Muhamad Nur Thaqib bin Shaker was born and raised in the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. He finished his higher education from International Islamic College (IIC) in Islamic Contemporary of Science, in 2013.
After eight months, he continued his Master in International Relations in Izmir in Turley, until 2018. As a proud Malaysian, he has done several activities in order to promote his country. Currently, he is the President of Universal Humanitarian Aid organization Malaysia.
You are a president of Universal Humanitarian Aid Organization, how have you decided to help Bosnian people?
The idea of helping Bosnian people has already existed since 90s. As Bosnian people know, more than 10,000 of Malaysian army under United Nations (UN) auspices was sent to BiH in order to protected the Bosnians. The Malaysians also built several mosques in Sarajevo, Travnik and Srebrenica. The teachers and the students also raised great amount of money to rebuild schools in BiH like “Camil Sijaric” school. Also, so many Malaysians helped Bosnians especially when the government opened its borders for Bosnians refugees to settle in Malaysia. It is important to add that many of them studied at Malaysian universities especially at International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), becoming very successful people.
The last activity that happened around September 2017, was Eid al-Adha when Universal Humanitarian Aid (UNIAID) has donated 10 sheep and distributed the meat around Sarajevo and Srebrenica. That was the last program of UNIAID before I decided to hand over this organization to someone else who will lead it in a more progressive way.
It is important to note that UNIAID is consisted of a big team conducting their program in Malaysia with the Syrian, Rohingya, Somalian and other refugees. UNIAID already done more than 50 programs with more than 120 volunteers from 35 nations.
When did you come to BiH for the first time and why have you decided to write a book for Bosnian children?
I came to BiH in January 2014 for the first time. Until last year, I went to BiH 4 times and the longest period I stayed in BiH was 3 months.
My idea is to write a book for children in order to promote BiH. Why have I chosen to write book for children is because after Mahathir’s (former Prime Minister of Malaysia) era, the relations between Malaysia-BiH seem to be greatly reducing. There was not much interaction between both countries as compared to the 90s. Some new generation of Malaysian youth does not know what happened in BiH from 1992-1995. Meanwhile, the new generation of Bosnians also have lack information about the existence of Malaysians in their history.
I believe that this is time for the both nations to start cooperating again. Not just between the ‘Government to Government’ but also between ‘People to People’. The best way to restore the relationship is through writing. When the children are provided with an information about both countries, then they will grow with those ideas in their mind. They are the next generation, the next product for both countries. When they become leaders, they will cooperate more closely and bring benefits to both nations.
You are also a book writer; can you tell Sarajevo Times audience about the book you are currently working on?
I wanted to be a writer since I was 17 years-old because I realized that writing is very important. With writing, you can destroy and change the world. It’s all up to your objective. Writing will never disappear and it can remain for centuries. I started to share my ideas and opinions about many issues, including politics and social problems, in my blog. Ten year later, my dream to become a writer happened when my very first book call ‘Anak Malaya Di Republik Turki’ (A Malaysian in Turkey) got published in 27th April 2017. My second book ‘Kembara ke Kota Istanbul’ (Adventure to Istanbul) is a book for children that will be published in March 2018. My third book ‘Agata, Si Gadis Poland’ (Agata, a girl from Poland) is a novel about a Malaysian student named Miqael who studies in Izmir, Turkey. Some of the plots happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I took this chance to explain the History of BiH and the legacy of Malaysia over there. This novel will be published in march 2018.
