TUESDAY, 11 OCTOBER – The National Sports Day for Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) received encouraging response when it attracted 4,000 students and staff of UMS.

The opening ceremony was held at Dataran Dewan Canselor on Saturday and was officiated by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni), Associate Professor Dr. Ismail Ali.

In his speech he said the management was always supportive of programmes relating to sports and was seen as appropriate in keeping healthy among the university community.

Through the programme, which was held simultaneously throughout the country, he invited all campus community to continue with their involvement in sports everyday as a healthy body makes a healthy mind and active thinking to continuously be active to further generate success for the university.

He also expressed pride in UMS having the artificial grass deemed to be amongst the best in Malaysia and recognised by FIFA, whilst hoping that the facility could help athletes to train in comfort and able to produce athletes who excel in sports.

Dr. Ismail Ali also presented Certificate of Appreciation to three athletes who received the Excellence Athlete Award 2016.

They were Christina Edris, Ahmady Radi and Vedora Jessica Peter.

The programme was also attended by UMS Registrar, No’man Datuk Hj. Ahmad. – (fl)

Photo: Nasrul Rukkung

MONDAY, 10 OCTOBER – Faculty of Psychology and Education (FPP), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) recently organised a seminar on Substance Abuse, Smart Sharing Programme (SHARP 2016).

Held at UMS Dewan Resital, the seminar was organised in collaboration with the National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK).

Vice-Chancellor of UMS, Professor Datuk Dr Mohd Harun Abdullah in his speech said, the yearly programme of FPP was coordinated by students of Counseling Psychology (Substance Abuse), which aimed to be the catalyst of knowledge in line with the government’s goal to eradicate drug abuse holistically.

“SHARP aims to promote UMS SPADA’s role and to promote its programme to the general public and counseling teachers around Sabah on the importance of this programme and its main goal.

“It is also to expose participants to the causes and effects of drugs on individual, society and the country as well as part of UMS social responsibility in particular FPP in its efforts to contribute to the welfare of society,” he said.

His speech was delivered by the Dean of FPP, Associate Professor Dr. Hj. Mohd Dahlan A. Malek.

Datuk Harun said, the programme was also to raise funds to finance drug prevention and rehabilitation programmes organised by postgraduate students of SPADA UMS.

“When we talk about prevention and eradication programmes on drug abuse, we cannot escape from the educational process and interests of knowledge.  Without knowledge, it is difficult to achieve success in anything we do,” he added.

He urged the public to always work together to form a solid team in every area that complements each other to achieve this noble goal.

“Hopefully, through cooperation and joint efforts such as this, we are ready to move together as a team to fight against drug abuse and drug trafficking,” he added.

The event was officiated by the Director General of AADK Malaysia, Dato’ Dr. Abd. Halim Mohd Hussin. – (fl)

MONDAY, 10 OCTOBER – The Principal of Economic Development Industry and Public Policy, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Nasional Indonesia (UNAS), Prof. Dr. Yuddy Chrisnandi listed five scenarios for smart partnership between Malaysia and Indonesia.

He said that Malaysia and Indonesia must first have a stronger and closer cooperation.

“This partnership is not only between the two countries, but also with all the ASEAN countries,” he said when delivering a lecture on ‘Malaysia-Indonesia Relations: A Critical Observation’.

According to him, Indonesia and Malaysia must also have a common view on world political conflicts.

He said this common view was important and would support decisions made by the unions at international level.

In addition, Dr. Yuddy urged that Malaysia and Indonesia must intensify cooperation in defense.

“For example, cooperation in military training such as exchange of training grounds and smart partnership to strengthen the defense of their country,” said the former minister of State Apparatus Authorisation and Indonesian Bureaucratic Reform.

He also listed cultural understanding between these two countries and ASEAN cultures as the fourth recommendation.

“There is no need to claim our heritage, or arts that have been handed down by our ancestors.  No need for non-important debates,” he added.

Lastly, he said Malaysia-Indonesia cooperation could be strengthened through shared leadership.

“In this method, the two countries must always have the same view,” he said.

Held at the Main Meeting Room of Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language (PPIB) UMS, the programme was also attended by the Dean of PPIB, Associate Professor Dr. Jualang @ Azlan Abdullah Gansau. – (fl)

FRIDAY, 7 OCTOBER – The CreaNova (Creativity and Innovation) Month held throughout the month of October would be a platform for staff to select, identify and analyse issues pertaining to their work through creativity and innovation.

Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Professor Datuk Dr. Mohd Harun Abdullah said, the programme was  an ongoing effort by the university to continue moving forward towards improving the delivery system and service in line with Shift 6 of the Malaysia Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025, Empowered Governance.

“This programme is also held to foster a culture of continuous improvement, which is synonymous and practiced by the Japanese known as ‘Kaizen’ introduced by Masaki Imai in 1986 through his book, ‘The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success’.

“Through this strategy, continuous improvement should be practiced and this involve all members of the organisation working as a team.

“This strategy, if implemented well and continuously would give satisfaction to employees thus benefitting governance and the positive development of the organisation,” he said in his speech at the official opening of CreaNova 20016 Month-long Celebration read by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International), Professor Dr. D Kamarudin D Mudin, this morning.

According to him, this programme was timely as it was knowledge-based and creativity-driven, to enable staff to be innovative and add value to the quality of their services.

Also held was a signing of Letter of Intent (LoI) between the Registrar Department of UMS and UMS CreaNova Strategic Partners namely, Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) Sabah Branch, Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) Sabah Branch and National Archives Malaysia, Sabah Branch and the Federal Territory of Labuan. – (fl)

Photo: Musaab Umair