By Nigel Aw

For many, J-on is just another website to stroll about when they are bored, particularly for those entertainment-loving youths stranded in a god-forsaken sleepy hollow called Kampar.

But J-on isn't just another site. It is a project by students for students made possible through months of deliberation and continuous effort. That’s something Kow Kwan Yee, a final year journalism student and former chief editor of J-on and one of the pioneering members of the news site would attest to.

Amid the nitty-gritty details of running an editorial board, J-on was first conceived through a seemingly mundane encounter.

“I got the idea when to visited the old library at block B and found that all the books and materials had been moved,” explained Kow.

Having the curiosity many UTARians share, she decided to inquire with a librarian stationed there only to be greeted with a student-should-mind-their-own-business attitude.

“I was frustrated with the kind of treatment I received and it also got me thinking… that we should have a platform to voice out on such issues,” she said.

Encouraged by lecturers and backed by supportive class mates, an editorial board making up of the most senior journalism students in Kampar campus was established and they wasted to time in getting to work on UTAR Kampar’s first independent online news portal. The rest is history.

Efforts to provide news content to UTARians is not an entirely an alien concept. In the past, a newsletter was successfully conceived in UTAR PJ and its reception was overwhelming at its inception however the tedious work involved eventually led the project to die out.

“We tried to emulate our seniors over in PJ and tried to set up a printed version of a newsletter for UTAR but we were told to apply an annual permit from the Minister of Home Affairs,” explained Kow.

Faced with a stone wall and tedious work required with acquiring a publication permit, the team decided instead to emulate the boom of the new media and took the project online.

That’s one problem solved, but naturally it was only the beginning of the many challenges the editorial board would face.

“Who is J-on?” She exclaimed. Many students who first heard of the name would react with a startled look. Ju-on they asked? A reference to the popular Japanese horror movie that goes by its English name – The Grudge.

Kow related several instances where her reporters were scolded for being nosy, chased out of the management offices and other times where live was just made difficult for them. And rightly so, with barely a few months old, what on earth is J-on?

“There was once we inquired with the management office on the number of parking lots UTAR has, and we were told to count it by ourselves!” said an amused Kow.

“But its understandable as they didn’t know what was J-on and now that they do know, things are much better,” she added.

“When we first started out J-on, we didn’t set any ambitious goals, we just wanted to create a platform for students to know about campus happening and to express themselves,” said Kow.

Believing that private university students tend to lack awareness and participation in pressing issues in society, J-on is a symbolic action to break away from such norms and to invite fellow undergraduates to join them.

“We didn’t know what impact it would have and we weren’t too concern about it, because for us, the most important thing is that we are doing this out of our own initiative,” she said.

Aside from the desire to make a stand and to serve the UTAR community with information, this project has also been a learning curve for the team.

“The most challenging assignment I’ve had together with my reporters was when we interviewed the sole survivor in the Kampar waterfall tragedy that claimed three lives,” she related.

The team was tentative, perhaps more than the interviewee himself, not knowing how he would react especially since one of the victim was a close friend of the interviewee.

"We were worried that we would ‘hurt’ him but interview turned out quite well, he was stronger than imagined and the experience taught us how important it is to cherish our life,” said Kow.

When asked about the future of J-on, she spotted a smirk and said she isn’t worried even if J-on eventually died a natural death.

“What is important is that we choose to do it and do it with our best regardless of what comes after, and this project is where it is today because of the excellent effort from my classmates,” she said.