Free Hugs

Recently some UNITEN students carried out the Free Hugs Campaign as one of their moral studies project (Projek Khidmat Siswa). Our office often receives various facilities requests for these Moral Studies project and this is one the unique ones.

I didn’t think much of the project until the day I had to accompany the QE assessors around campus. At the College of Engineering (COE) I saw the booth setup for this campaign. Then I recognized one of young learner friends that I knew. Instantly I knew I was heading for one of those hugs….no way to avoid it at all! True enough once he saw me, he came and gave me a hug.

I found out from Wikipedia that this Free Hugs Campaign is a social movement involving individuals who offer hugs to strangers in public places. The campaign in its present form was started in 2004 by an Australian man known only by the pseudonym "Juan Mann". The campaign became famous internationally in 2006 as the result of a music video on YouTube by the Australian band Sick Puppies.

A hug is defined as to clasp or hold closely, especially in the arms, as in affection; embrace. The hugs are meant to be random acts of kindness - purportedly selfless acts performed by a person for the sole reason of making others feel better.

In UNITEN last year, the staff started addressing each other as sahabat (friend). At all our team building programs, it has always ended with a round of hugs…(of course, guys and guys or gals and gals). In some ways it has broken the bonds between colleagues and has enriched the team spirit. I believe it is a good work culture but we must be careful not to take advantage of the sahabat spririt.