Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh dan Salam Sejahtera,

Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah bt. Mohd Ali, Canselor, Universiti Multimedia;

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Muhammad Radzi bin Mansor, Pro-Canselor, Universiti Multimedia, dan Yang Berbahagia Puan Sri Aizah Mahmud,;

Yang Amat Berbahagia Toh Puan Datuk Hajjah Dr. Aishah Ong, Pro-Chancellor, Universiti Malaya;

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Musa bin Mohamed, Pengerusi, Lembaga Pengarah MMU, dan Yang Berbahagia Puan Sri Dato’ Seri Fauziah Shahrom;

Ahli-Ahli Lembaga Pengarah Universiti,
Naib Canselor, Rektor dan Ketua-Ketua Eksekutif Universiti,
Tuan-Tuan Yang Terutama Duta-Duta,
Ketua-ketua Industri dan Rakan-rakan Usahasama,
Para Dekan dan Ahli Senat,
Dif-Dif Kehormat, para graduan, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sekalian.

Syukur Alhamdulilah, dengan rahmat dan keizinan dari Allah SWT, pada hari yang penuh berkat ini kita dapat berkumpul untuk meraikan lebih 3,200 graduan dalam upacara konvokesyen ke-9 Universiti Multimedia. Bagi pihak universiti, saya ingin mengalu-alukan kehadiran Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah bt. Mohd Ali, seorang Canselor yang senantiasa prihatin terhadap perkembangan universiti beliau dan para pelajar.

Dalam konvokesyen kali ini juga, kita disertai oleh Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Muhammad Radzi bin Mansor yang telah dilantik sebagai Pro-Canselor universiti ini pada hari Sabtu lalu, iaitu hari pertama majlis ini. Walaupun ini merupakan kali pertama Tan Sri duduk di pentas Dewan Besar ini selaku Pro-Canselor, ini bukanlah kali pertama Tan Sri hadir di majlis konvokesyen MMU. Tan Sri telah banyak kali menyertai kita sebelum ini selaku Pengerusi TM. Perlantikan beliau sebagai Pro-Canselor MMU adalah amat dialu-alukan dan tahniah saya ucapkan.

Lain cerita pula untuk diri saya. Sebagai Presiden baru, ini adalah kali pertama untuk diri saya di Majlis Konvokesyen MMU. Oleh itu, untuk [catch-up] dengan para tetamu dan juga ahli akademik yang lain di atas pentas ini, perlulah saya berucap selama sehari atau dua. Tetapi memandangkan kita kesuntukan masa, saya akan cuba untuk memendekkan ucapan ini.

Tun Canselor dan para hadirin sekalian,
Memandangkan terdapat para tetamu dari luar negara yang mungkin tidak fasih berbahasa Melayu, izinkan saya untuk meneruskan ucapan dalam Bahasa Inggeris untuk memanfaatkan semua yang hadir.

Tun Chancellor, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to express my thanks to the Chancellor and the university Board of Directors for your trust and faith in appointing me as President of Multimedia University in January of this year, and to the staff and students for your welcome and support. It is indeed an honour to helm the very first private university in the country, and it is also indeed a great responsibility and an interesting challenge.

It is an honour in that Multimedia University already enjoys an excellent reputation in the public eye, and is widely known as one of the top private universities in the nation. It is an important responsibility to maintain the high academic standards we practice and to ensure that MMU graduates who are highly in demand by the industry continues to be equipped with the important skills that help them stand out from the many, many degree holders in today’s world. And it is also an interesting challenge, to take both incremental and transformative steps to raise the university’s output in research and development, as well as commercialization.

To embark on its second decade as a private university, the university’s academic community have come together in outlining an R&D Roadmap which helps describe the university’s research activities more clearly in order to encourage collaboration and teamwork, interdisciplinary research, and a more cohesive R&D output for the university. From this roadmap, the university have identified many potential sources of research funding and have pursued these aggresively in the past months in order to boost the resources we have to work with.

Apart from the many collaborations MMU already enjoys with the industry, the university is also leveraging on its many natural relationships with its siblings in the TM Group, namely TM R&D, TM Smartschool and TMNet in pooling our resources and developing common goals in research and collaboration. Research partnerships are being formed with other universities and institutions for areas in which we share common interests and goals. To ensure that the results of our research gives us returns that we can channel into further developing the university, MMU has consolidated its entrepreneurship, commercialization, and consultancy activities in its subsidiary company Cnergy, or officially Unitele Multimedia Sdn Bhd.

Research being the core focus of any university does not come at the expense of our commitment to excellent undergraduate education. It is my firm belief that research and teaching goes hand in hand. Thus, a strong focus on research and development among the academic staff should help the development of teaching and learning activities in the campus as well. A good lecturer or professor educates his students based on knowledge rooted in his research – cutting edge, relevant and not only informs his students on the latest developments in their field, but also encourages them to explore it for themselves.

To better serve the university community in general, and the students in particular, the university’s many day-to-day operations have been consolidated under an Operations Division which will help enhance coordination and teamwork among the university staff. As I understand it, they have already developed a new motto under the flag of “One 2009” and are soon to unleash a new uniform for all their staff. Also established are one-stop centres for students and for staff to enhance our services within the university community. To our dearest graduates, you may remain rest assured that your alma mater will remain in good hands.

Tun Chancellor, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Allow me now to address the graduates of 2008 on the subject of education and the future challenges that they will be facing as the next generation of global citizens.

It gives me great pleasure to address you all today as graduates of Multimedia University. Congratulations on the completion of your university education and for the scrolls that you are now holding in your hands. However, one must ask, what does this mean for all of you? There are many opinions of course, perhaps I can share with you some of the things I have heard being said with regards to graduation and scrolls.

The 24th President of Harvard University, Abbott Lawrence Lowell is quoted as saying, “Of course there's a lot of knowledge in universities: the freshmen bring a little in; the seniors don't take much away, so knowledge sort of accumulates.” There is no record or indication today whether he was joking when he said this.

A bit more on the serious side, another university President, Robert F. Goheen, who was the 16th President of Princeton University, had said, “If you have both feet planted on level ground, then the university has failed you.” I am curious as to how many of you have both your feet planted on level ground today.

From less of a university President’s point of view, Mark Twain, ever the cynical author wrote, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” And finally perhaps my favourite is an anonymous saying that goes, “If you have a university degree you can be absolutely sure of one thing: you - have - a - university - degree.”

These four quotes seem to suggest three things:
1. that there is little that one actually takes away from university,
2. that a university degree should not be a guarantee of wisdom or certainty,
3. and that one must not forget the difference between being educated and having an education.

As a freshman, you may have come here expecting to learn all the knowledge you need within your lectures and tutorials. However, what I hope you’ve gained here is a keen awareness of your own ignorance, and the tools necessary to fill it. The purpose of a university education is not to fill one’s mind with knowledge, but to open one’s mind to it. Indeed, if nothing else, the most important lesson that I hope all of you will take away from these august halls, is the lesson of lifelong education. This final quote perhaps sums this up best. Epictetus, an ancient Greek philosopher once uttered words of pure and simple truth, “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

Also be reminded that the scroll you hold in your hands may already be worth quite a sum of your parents and your sponsors’ money, and three to four years of your lifetime, but its true measure of worth will only be realized through your actions from this point on. Seize the opportunities that are opened up for you today, and I hope that all of you will one day be outstanding scholars, businessmen and citizens of the world that will make your university proud. Above all, I would like to hear this of graduating MMU students – it is not just the scroll that he takes with him, but most importantly also the person carrying it.

Tun Canselor, Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan yang dimuliakan,
Hari konvokesyen setiap tahun adalah hari yang paling dinanti-nantikan, bukan sahaja oleh para graduan, tetapi juga para pensyarah dan staf universiti. Pada hari inilah salah satu misi terpenting sebuah universiti tercapai, iaitu matlamat untuk mendidik dan membimbing generasi muda untuk mencapai tahap kemahiran yang tinggi dalam bidang-bidang teknologi moden dan juga dalam kematangan pemikiran dan akhlak.

Melihat kejayaan anak-anak kita pada hari ini, pastinya terdetik di dalam hati kita rasa terharu dan gembira dengan kejayaan yang telah dicipta. Namun demikian, kita perlu sedar bahawa setelah berjaya menggondol ijazah ini, para graduan telah memasuki satu fasa hidup yang lebih menguji lagi di mana pelbagai pergolakan dan cabaran kecil dan besar menanti di mana jua. Walaupun kita semua dituntut untuk berusaha dengan kuat dan gigih dalam perjalanan kita menuju ke puncak kejayaan, namun ingatlah para graduan yang dikasihi akan betapa pentingnya untuk kita sentiasa menjaga akhlak, etika dan profesionalisme yang cemerlang.

Kepada para ibu bapa, sekali lagi setinggi tahniah diucapkan di atas kejayaan anak masing-masing. Izinkan saya untuk memohon ampun dan maaf sekiranya majlis pada hari ini ada kecacatannya dan juga sekiranya sebelum ini pernah berlaku sebarang kekurangan dalam perkhidmatan yang telah diberikan oleh pihak universiti kepada tuan-tuan dan puan-puan.

Kepada semua ahli Lembaga Pengarah Universiti dan syarikat TM, saya ingin merakamkan ucapan terima kasih di atas segala sokongan yang telah diberikan kepada universiti. Kepada para kakitangan universiti, saya ingin mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih di atas kesudian menerima dan melaksanakan sedikit perubahan sejak bulan Januari lalu. Segala usaha dan sumbangan yang telah diberikan untuk merealisasikan visi dan misi kita bersama ke arah kecemerlangan universiti kita ini amatlah dihargai. Akhirnya, saya bagi pihak Lembaga Pengarah dan semua warga universiti ingin merakamkan jutaan terima kasih kepada Tun Canselor dan juga Tan Sri Pro-Canselor di atas kesudian untuk hadir di majlis ini, serta dorongan dan sokongan padu yang telah diberikan kepada universiti sekian lama.

Finally and again, to all graduates of Multimedia University, well done and congratulations. Go forth and make us proud!

Sekian, Wabillah hitaufik wal hidayah wassalamualaikum wrb.