Introducing the highly energetic Muhammad Shukri bin Mohamed Ishah who is presently pursuing a Bachelor in International Business at MSU.

He is a student who excels in communication skills and adores interacting with various groups of people. Aside from his devotion towards pursuing business, Shukri is a person who has many passions.

“I am passionate about a lot of things including reading, writing and dancing. My all-time favourite books are the Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia novels. I love reading anything, particularly in the adventure, magical, and romance genre.

Another way Shukri can disconnect from reality is through dance. For him, dancing is not seen as just an art, it is also seen to express himself. This passion of his would later flourish during his university life.

Shukri’s passion for dancing sparked when he was 9. During that time he was randomly chosen to participate in a Malay traditional dance performance. Although reluctant at first, once he learned the dance movements and techniques he was in awe and fell in love in Malay dance culture.

“Little did I know that something which was once forced upon me, eventually became the ‘force’ that would drive me to express myself.”

After a long hiatus, Shukri’s passion for dancing was reignited when he was 16. He was actively involved in a dance group from Kumpulan Tarian Citra Daksina, and they went on to achieve great success.


With all of the accomplishments he had accumulated before enrolling in a university, he had to make a bold decision on choosing where he would study. Luckily for us MSURIANS, he chose us.

“I felt like MSU can provide me with the platform in which I can organize more activities with complete guidance from the academic teams. And I knew MSU loves organizing fun events as well as impactful programmes, so this seemed to be exactly what I was looking for to develop my personal growth and to get the best education.”

When having such a valuable student enrolled, MSU made sure to help Shukri pursue his passions as much as possible. He says, “Being entrusted to hold the position as the President of SRC for MSU College Johor Bahru allowed me to expand my connections with industries, NGOs and other organizations such as Yayasan Warisan Johor, Jabatan Kesenian dan Kebudayaan Negeri (JKKN) and many others.


“I was given such a great platform by MSU. Thanks to the connections I made, I managed to meet executives that wanted to appoint me to be a part of the Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Persembahan for SUKMA.”

Shukri went on to achieve so much more in MSU.


With so many achievements up his sleeve, there is however, one significant achievement in his life that he holds dearly. That would be back in 2017 when he and his dance team appeared on TV9 Nasi Lemak Kopi O to be featured for the P.Ramlee & Saloma tribute episode.


“Upon winning multiple national level competitions in back to back years, my team and I were contacted by the producer of the show, Puan Farah. She had invited us for an interview session, and we were over the moon.

“We felt this way because our group was initially formed with the goal being to express our passions. We had no intentions of prioritizing winning competitions or making a big name for ourselves.”

The dance team went on to perform Joget Si Pinang Dua and Tarian Zapin using P.Ramlee songs such as Maafkan Kami in the Pendekar Bujang Lapok on the show.


Shukri is still optimistic about the future. He already has plans made for the new year. “I want to conduct a dance competition and make it an annual MSU programme. This programme can be made as an extension to the International Songket Festival.

“The idea of this dance competition is by using a dance pad, merging the dance pad’s electronic game controller to traditional music. Competitors would have to dance to traditional music while stepping on the dance pad to gain marks.

“By combining the dance pad usage to traditional music, the younger generation can appreciate the Malaysian culture more.”