses that though there isn’t much action in Block A, he enjoys observing people during his duties.
“I like seeing the expression on people’s face when they walk through the doors. I noticed that many people come in the morning with a sour expression on their faces. Do you know why? It’s all the stress,” he says sagely.
He added that he will counteract the mood by saying Hi to them and giving them a smile. A smile given, according to him, has the power to make even the moodiest person smile back.
“All I want to do is make people happy. My job isn’t just guarding the place, I also want to make people happy. When people are happy, I am happy.”
Guarding at the area where people often come in and out allows him to read their body language and understand them more. When we voiced our amazement, he smiled proudly and said that it was “all about the body language”.
“Stress makes people moody. People should throw away their stress and be happier,” philosophizes Mamat.
Saying Hi wasn’t the only thing he’s done to acknowledge people. During our conversation, he broke away midway to acknowledge one of the UTAR staffs. After she had gone, he gestured,
“See her? I know which floor she works in, and what room number. She’s a local in this area, and I even know how many siblings she has.”
Presentation, speech, and mingling. These are his principles when it comes to knowing people better. He said that his experience with mingling amongst students and staff alike has taught him a lot.
A product of stress? The scene where a student walked into a glass window and smashed into it.
He also commented that people should throw away their stress in order to be happier.
He shared an incident where one of the students was so immersed in himself while typing away on his cellphone that he didn’t look where he was going and walked right into a window and smashed it.
“He ended up with a few stitches on his forehead and stomach,” said Mamat.
When asked about his future plans, he said that he’d like to settle down and open his own little business.
“I’d like to live a peaceful life, without the stress,” he said dreamily.
