Student communities and the different ways culture intersects with each other serves as the branching off point for Clubs and Societies (C&S) week. Occurring at the start of every semester, the C&S division imagined and manifested a significant part of student culture, that is finding communities to gel with, finding their people and creating an echo chamber of comfort. Spanning across four days, this is a platform for student clubs to recruit and attract. 

More important than developing these communities is leadership and sustainability itself. Maintaining the continuity of the club and avoiding deactivation requires tenacity. This evidently comes from the club executives, specifically the president. The performance of commitment by C&S presidents is something rather peculiar. The idea of taking on responsibilities despite not getting paid deconstructs quite literally the core argument of a capitalist, which is why I am turning this event coverage request into profiles, specifically featuring Monash University Climbing Club (MUCC), Monash Performing Arts Club (MUMPAC), and Monash Film Club (MONFILM). 

The recent surge in people engaging in rock climbing as a sport, aided by the proliferation of indoor climbing gyms, initially appeared to be a short-lived mainstream pop culture moment. This is further fueled by the fact that rock climbing is still relatively inaccessible in Malaysia. MUCC has a rather interesting perspective to this considering the fact that the founding executives championed and pushed for the construction of a rock climbing wall in the Monash campus during 2011. 

“Our seniors had the rare opportunity to propose the construction of a rock climbing wall to Monash and at that time, Monash wanted something different and new, something that would allow the campus to stand out in comparison to their competitors in the Klang Valley”, said Li Ze, the 2025 president of MUCC. 

This idea proved to be an extremely successful one with MUCC being one of the most established clubs in Monash and currently amassing 160 recruited members in this semester’s C&S Week. Despite the success, MUCC does have their fair share of conflict that arose between the club executives and the MUSA Club and Societies Department which is worth exploring due to the immense amount of control MUSA has over the club and societies community in Monash. 

“To go through the hierarchy of leadership in the C&S Department, specifically to deal with matters surrounding the Monash Cup was rather difficult. The C&S Department had their own expectations as to how they would want to run the climbing portion of Monash Cup but it simply did not align with what we had planned. Knowing that our committee is more well versed in climbing and the rules and regulations that surrounds it, it should be the idea of relinquishing freedom to organise the climbing portion of Monash Cup to MUCC. This is precisely why MUCC will not be participating in the Monash Cup this year”, clarified Li Ze. 

Regardless of this, MUCC does an excellent job at making this niche sport accessible to students considering the fact that to climb, all you have to do is sign up and pay a RM 50 deposit which you will get back after seven rounds of climbing. “I think everyone should climb, it’s a nice environment to be in and it’s not as daunting as people think it would be”, expressed Li Ze. 

Established and founded by Zoe Maisara, De Hsien, and Qiaoxi, MONFILM first started with only 15 recruited members on their first C&S day and now they have crossed the 100 member threshold this semester. With the availability of a Film Studies major in Monash, it was rather odd that Monash does not have a film club apart from their extensive C&S roster. Zoe thought exactly this and the final catalyst of her finally submitting the paperwork to activate MONFILM was a rerun of Batman at GSC that she and her friends tuned into. 

“We wanted to screen films that were inaccessible in Malaysia, films that were screened in the 80s and 90s where most of us weren’t born yet, queer films, independent films, and films that people might not be exposed to frequently”, said Zoe, the 2024/2025 president of MONFILM. 

MONFILM is also a rather interesting club due to their aversion to censorship. Films are screened in their entirety and scenes are not prematurely cropped out regardless of what the Malaysian government thinks. Draw a comparison between seeing ‘Challengers’ at a Malaysian cinema and at a MONFILM weekly screening, you are most definitely going to see Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor make out on the big screen at Audi 1. 

“We don’t typically receive complaints about nudity, we actually screened ‘The Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ last semester and nobody really cared about the nudity. I think people were just glad to watch a movie without censorship”, expressed Zoe. 

Making films accessible to the Monash community is an integral part of MONFILM. It was an imperative aspect and a facet of student life that MONFILM was concerned with. The dynamics between the members being inviting and captivating allowed MONFILM to grow into the club that they are now. 

Starting in the first semester of 2024, they did not have a club Instagram account or any social media platforms that can be utilised for publicity and engagement. This proved to be an issue considering that the only platform that they had for promotion was during C&S week itself and their Whatsapp community announcement page which is only directed to members who signed up during C&S. Essentially, no promotion and engagement was being channeled outside of this very small echo chamber. 

“If anyone is hesitating in joining MONFILM, please don’t! We’re not at all serious film people, our conversations about film are so silly, and we’re super friendly”, reassured Zoe. 

There always appears to be absolutely no equilibrium between the Malaysian community and the performing arts. We either think it’s unimportant and that art does not hold value over committing life to science or business, or we think that spending money on the arts is a waste and that money should be better spent on consumerist ideals. I spent last night watching ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ and I genuinely believe that a Malaysian production of this musical will unequivocally make light of the importance of theatre in redefining the Malaysian art scene. 

Cristen Ng, the 2025 president of MUMPAC explored her affinity towards the performing arts and musicals by gradually making her way to the front of the stage. 

“I had the rather unique experience of both being a director and an actor last year. It made me acutely aware of the vast differences between both roles and how the production of a play, the 20 minute scene that you’re witnessing will simply not exist if it wasn’t for the constant action by every single person on the team”, said Cristen. 

I think the most interesting facet of MUMPAC would be the team’s ability to produce a play with an extremely tight budget. Having the propensity to translate a script into a real life production requires not only talent and direction but also an indispensable amount of funding. Funding, at which is mostly generated from the Monash community through ticket sales. 

“We’re constantly in the search of cardboard, which I think is something quite hilarious and most people don’t realise in prop making. We tend to be very thrifty with our props and making our set. We only buy something brand new when it is absolutely necessary considering that everyone we’re working with is really supportive and resourceful. If we’re in need of a plaid top, chances of someone offering to borrow theirs for a particular scene is quite high”, expressed Cristen. 

MUMPAC spends on average RM 500 for a production and it feels like that is simply just not enough. With the dedication and passion that everyone has in ensuring that the production goes as smoothly as possible, it would be remiss to not offer MUMPAC more funding. Despite the tight budget, the MUMPAC committee manages to power through. 

“I think it would be great to have more funding specifically to streamline the processes backstage while the play is happening. Lighting is a really huge aspect of the play and if we could have just one gigantic control panel which would automate and make the process of turning on and off lights easier, it would very much help in ensuring that the timing and movement of the play is done right”, said Ryan Ng, the Head of Backstage. 

Only three fantastic clubs had their feature in this article but Monash has approximately 60 clubs for students to create communities with. It is the opportunity that you obtain and that you use which might place you between a friend group that lasts you all your years of studying here at Monash. Engage with the arts, get a workout in, or bring your academics outside the classroom! 

Written by Yashven Jayabalan

Photos by May Ping, Daven, Joe and Sheng Jie