Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : LEGEND HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 18/10/96
Tajuk/Title : THE GALA DINNER OF THE MALAYSIA-
AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION IN CONJUNCTION
WITH THE MALAYSIA-AUSTRALIA
UNIVERSITY ALUMNI CONVENTION
1. It is a pleasure for me to be here at the Gala
Dinner organised by The Malaysia-Australia
Foundation (The MAF) in conjunction with the
Malaysia-Australia University Alumni Convention.
2. It was about two years ago when I launched The
MAF and spoke of the many common grounds upon which
the relations between Malaysia and Australia were
based and our desire to enhance relations between
the two countries.
3. Since then, I understand that The MAF had, on a
low-key basis, undertaken several initiatives
towards this end, one such initiative being to offer
fellowships to Australians to do attachments here in
Malaysia. The initiative to hold this Convention is
commendable because this will bring together
Government ministers, university vice-chancellors
and graduates of Australian universities, and other
alumni members of Australian universities, both
Malaysians and Australians. I hope the Convention
which aims to identify prospects for cooperation
between Australia and Malaysia in the 21st century
will achieve its objectives. This effort will no
doubt enhance bilateral relations between our two
countries.
4. Besides the Government to Government exchanges,
there are substantive diplomatic and trade presence
in each other's countries. While increases in the
number of tourists and visitors from Australia and
vice-versa as well as vigorous and growing trade
exchange and other areas of two-way cooperation and
contacts, one of the most valuable and enduring
bonds between Malaysia and Australia has been the
links through education. Some 120,000 Malaysian
students have completed their studies in Australia.
Malaysia has been one of the biggest single sources
of overseas students for Australia for many years
and has the highest number of higher education
students in Australia. Presently 12,000 Malaysian
students are pursuing their studies in Australian
schools and institutions.
5. I understand that The MAF and the Malaysia-
Australia Universities Alumni Associations (MAAA)
derive their support from these 120,000 alumni and
both have come together to promote stronger ties
between Malaysia and Australia.
6. People-to-people relations provide the
strongest foundation for relationship between
countries. This is truly the case when the students
of each country have lived, studied and worked in
the other country for certain periods of their
lives. With 120,000 Malaysian alumni, Malaysians
must, to some extent, be knowledgeable and
appreciative of the culture and lifestyles of the
Australians. Alumni chapters in Malaysia enable
graduates to maintain the friendships and
professional associations begun in the universities.
7. These educational bonds create a strong tie
among the Malaysian alumni for Australia and
Australians. Unfortunately as Australians do not
normally spend the same amount of the impressionable
years of their lives in Malaysia, the knowledge of
Australians about Malaysia and its multiracial
people is not as extensive as that of Malaysians
about Australia. I am therefore happy to note that
The MAF, in close association with the MAAA is
working to encourage more Australians to visit,
study, train and work in Malaysia.
8. I also note that through the fellowships
offered by The MAF, some Australian postgraduate
students have come to Malaysia to avail themselves
of what Malaysia has to offer in the fields of
journalism, commerce and engineering through short
periods of attachments with our local corporations.
These initiatives will serve to create a better
awareness and understanding of developments in this
country and dispel wrong perceptions and prejudices
born out of ignorance or exposure to slanted reports
by sensation-seeking media or to those Malaysians
who, for one reason or another, are disenchanted
with their own country. Still, despite the ups and
downs, relations with Australia have been generally
good and in recent years have grown stronger.
9. This good relationship is reflected in the
economic field where trade has been growing ever
stronger with each passing year. Australian exports
to Malaysia in 1995 were valued at RM5.3 billion, an
increase of 14.2 percent over the previous year
while imports rose to RM3.08 billion, up 28.2
percent over the previous year giving Australia a
good trade surplus. Malaysia remains Australia's
third largest ASEAN trading partner and it is also
Australia's 11th major trading partner.
Correspondingly, Australia is Malaysia's 11th major
trading partner.
10. Malaysia is very keen to be an international
centre of excellence in higher education in the 21st
century. To achieve such status, Malaysia will need
to have enough institutions of higher learning not
only to satisfy the huge demand for trained and
skilled manpower for its industrialisation drive and
the fulfilment of Vision 2020 but also to contribute
to the equally huge demand for skilled manpower in
the region beyond the year 2000.
11. According to the 1995 population figure, there
were 1.68 million Malaysians between the ages of 20
to 24 years - the ages at which they should be
pursuing tertiary education. However, at present
only 13 percent of them obtained places in local
universities. Our target is to ensure a 40 percent
enrolment in institutions of higher learning by the
year 2000. This means we have a long way to go
because we need about 560,000 more places before we
can reach that target.
12. In recognition of this and other needs, the
Government has set a policy to liberalise education.
Five Bills were passed in Parliament this year. They
are the Education Act, the Universities and
University Colleges (Amendment) Act, the Private
Higher Educational Institutions Act, the National
Council of Higher Education Act and the National
Accreditation Board Act. The Bills among other
things, set the pace for the incorporation of
universities, the establishment of private
universities and branches of foreign universities to
enable us to meet our Vision 2020 objectives.
13. In this regard, as we move towards the 21st
century, we believe Australia can play a major role
in Malaysia's aspiration to become an international
centre of excellence in higher education. It is our
hope that Australia which has several good
established universities and institutions will
encourage such universities and institutions to open
branches in Malaysia or to twin with local
institutions. Malaysian interests are already
talking to the Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology and Monash University of Australia. We
hope there will be more universities that are
interested to come to Malaysia.
14. Malaysian institutions of higher learning
should look towards attracting academics and experts
from all over the world and set up the required
faculties and chairs of learning. They should adapt
to changes taking place around them so that they
will remain relevant. It may be that in the olden
times, universities were where knowledge was pursued
for the sake of knowledge. We cannot afford that
luxury now. Universities are costly investments for
the people and the country. They must serve the
people and the country, not just themselves or the
people who work in them. Ivory towers gleaming in
rarefied air are things of the past and should
remain in the past.
15. To be truly relevant universities must not only
disseminate knowledge without caring or knowing what
the knowledge may be used for. Modern universities
must apply the knowledge or at least know and teach
about the application of that knowledge. For this
Universities must stress research. Academics who
never produce any academic papers as a result of
their research, but are only interested in passing
on old knowledge, contribute nothing to the
accumulation of knowledge. The application of
knowledge requires development capabilities. For a
country desirous of industrialising rapidly the role
of research and development in institutions of
higher learning is not just invaluable but is quite
indispensable. It is hoped that Australian
universities which may be interested in setting up
branches or twinning with Malaysian institutions
would appreciate the need for strong research and
development capabilities.
16. Since 1985/86, a number of overseas
institutions including Australian universities have
entered into twinning arrangements with Malaysian
institutions and are able to offer certain courses
in which the first year or the first two years of
the degree courses are undertaken at private
colleges in Malaysia and the student then completes
his degree in Australia. Twinning programmes have
become popular because of the reduction in overall
cost of acquiring a recognised degree. Such
twinning programmes can of course be reversed so
that students from Australian universities can also
take a part of their early years of study in
Malaysia and complete it in Australia or even the
other way round.
17. One cannot speak of education now without
mentioning the role of rapid and varied forms of
communication in the Information Age. The advent of
multimedia opens up vast possibilities of
disseminating knowledge at lower cost to a very
great number of people. No longer should students
face their lecturers in lecture halls in order to
interact with them. Through the multimedia
facilities physical limitations will be overcome and
hopefully the cost of education would go down too.
We have launched the Multimedia Super Corridor which
will have all the latest in infrastructure to enable
distance learning to be effective and of a high
quality. Here again is another opportunity for
Australian institutions of higher learning to
participate and help make a success of this
Malaysian project.
18. It is time for us to look boldly ahead into the
future and to proactively maintain contacts and
exchanges, expand people and business networks and
nurture cultural understanding so that the youth of
our countries, the corporate, political and business
leaders of tomorrow will be better able to continue
and improve on the relations between Malaysia and
Australia. They should not harbour misconceptions
about each other but should in fact help to correct
the mistakes and prejudices of the older
generations.
19. For this, more talks, dialogues, or public
forums with distinguished panels of speakers
comprising of academics, intellectuals, corporate
and business leaders from both public and private
sectors of both countries should be organised to
exchange ideas and views, impart, acquire and share
knowledge.
20. I wish to congratulate The MAF and MAAA for
carrying out their stated missions and the
initiatives they have taken to organise this timely
and useful get-together.
21. I wish you every success in your endeavours.
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