INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

FINAL REPORT

Academic 0720
Session
Programme ENG6908
Code
Nurain Fatehah Binti Ahmad
Student’s Name
Razil

ID No. AM1805004063

IC No. 951130025972

Contact No. 011-16489418

Ezzan Amnie Binti Azizan

Name and Contact Details
of Academic Supervisor ezzan@gapps.kptm.edu.my

012-4349900

Noor Faizah Binti Othman

Name and Contact Details
of Industrial Supervisor faizah@mpspk.gov.my

04-4296780

Organisation Stamp
 ABSTRACT

This final report was written as a platform to describe my experience as an intern

who works in a government organization, known as Sungai Petanj Municipal Council that is
also referred to as Majlis Perbandaran Sungai Petani Kedah (MPSPK) for 16 weeks. The
existence of this organization was initiated mainly to create a peaceful, well-protected
environment for both Sungai Petani and Kuala Muda districts. The objectives of the report
and industrial training, the organization profile, the overview of the training, and the details
of experience that are gained from the internship are included in this report as well as many
sub-titles related to the titles mentioned just now such as the background information of the
organization, the duties and various tasks undertaken, the problems encountered and et
cetera. Towards the end of this final report, discussion and conclusion which consist of the
major tasks carried out, major contribution to the organization, comments on the tasks
performed, recommendations and other highlights were also incorporated.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, Praise Be to the Almighty Allah s.w.t for all His blessings for
helping me through my internship and for providing me with all great ideas, patience, and
health that are necessary and important for me throughout the journey of completing my 16
weeks as an employee working in a government organization. .

Next, I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards both of my academic as

well as industrial supervisors, Madam Ezzan Amnie Binti Azizan and Madam Noor Faizah
Binti Othman for their invaluable supports, guidance, and patience during all the consultation
sessions that we have had together along my internship period. It has been such an honor
and a privilege to have completed my internship under their supervisions. Their
professionalisms and positive feedbacks have always encouraged me to finish my
internship.

Furthermore, I am also grateful to my family members for their constant supports and
encouragements, especially my single mother, Juwariah Binti Abdul, who has been
supporting me financially so that I am able to commute from Gurun to Sungai Petani every
day to work. You are the inspiration behind my success. Not to forget, to all my beloved
siblings, Ahmad Azwarie Bin Ahmad Razil, Muhammad Nur Ezanie Bin Ahmad Razil, and
Siti Nur Nadia Binti Ahmad Razil, I am blessed to have been granted with such supportive
siblings.

Apart from that, I am also very thankful to my colleagues as well as other MPSK’s
staffs who were willing to help me here and there, by providing useful information and
teaching me things that I did not know. I believe that this internship experience will be useful
for me in the future as I learned many things on how to be a good employee. Plus, it also
taught me on how to deal with problems that might occur while working for real in the future.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Content Page

Abstract i
Acknowledgement Ii
Table of Contents iii

1.0 OBJECTIVE 1
1.1 Objective of the Report 1
1.2 Objective of the Industry Training 1

2.0 ORGANIZATION PROFILE 2

2.1 Organization Background – Majlis 2
Perbandaran Sungai Petani Kedah
(MPSPK)
2.2 MPSPK Organizational Chart 5
2.3 Enforcement Department 6
Organizational Chart
2.3 Details of Industrial Supervisor 7

3.0 OVERVIEW OF THE TRAINING 8

3.1 Introduction 8
3.2 Duties and Tasks Undertaken 8
3.2.1 Internship in the Enforcement 8
Department

4.0 DETAILS OF EXPERIENCE 14

4.1 Description of Duties and Various 14
Tasks
4.2 Problems Encountered 16
4.3 Professional and Ethical Issues, 18
Health, and Environmental Issues

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5.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 20
5.1 Discussion and Suggestion of the 20
Training
5.2 Conclusion of the Training 22

Reference 25

Appendix 26
Appendix A: The Compound Letters that 26
were Prepared and Sent Out
by Postal Services
Appendix B: One of the Paperworks 27
Created (Regarding CIDB
Cards)
Appendix C: Classification Of Illegal 28
Hawkers’ Data based on
Regions
Appendix D: The Compound Bills that 29
were Needed to be Classified
according to Dates, Heads of
Departments, and Types of
Offenses
Appendix E: Pictures Taken on the Day of 31
Demolishment of Illegal
Hawkers’ Stalls and Licenses
Checking Operations

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 OBJECTIVE

1.1 Objective of the Report

The objective of this report is to highlight the vital parts of industrial training and serve
as an archival record of the internship experience. Furthermore, it also includes the
summarization of every duty and task that have been completed along the internship period.
Lastly, the reflection on the professional aspects of the internship experience as well as the
skills that were learned were also incorporated in this final report.

1.2 Objective of the Industrial Training

Industrial training is one of the compulsory subjects needs to be completed by all

final semester undergraduate students of Kolej University Poly-Tech Mara (KUPTM),
regardless of the courses. The industrial training requires students to work in the related
industry for 16 weeks while being supervised by both academic as well as industrial
supervisors. It provides opportunities for students to practice the knowledge and skills that
were learned in the previous semesters and try to relate them whenever possible. In
addition, the purpose of the industrial training was to expose the students to a real working
environment and at the same time, to help them gain knowledge through hands-on
observation and job execution. Last but not least, from industrial training, the students will
also develop skills in work ethics, communication, management, and others.

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 ORGANIZATION PROFILE

2.1 Organization Background – Sungai Petani Municipal Council

Company Name Sungai Petani Municipal Council

or
Majlis Perbandaran Sungai Petani Kedah (MPSPK)
Address Menara MPSPK,
Jalan Patani,
08000 Sungai Petani,
Kedah
E-mail admin@mpspk.gov.my
Working Hours/Days Normal working hours/days for Kedah state:
Sunday: 8.00 AM to 5.00 PM
Monday: 8.00 AM to 5.00 M
Tuesday: 8.00 AM to 5.00 PM
Wednesday: 8.00 AM to 5.00 PM
Thursday: 8.00 AM to 3.30 PM
Friday and Saturday closed
Website http://www.mpspk.gov.my/

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 According to “Background” (2020), Sungai Petani Municipal Council or also known
as Majlis Perbandaran Sungai Petani Kedah (MPSPK) was first developed in the 50s, when
the Local Council Ordinance (1952) was approved as well as adapted. A year later, which
was in 1953, Sungai Petani Town Board was established, mainly for the administration of
Sungai Petani. Soon after, exactly on the 1st August of 1975, Kuala Muda Local District
Council (MDKT.KM) was established, however, it only comprised a few areas such as
Sungai Lalang, Jeniang, Merbok, Bukit Selambau, Bedong, and last but not least, Gurun.

On 1st February 1978, another Council, named the Kuala Muda District Council
(MDKM) had come into existence after Act 124 of the Local Governement Act (Temporary
Provision) was enforced and attested to replace the previous council, Kuala Muda Local
District Council (MDKT.KM) following the Section 3 of the Local Government Act 1976 (Act
1971). The existence of the Kuala Muda District Council (MDKM) had associated the
Municipal Board Local Authority which includes 1) Sungai Petani Municipal Council, 2) Kuala
Muda, Kota Kuala Muda, Padang Lembu, Semeling, Tanjung Dawai, and Tikam Batu
Municipal Boards, and lastly, 3) Sungai Lalang, Jeniang, Merbok, Bukit Selambau, Bedong,
and Gurun Local Councils.

The Kuala Muda District Council (MDKM) was in charge of administrating the whole
Kuala Muda district in terms of planning, building control, health, plus project and licensing
progress. After all the previous established Councils, Sungai Petani was finally revamped
as a Municipal Council (Majlis Perbandaran) on the 2nd of July in 1994 and the declaration
had been made by AB Tan Seri Dato' Seri Haji Osman bin Haji Aroff, PSM., SSDK., DHMS.,
JMN., JP, who was the Menteri Besar of Kedah at the moment.

With the official upgrade, Sungai Petani Municipal Council (MPSPK) was then fully
responsible for the building control, licensing, planning, the preparation of infrastructure
facilities, and others, even until today. It is done in making sure that the development of
Sungai Petani increases over time as well as the safety of the people of Sungai Petani and
Kuala Muda in general is well-protected. To this day, there are approximately around 600
employees who are currently employed in this governmental organization as a whole.

In addition, new mission, vision, as well as motto of the organization were also
introduced soon after Sungai Petani Municipal Council was announced and they are as
quoted below:

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1) Mission

“To establish quality, skilled, responsive and committed work culture in achieving
MPSPK’s vision. To make MPSPK as catalyst towards development in establishing a
planned and complete municipality. To plan, identify and implement socio economic
projects for the public consistent with the roles and responsibilities of MPSPK as a local
authority.” (“Mission & Vision”, 2020).

2) Vision

“To establish the Council’s efficient and dynamic administrative management and services
towards establishing a comfortable and complete municipality as well as possessing
strong socio economic viability.” (Mission & Vision”, 2020).

3) Motto

“TOWARDS QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE" (“Mission & Vision”, 2020).

As the main duty of the employees in MPSPK is to serve the publics, hence, a lot of
activities involving issuing compounds, responding to complaints, accepting payments, and
et cetera had been the employees’ of this organization daily routine. As a consequence, a
more advanced approach is pretty much needed, especially in this era of technology. Thus,
this acts as a contributor to why MPSPK is in the process to develop their own online-public-
friendly website known as “e-Retax”. This future strategy of this organization will surely
increase its productivity as well as income with just one click.

In the meantime, every bill and compound payments, together with issuing
complaints are still done through physical contacts that basically involve travelling and lining
up in front of the counters. It could take minutes and up until hours if it is a hectic day. Thus,
with the existence of e-Retax which provides all services under MPSPK, and could be
accessed everywhere as long as one owns a gadget, the publics do not have to visit the
organization anymore since everything could be solved online. Plus, the Public Relation
Office (PRO) has also introduced another initiative in order to decrease the amount of hustle
that the department usually has to bear. Complaints can be made through simpler platforms
such as WhatsApp, e-mail, phone calls, and more. As a conclusion, MPSPK is currently
practicing and is in “trial and error” phase as a process to enhance its services.

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2.2 MPSPK Organizational Chart

5
2.3 Enforcement Department Organizational Chart

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2.4 Details of the Industrial Supervisor

Name Noor Faizah Binti Othman

Position Enforcement Officer Assistant

Contact Number 04-4296780

E-mail faizah@mpspk.gov.my

As an Enforcement Officer Assistant, my industrial training supervisor carries the

responsibilities of supervising administrative and planning affairs, controlling the patrol
sections, preparing paperworks and research papers to the top management based on
demands, revising all the Enforcers’ over-time (OT) records, and managing matters
regarding the vehicles that belong to the Enforcement department.

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 OVERVIEW OF THE TRAINING

3.1 Introduction

The internship (industrial training) is held for the whole 16 weeks, starting from 29th
June 2020 until 16th October 2020. The interns were required to write weekly activity entries
which acts as the internship logbook in a form of blog on blogspot.com. Hence, all the
activities and tasks undertaken under the instructions of the industrial supervisor, heads of
departments, and any senior or fellow colleagues are to be explained in detail in this section.

3.2 Duties and Tasks Undertaken

3.2.2 Internship in the Enforcement Department

MPSPK is known to be one of the biggest governmental organizations that could be

found in Sungai Petani, Kedah. Hence, there are about 16 departments in this organization
alone and they carry different responsibilities from each other. Among all, I was placed as
one of the interns in the Enforcement Department. For the most part, the job scope of the
Enforcement Department is to patrol every district in Kota Kuala Muda and issue compounds
to the public offenders, mainly hawkers. According to my industrial training supervisor, Mrs.
Faizah, our department contributed the highest amount of income every month for MPSPK.

In addition, not only that all the Enforcers had to physically distribute all the
compound bills to the hawkers, they are also required to entertain the publics via intercom
regardless if it is a major or minor problem. If the publics insisted, they will have to go and
meet them directly. Besides that, the Enforcers themselves will have to do dangerous tasks
such as demolishing billboards, abandoned buildings, as well as stalls. In order for one to
be an Enforcer, they need to be strong physically and mentally, resilient, and the most
important is to possess skill in handling wires, irons, and hand tools. Plus, another
responsibility of an Enforcer is to take actions on complaints that were sent by any publics
through the department’s online platforms known as “e-aduan” and the complaints will then
be keyed-in into a system called “e-compound”.

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 However, as mentioned in my industrial training logbook (blog posts that I have
written from week one until sixteen), my job scope involved repetitive tasks every week and
they were mainly done to help with administrative affairs since it was not compulsory for me
to visit sites as frequent as the Enforcers because I was just an intern. Hence, my main
duties and tasks undertaken along my internship period were as described below:

1) Prepared compound letters and sent them out using postal service

I had to prepare the compound letters one-by-one and sent them out in piles to the postmen
in charge.

2) Transferred hard copy data into soft copy data

Most of the time, after the soft copy data were printed, they were typically deleted from the
computer. My job was to re-input all the lost data either in Microsoft Office Word or Excel.

3) Updated old documents or files into new ones

All the disintegrated files were replaced with new ones even though the content remained
the same, except for the outdated documents.

4) Differentiated as well as categorized data based on regions

Among all data gained regarding illegal hawkers from the whole Kuala Muda district
collected by the Enforcers, I needed to differentiate each of them into more specific regions.

5) Created paperwork for top management, audit, or any other purposes

I was introduced to paperworks since my Diploma years. As a consequence, I was required

to help create various paperworks as my written skills was acknowledged.

6) Collected questionnaires and checked through the respondents’ checklist

I helped with collecting questionnaires which were distributed among the Enforcers for star-
rating purposes.

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7) In charge of restocking office supplies

Ink cartridges, pens, or files, you name it. I was always walking around the building while
pushing a trolley and went to either the IT Department or storage room to restock any desired
supplies.

8) Assigned to handle any photocopy or lamination of documents

The most mainstream task that I was in charge of. I photocopied everything for everyone,
myself using the small photocopy machine that we had if the documents were not that thick.
If not, I went to the Human Resource Department to do so since they had the biggest
photocopy machine ever.

9) Stamped vehicles’ logbooks or any other related documents

I stamped the vehicles’ logbooks in advance so that it was easier for the heads of
departments to leave their signatures. I also stamped received memos, and et cetera.

10) Wrote memos and send them to other departments

Memos had to be written when there were new news, instructions, or calling for meetings.
As soon as I received any of the mentioned documents, I had to create memos and sent
them off if the other departments were involved.

11) Did researches and made phone calls

If there were any questions or enquiries regarding anything, I was in charge of doing the
researches and jot down any suitable information. If there were no answers gained from the
internet, I often made phone calls directly to the responsible party.

12) Answered phone calls

I was allotted to answer phone calls made by the other departments or the public whenever
necessary.

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13) Classified documents either according to dates, heads of departments, or types
of offenses

Jumbled up documents can be quite a headache. My responsibility was to ease the pain by
finding documents (compound bills, over-time records, and others) with the same dates,
heads of departments, and types of offenses and stapled them separately.

14) Participated in the preparations of events organized by the Enforcement

Department

One of the events that I participated in was one of the Enforcements’ retirement celebration.
My duty was to prepare gifts and helped my colleagues whenever required.

15) Recorded audios for patrol purposes

I recorded my voice to be used as one of the voices played during patrols, mainly to remind
the publics about the importance of maintaining social distancing.

16) Keyed-in compound data into the online system (e-compound)

All compound data were not only recorded in hardcopy, and softcopy versions. In fact, they
were also keyed-in into ‘e-compound’ system. I used my colleague’s code to have access
to the online system.

17) Translated various documents as well as spoken words (Bahasa Melayu to

English and vice versa)

I helped with translating documents and contents, especially when there were presentations
that require the presenters to speak in English. Plus, I also helped translate the words
spoken in English by the publics since MPSPK’s system only accepts Bahasa Melayu.

18) Created minutes of meetings

I created minutes of meetings for my industrial supervisor every time she had a meeting.
The minutes of meetings were then sent to the Director to be finalized.

19) Calculated the total amount of compound bills for each month

When the compound bills were assorted, I then calculated the total amount and kept them
as records.

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 Lastly, along the 16 weeks of my internship, I was absent on 27th August 2020 and
20th September 2020 until 24th September 2020 (5 days) because I was terribly sick. I went
to the clinic on the 27th because I had gastritis and could not even leave my bed. Meanwhile,
when I was on leave for 5 days, I was admitted into ‘Wad Bunga Raya 2’ at Hospital Sultan
Abdul Halim, Sungai Petani because I was diagnosed with an illness. According to the
doctor, I was supposed to stay longer in the hospital, but I insisted to go home since there
is credit hours limit that I should abide to as instructed by KUPTM. Both of my leave of
absences were approved by the doctors and I was provided with two medical certificates
(MC) for both occurrences. Plus, my industrial and academic supervisors, as well as the
Human Resource Department were immediately informed as soon as I received the
admitted letter and they were also well aware of my condition. Besides, any blank space on
my punch card which indicate my absence were then signed by my industrial supervisor,
Mrs. Faizah before it was sent to the Human Resource Department.

The medical certificate for when I was absent on 27th August 2020

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The medical certificate for when I was absent on 20th until 24th September 2020

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 DETAILS OF EXPERIENCE

4.1 Description of Duties and Various Tasks

The Enforcement Department of MPSPK offers the interns with various tasks that
are both related and non-related to English language. Obviously, when we put the word
“Enforcement” and “English” together, it does not make any sense. They are such polar
opposite and shall not be combined together. Despite that, it does not mean that one does
not have to possess the ability to communicate in English at all. In fact, English is regularly
used, especially when the conversations involved parties, either between subordinates and
higher authorities, or between people with the same ranking position. Plus, it had been such
a great honor to be one of the interns in the Enforcement Department as I was provided with
new experiences that will surely benefit me in the future and I know that I will be able to
adapt to any situation given in my future workplace, even though I might be sceptical the
first few weeks.

First of all, my main task was to assist my senior colleagues with administrative
affairs, and one of them was to prepare compound letters. The compound details that were
keyed-in by the Enforcers were then printed on either yellow or red papers, depending on
how serious the situation is. Specifically speaking, yellow compound letters were distributed
as confirmations of the offenses, meanwhile, red compound letters were issued as warnings
to remind the offenders to make payment as soon as possible, or else, they will be reported
to the higher authorities and brought to court. There were always hundreds, and sometimes
thousands of compound letters every month and my job was to fold each of them, inserted
them into envelopes, calculated the total amount, and finally, handed them to the postmen.

Other than that, I was appointed as the one to analyze data for any reporting
purposes that were then sent to the top management. I calculated data and separated them
into specific entries so that it will be easier for the management to go through later on. For
instance, when I received a bulk of data regarding illegal stall hawkers that belongs under
Kuala Muda district for the year 2019, I needed to separate those hawkers’ data according
to their regions that consist of south, east, west, middle, and last but not least, north regions.
After that, I then created new Excel entries specifically for them and calculated the total
amount at the end of the day. This kind of task requires a lot of patience since all the

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hawkers’ details such as name, address, stall’s address, the size of the stall, and more
should be keyed-in correctly to avoid any error.

Other than differentiating data based on regions as stated just now, I had to also
classify documents either according to dates, heads of departments, or types of offenses as
well. In order to maintain a well-organize data system, the data had to be sorted out before
they are kept in files. Data that were organized based on regions usually involved illegal
hawkers’ details, meanwhile, when it comes to sorting data by looking at the dates, heads
of departments, and types of offenses, the data had to be about compound bills and the
Enforcers’ over-time (OT) records. There are 30 days in a month, three heads of
departments, and almost 10 types of offenses. Hence, I was in charge of classifying those
thousands of data thoroughly to be put under each day, head of department as well as type
of offense.

Next, since MPSPK is still pretty much paper-based, on that account, the employees
always keyed-in all data that they have into the system and printed all of them so that they
can be kept in files and then stored in the cupboards. As a result, when they thought that all
the data are safe in between those piles of papers, they tend to delete all the soft copies of
the data. Sometimes, papers can be too heavy and are almost impossible to be carried
everywhere. This is where interns are needed most of the time. To recreate what was thrown
away, and to fix the damage that has been done. Microsoft Excel and Word had been my
best friends since day one and sometimes it took me days and even weeks to finish
transferring all data back into the online system. This case usually happened when soft copy
data about all the illegal hawkers from previous years were removed, at least for the
Enforcement Department.

Not only that, I was also involved with counter proceedings where I had to deal with
publics, mainly to translate what was said (from English to Bahasa Melayu) into written
documents that were then keyed-in into the system. However, this only took place when
there were publics who wished to make complaints but could not speak in Bahasa Melayu
for the most part. Since there were only a few employees in the Public Relation Office, and
most of them possess low English proficiency level, hence, it is also a part of my
responsibilities to help whenever I could, commonly when my enforcement-related tasks
were completed. As a consequence, going up and down repeatedly in a day had been one

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of my daily routine as my office was located on the fourth floor and any business related to
the publics should be made on the first floor.

Moreover, as my written skill was acknowledged, I was responsible in doing

research, preparing data, documents, as well as materials for paperwork purposes. For
instance, I have created a few paperworks and one of them was for a project that the
Enforcement Department hankers to conduct for its employees, and it was about the CIDB
Card or also known as the Green Card application. It all started from zero, until all data (how
to apply, rules on applying, who can and cannot apply, what documents should be brought
together when applying, the application fees, and so forth) were all included among a thick
pile of papers. It was also my task to make phone calls directly to the parties involved if I
had any question or doubt regarding the paperwork data since one mistake could mislead
the readers. Hence, a thorough research should be done when preparing any kind of
paperwork.

Last but not least, I had also taken a part of my industrial supervisor’s role as I was
designated to help guide the new intern that had just joined the Enforcement Department
about two weeks prior. Her main task was to double check all the documents that I have
prepared so that she will be able to get a grip on how to create them and be familiar with the
structures as well as formats.

4.2 Problems Encountered

As a human being whose necessity is to communicate with other human beings on

daily basis, I could say that one cannot run from having to face problems, especially in the
workplace where there are hundreds of people going in and out of it countless of times in a
day. The first problem that I noticed and encountered based on my observation was when
there were publics who visited my organization started screaming and threw fits, claiming
that we ignored their complaints (filed only a few days before) and worst, took bribes. There
were also publics who insisted that they did not do anything wrong and demanded their
compounds to be cancelled immediately. This had cause ruckus and obviously had been
such a nuisance to all the employees of MPSPK and also the other publics who happened
to be there at the moment when such occurrence happened.

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 It has come to my realization that according to the guide, complaints’ responses will
only be provided in two weeks period from the date the complaints were made, hence, when
I received complaints saying that we ignored their requests, I had to patiently explain to them
over and over again about the terms and regulations regarding complaints-acceptance as
stated in the guide, but things got complicated when they refused to listen. Not only that,
when we were accused of taking bribes just because we collected the payments made even
though they were the ones at faults, it was too much to bear sometimes. In addition, when
the publics wished for their compounds to be cancelled, they need to meet the director of
the Enforcement Department directly in order to discuss about the matter since only the
director possess the discretion to do so. The employees are powerless and could not make
any decision involving publics arbitrarily.

Besides, since I was not familiar with the job scope of the Enforcement Department,
it took me a while to figure things out. Just like a baby who just took his first step, the same
situation applies to me. It was my first time to have to deal with thousands of compound
tickets, let alone to transfer the hard copy data into the system. In order for me to have
access to the system, I needed to log in using a specific account provided by the
organization, on a specific computer, and I had to remember the code for the system that I
used. Inserting data such as names and address was an easy task since I was able to just
typed-in what was written on the compound bills directly. However, when it comes to the
offenses done, regions, and the acts, a more complicated interface was involved since I was
required to manually search from hundreds of data entries just for one data to be completed.
Plus, it was essential for me to memorize all the acts so that I would not have to deal with
untallied offenses and acts.

Apart from that, since I have been writing, speaking, and reading in English during
my diploma up until degree years, and despite having to use Bahasa Melayu for my daily
conversations, still, I had some problems when it comes to creating documents using formal
Bahasa Melayu since I noticed that I experienced language loss and had difficulties in
constructing perfect sentences in mentioned language, So, I always seek for help from my
colleagues and tried to refer to either Google Translate or online dictionary as much as I
could in order to improve my skill.

Last but not least, I acknowledged myself as someone with no sense of direction, it
became one of the biggest problems encountered for me for the past 16 weeks since being

17
in the Enforcement Department is all about being good in directions. Even when I was
walking in the office building, I got lost easily. Hence, working in the specified department
required me to learn all the residential areas, roads, industrial areas, and more by heart
accordingly to whether they are located in the north, south, east, or west regions of Kota
Kuala Muda. For example, Taman Sejati Indah is located in the southern region, while
Tanjung Dawai is located in the northern region. In order to overcome this problem, I was
given a map by one of the senior colleagues and I tried to memorize them little by little by
referring to Google Maps at first until I was able to categorize them differently without any
obstacle.

4.3 Professional and Ethical Issues, Health and Environmental Issues

In the workplace, ethics is one of the most important elements that should be
emphasized on. As stated by Neves (2015), ethic is a concept concerning morality, good
persona, and is always portrayed as one’s righteousness. Without possessing such ethic, it
is hard for any organization to thrive due to the misfortune that it may bring. In Sungai Petani
Municipal Council, I noticed one obvious professional and ethical issue that most of the
employees did involves time management. Some of them, including two to three of the other
interns were always late and even got issued with warning letters by the higher authorities.
The office hours start exactly at 8.00 in the morning, but these latecomers sometimes arrived
30 minutes to an hour late to the office. Their punch cards were filled with red ink indicating
“You are late. This is a warning for you”.

Not only that, even where there was a regular lunch hour break provided (1.00 p.m.
to 2.00 p.m.) for all the employees, still, some employees went in and out of the office as
they wish all the time to cater their personal needs. At the end of the day, other people ended
up had to carry the responsibilities and do their work for them, especially when the work
given should be completed as soon as possible. Just like the Malay proverb “Janji Melayu”
which stereotypically place all Malays in one group for being late, if this continues, it will
become a big problem to the organization one day.

Other than that, since Covid-19 had been spreading as if it is an artist on a world
tour, MPSPK did a great job in making sure that the inside of the building as well as its
surroundings are safe. For every department, face masks and hand sanitizers were
subsidized and distributed equally. Also, the employees are allowed to freely use or take

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them anytime they want. Plus, a device for checking body temperature is also provided and
everyone who enters the building, including the employees needs to scan their forehead first
before heading in. It was a mandatory step for all of us. Moreover, if any of the employees
live in areas where there were Covid cases, or they themselves showed symptoms of
possible Covid infection, they were immediately called upon and discharged from the office
building so that they can be quarantined for at least 14 days at their respective houses.

Besides, since MPSPK’s employees’ main purpose is to serve the public, hence,
they are more exposed to any possible Covid infection. However, MPSPK played its role
perfectly by closing all the counters that were located outside of each department that was
back then used for dealing with the publics in order to lessen the amount of physical contacts
made. As a result, open counters for each department were equipped and arranged in a row
on the first floor and everyone is required to maintain safe social distance and follow the
standard operating procedure (SOP) as suggested by the government. In conclusion, based
on my thorough observation, also experience, there is no health and environmental issues
in MPSPK. Even though precautions should be taken seriously, everything is still relatively
safe.

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 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Discussion and Suggestion of the Training

Throughout my 16 weeks of the internship period in the Sungai Petani Municipal

Council, I can guarantee that I have learned new things that are out of my league as an
English majored student. I learn that one can be good at something as long as one is willing
to be open-minded and always has the mindset to “think outside of the box”. In this era, the
reality is harsh and not everyone is lucky enough to be a part of his or her desired company.
Hence, I personally think that being given the opportunity to be an intern in the Enforcement
Department in Sungai Petani Municipal Council was such a blessing and I enjoyed every
piece of it. Basically, all of the activities conducted by Sungai Petani Municipal Council could
be categorized as “Customer Service” because as stated before, the existence of this
organization itself were to ensure the safety the people and the city’s welfare are improvising
each day.

The major tasks carried out by the Enforcement Department were to go through each
complaint, either recorded by the Public Relation Officers or by the Enforcers directly. After
that, these Enforcers will visit each site to make sure that all the complaints are attended so
that issues between both parties (the ones who made the complaints and the ones who
received the complaints) could be solved before it became worst. Most of the complaints
received were usually between neighbors, stalls’ owners and persons who rented the stalls,
and more, and the problems usually arose due to complaints involving loud sounds, pets,
no license, lack of common sense and et cetera. If the reported parties were proven to be
the ones at fault, compound letters will be issued by the Enforcers immediately.

However, since I was appointed with job scope which leans more towards
administrative tasks, my major tasks in the office were to classify all those compound bills
according to dates, the head of departments, types of offences, and the acts to which the
offences belong to. Plus, I also had to key-in all the data of the bills into the e-compound
system according to the codes given (the code for each type of offence is different from one
another). This is to make sure that everything is organized before the documents were sent
to the top management for further investigation.

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 I have also contributed in preparing several paperworks for the Enforcement
Department that incorporated the employees’ welfares. Since working in the Enforcement
Department means that the employees are exposed to danger on daily basis, hence, I
initiated a paperwork on why each of the employees should own a CIDB Card and how they
can apply for one. If something happened to any of the officers and even if they lose their
lives while on duty, they themselves, as well as their families will be compensated. Of
course, money equals nothing when you lose someone you love, but at least you do not
have to worry about living expenses, especially when there are offsprings that should be
taken care of.

Next, moving on to the suggestions and recommendations for the industrial training.
First of all, I would like to leave a comment on how Kolej Universiti Poly-Tech Mara Kuala
Lumpur (KUPTM KL) should be more prepared and consider the final semester students’
welfares especially during this pandemic. I have witnessed the occurrence with my own two
eyes and I personally think that this issue should be brought into light. As we all know, when
Covid-19 first invaded the whole world, every country demanded for their people to stay in
their houses and be quarantined, and same goes to Malaysians. In fact, it was proven that
many people lose their jobs to this terrible disease.

As a consequence, it was very hard for all of us, the final semester students to seek
for places to do our internships at. Despite applying for hundreds of companies and
organizations, not even one called back. It was a depressing time for all of us, but even then,
instead of providing us with extra time at least until the pandemic cleared out a little bit, we
were being pushed. Desperate times call for desperate measures, this is why many of us
ended up doing our internships at companies where possessing medium to high English
proficiency level is not necessary at all. Thus, I would like to suggest for KUPTM if such
incident happens again in the future, the best way to tackle the situation is by providing more
time or maybe list of possible companies to the students.

Other than that, as for MPSPK, I would like for the organization to be fair and honest
in accepting interns or new employees. My expectation towards this organization was high,
but by seeing how they managed the system had lowered it a little bit. Even though there
were many applications made by students from various institutional academies, and despite
having different level of qualifications, all of these are useless since MPSPK tend to hire
people who are close to them and worst, their family members. This happened to me and I

21
have witnessed how these privileged people were treated differently and some of them were
even granted with allowance even though they applied late. At the end of the day, people
with no connections had to do their internship for free and were taken advantage of because
they are powerless.

In drawing things to a close, I would also like to recommend for MPSPK to provide
suitable positions according to the interns’ majors studied. The organization is such a huge
organization, hence, I do not understand why the Human Resource Department failed to do
so. For example, I studied English linguistic for my degree, so I personally think that I should
be placed under the supervision of the Public Relation Department. Instead, I was assigned
to the Enforcement Department even when there were empty spots in the mentioned
department. The same thing happened to the new intern in my department, and other interns
as well. She majored in the implementation of laws, so, she should be placed literally in the
Law Department and not in the same department as me. Likewise, another male intern
studied Management, but rather than placing him as an intern in the Human Resource
Department, the Landscape Department had been assigned to him.

5.2 Conclusion of the Training

Based on my experience as an intern who had been working for eight hours a day,
five days a week, a few conclusions that can be drawn are, firstly, I noticed that I have at
least developed skills other than the ones that I gained in classrooms setting. Of course,
completing my degree in KUPTM is one of the greatest decisions that I have ever made and
obviously I am wiser that I was before, however, I feel like in order for one to survive living
in this harsh world, skills are more important than anything. Plus, for one to really learn the
true meaning of earning money, one needs to be exposed to a real job to really get the
hands-on experience because sometimes expectations could be really far from the reality.
Moreover, I am now able to multitask, communicate and socialize better with people from
my surrounding, deal with challenges at work, write paperworks and other documents, be
more patient, and others. It was a whole learning process, and I am very grateful for
everything.

Thirdly, even though doing my internship in MPSPK was never an easy task because
I was acquired to do things that I never did before as a student of Applied English Language
Studies course, still, I learned that if you are stuck in situations where even Google could

22
not provide you with answers, it is better to just ask. Your senior colleagues and even bosses
might have shown assertive attributes and had such “unfriendly facial expressions“
displayed on their faces, but who knows? This is literally based on my own experience.
Never judge a book by its cover. No one really gets mad when you humbled yourself to learn
from them. Just go with it and do not be afraid to ask.

Other than that, I believe that MPSPK is a great company for interns to get a small
taste of the real world, but, not everyone is nice towards you. Another thing that I learned
was to never take things to heart. Being scolded over and over again, sometimes over the
same thing can be quite tiring, yet, it is normal since you are in a learning process. I have
been scolded too many times during my college years that I could say that I now have a
heart made of steel. Whatever it is, in situations like these, I was the one who needs help
from them. Therefore, I knew how my behavior will affect them on the way they perceived
me as an intern. Thus, it is better to just agreed and never talked back. If you want to be
respected, you should respect others first.

Furthermore, I personally think that the industrial training also provided me with
opportunities to try and relate things that I had already know with things I am about to know.
For example, one of my main tasks when working in MPSPK was to create memos and send
them out whenever necessary, During my degree final year, I took a subject named ‘Writing
for Professionals’ taught by Madam Ilyani, one of the English lecturers in KUPTM. Back
then, I learned how to write memos, letters, e-mails, minutes of meetings, and other work-
related written documents. As a consequence, I had no problems when creating tons of
memos and letters for the organization. The only difference was that I had to follow the
organization’s format.

Besides, I also took part in learning about different cultures practiced in different
types of organizations when I was required to enroll in a class called ‘Language and Culture
in Professional Life’, also when I was studying in KUPTM. Even a little bit, it still helped me
to have a better understanding on how human brains work and if it was not because of it, I
honestly do not think that I was able to have a close relationship with almost everyone in
MPSPK, especially in the Enforcement Department. I learned how to respect the work
culture, what to say and what not to say, what to do and what not to do, along with to accept
other people’s flaws and vice versa.

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 Finally, despite all the ups and downs that I was in, I am still pretty much grateful to
KUPTM for providing me with such opportunity to put myself into a working woman’s shoes,
and for triggering me to be more open-minded and to step out of my comfort zone. The only
thing that I was good at was to be an excellent student, but after 16 weeks spent in the
organization, I am brave enough to say that no matter what happen, regardless of what kind
of problems encountered in my future workplace, I am strong and I will be able to overcome
them without even budge.

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 REFERENCES

Background. (2020). Retrieved September 10, 2020 from

http://www.mpspk.gov.my/en/mpspk/profile/background

Contact Us. (2020). Retrieved October 5, 2020 from http://www.mpspk.gov.my/en/contact-

us

Mission & Vision. (2020). Retrieved September 11, 2020 from

http://www.mpspk.gov.my/en/mpspk/profile/mission-vision

Neves, M.P. (2015). Ethics. Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. 1-17.

Organization Chart. (2020). Retrieved October 10, 2020 from

http://www.mpspk.gov.my/en/mpspk/management/organisation-chart

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 APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

THE COMPOUND LETTERS THAT WERE PREPARED AND SENT OUT BY POSTAL
SERVICES

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 APPENDIX B

ONE OF THE PAPER WORKS CREATED (REGARDING CIDB CARDS)

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 APPENDIX C

CLASSIFICATION OF ILLEGAL HAWKERS’ DATA BASED ON REGIONS

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 APPENDIX D

THE COMPOUND BILLS THAT WERE NEEDED TO BE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO

DATES, HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS, AND TYPES OF OFFENSES

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30
 APPENDIX E

PICTURES TAKEN ON THE DAY OF DEMOLISHMENT OF ILLEGAL HAWKERS’

STALLS AND LICENSES CHECKING OPERATIONS

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