The Jury and The Winner
Reuni SSEAYP 1989 di Penang mendadak berubah jadi suasana rapat dewan juri internasional, persis seperti yang terlihat di foto itu. Mereka duduk serius, menunduk, mencatat, dan mengecek angka—karena merekalah para dewan juri yang sedang menghitung hasil presentasi dari masing-masing grup. Dari luar kelihatan santai, tapi ekspresi wajahnya jelas: ini bukan main-main, ini soal gengsi reuni.
Yang bikin tambah heboh, proses penghitungan dilakukan dengan sangat teliti. Ada yang menghitung ulang, ada yang mencocokkan catatan, bahkan ada yang sampai mengeluarkan kalkulator sungguhan—bukan aplikasi, tapi alat khusus yang bunyinya tik-tik penuh keyakinan. Angka dipastikan benar, takut salah hitung, takut sejarah SSEAYP 1989 tercoreng hanya karena satu digit melenceng.
Dan seperti yang sudah bisa ditebak sejak awal perjalanan hidup manusia, pemenangnya tetap: grupnya Lily. Semua langsung tertawa, ada yang pura-pura kaget, ada yang cuma mengangguk pasrah. Lily memang fenomena alam. Dari lomba tingkat RT, RW, kelurahan, sampai level Indonesia, ia selalu terpilih atau keluar sebagai juara. Bukan karena kepandaiannya semata—katanya sih—tapi karena fengshui hidupnya terlalu sempurna untuk dilawan.
Bayangkan saja, ada door prize pun Lily hampir pasti menang, padahal tak ada hubungannya sama akreditasi akademis atau IPK. Begitulah Lily. Para dewan juri akhirnya menyerah dengan senyum lebar: dihitung pakai cara apa pun, hasilnya sama. Tetap Lily. Hehehe. Reuni SSEAYP 1989 pun ditutup dengan tawa, kehangatan, dan keyakinan bahwa sebagian orang memang lahir dengan garis juara permanen.
IPY-89
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The Jury and The Winner
The SSEAYP 1989 reunion in Penang suddenly turned into an international judging committee meeting, exactly like what you see in that photo. The people in the picture were the judges themselves—heads down, notes everywhere, carefully counting the results of each group’s presentation. From the outside it looked casual, but their faces said it all: this was serious business. Reunion pride was on the line.
Things got even more intense when the counting began. Scores were checked, rechecked, and cross-checked. One judge pulled out an actual calculator—not a phone app, but a real calculator with buttons and confidence. Numbers were treated like state secrets. No one wanted to miscount and accidentally rewrite SSEAYP history over one tiny digit.
And, as destiny had already scheduled long before this reunion, the winner was Lily’s group. Laughter immediately broke out. Some pretended to be surprised, others simply nodded in calm acceptance. Lily is a natural phenomenon. From neighborhood competitions (RT and RW level), to subdistricts, all the way to national scale—she always gets elected or wins. Not because she’s the smartest, but because her feng shui is unbeatable.
Even if there’s a random door prize, Lily will somehow win it. Academic accreditation? Completely unrelated. GPA? Irrelevant. That’s just Lily. In the end, the judges gave up with big smiles: count it any way you want, the result is the same. Still Lily. Hehehe. And that’s how the SSEAYP 1989 reunion in Penang ended—with laughter, warm friendship, and full acceptance that some people are simply born champions by cosmic design.
IPY-89
