Education

Sunday July 1, 2007

Think global, act regional

By FARIDAH BEGUM

THREE Malaysian students have won a three-week trip to Japan under the JAL Scholarship Programme and will join 36 others from the Asia and Oceania regions to view globalisation from different angles.

Organised by the JAL Foundation and sponsored by Japan Airlines International, the programme has been in the airline's calendar since the early 1970s to strengthen friendship between the Asia and Oceania regions.

The participants had to send in an 800-word essay based on the 34th programme theme, Challenges for the Future. For the first time, the essays had to be written in English.

The three will be in Tokyo and Kanazawa, where they will attend lectures, go on field trips and discuss issues with other participants.

For Lee Woan Ling, 24, who has a Master in Chemistry, the trip is a graduation gift.

Lee, who based her essay on the challenges of overcoming global warming, said her main problem was condensing her thoughts into 800 words.

Woan Ling, Mervin and Nor Diyana with their scholarship awards.
“It is an interesting topic and there is a lot to expound on when you have read and understood the subject,” said the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia student from Sabah.

JAL vice-president and regional manager for Malaysia and Brunei Michitaka Kujime said 137 Malaysians had taken part in the programme since 1975.

For Nor Diyana Yahaya, 22, who is reading law at Universiti Teknologi Mara in Shah Alam, the programme is a chance for her to meet like-minded undergraduates and make the most out of the networking opportunities available there.

“I'm excited and I know I am going to enjoy meeting other participants in the programme,” she said.

Nor Diyana said her parents spoke to all seven of their children in both English and Bahasa Malaysia at home.

“It was not easy but my parents were realistic about the future and encouraged me to take part in English debates and to read as much as I could to be fluent in English,” she said.

Mervin Low Ze Han, 22, from Universiti Sains Malaysia, said he applied for the scholarship to test himself on his ability to think out of the box and to brush up on his Japanese.

The undergraduate is majoring in environmental biology and doing a minor in the Japanese language.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat, who presented the students with the scholarships, said this was an encouraging move by Japan Airline as it helped cement friendships and strengthen ties between Asia and the Oceania nations.

He hoped that more such scholarships would be made available to Malaysians so that they could interact on an international platform.

Kujime said the scholars were selected based on their command of the English language, enthusiasm and wit.

The main aim of the programme, he added, was to foster a growing group of “globally minded citizens” by providing them with an experience in globalisation.

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