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| Addressing the Convocation Audience |
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| The VIPs with members of the Board |
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| Addressing the Convocation Audience |
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| YB Mr. P. Kamalanathan, Dy Minister II, Min of Education |
Photo session with part of the graduating group
Y. Bhg Col. Prof. Dato' Dr Kamarudin Kachar delivering his address
In the Convocation gown
Refreshment with VIPs before the Convocation Ceremony
The Convocation was held on June 18, 2013 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, Putrajaya. The guest of honour was YB Mr. P. Kamalanathan, the Deputy of Minister II of the Ministry of Education. Among the other VIPs were YB Dato' Hamzah bin Zainudin, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Y. Bhg Dato' S.K Devamany and Y. Bhg Dato' Dr. Kamarudin bin Kachar. Other guests include representatives of the government and parents of the graduating students.
The 2nd Convocation conferred diplomas to 317 graduates from four faculties - 72 from the Faculty of Business, 67 from Social Science, 114 from Hospitality Management and 64 from Information Technology. The content of my address at the Convocation are as follows:
'Let me first take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the management of
MASA College for inviting me to this auspicious occasion and giving the honour
in slotting me to give a short address to the audience.
I wish to express my heartiest congratulations to the graduates for having success-
fully completed your studies. It brings a sense of achievement to you personally
and at the same time you have done proud to your parents and the College.
Fellow graduates,
Let me share with you on the topic of 'Creating a Productive and Happy Work En-
vironment' as, with this completion of your studies, you are ending the first phase of
of your life i.e the preparatory part of building knowledge and skill, in equipping you
for the second phase i.e the working phase.
Start this second phase with a plan - a strategic plan of your life - which covers,
1. Plan of your Employment - get employment in your area of interest. This should
coincide with the knowledge and skill you have been exposed to. You may wish
to start you career as an employee to get experience and build contacts and at the same time
save for future business ventures. At appropriate time you may wish to go on
your own. On the other hand you may want to opt for a more secured and stable
condition, remaining as an employee until retirement. Strategise as how to rise up
in the hierarchy of the work place;
2. Plan for your self - further upliftment of your academic studies- from diploma to degree
or Ph D, the health activities - the type of exercises you enjoy performing, frequency,
location from jogging, swimming to cycling and games; the diet - types of fruits
and vegetable, health supplements; the rest schedule;
3. Plan to start a family - dating, getting married and having children, savings for
childrens' education
4. Plan of your involvement with the community. It is important that you interact
with members of your community - spiritual group, environment, community
service;
5. Plan your social activities - to be with friends of common interest
6. Plan your mental development. Take time to read newspapers so that you follow
the happenings around you. Write on the activities that you are involved with -
attendance of exhibitions, seminars, festivals, dinners etc. Take photos. Download
these images. Present gadgets like the digital camera and iPad make it so easy and
convenient to facilitate your expression of ideas and views on the many
happenings around you into articles that can be organised and posted in blog.
On work, Teddy Roosevelt once said 'the best prize that life has to offer is the chance
to work at work worth doing'. Employment is considered an important contributor to
health and longevity, as several recent studies have indicated. Jennifer Montez of
Harvard University and Anna Zajakova of the University of Wyoming studied the gap in
life expectancy between highly-educated and less-educated Americans and found that
among these women studied, the life expectancy of the less-educated ones was being
shortened by their lower employment rates compared to those with higher education.
In the work place, one will face with many constraints, barriers and problems - the nature
of the work, the members of the team, your bosses. Each person in your work environment
is an individual with unique values, attitudes, mannerisms which can be a nuisance. Your
boss may be a difficult person to work with. Treat all these not as a problem but as a
challenge. From this perspective it becomes exciting for you to find ways and means
of how to find solutions so that a reasonable pleasant working relationship could be built
between you and your boss. Similar strategy can be adopted in your relationship with
your work colleagues or employees under you. You can be the catalyst in creating a
productive and happy work environment by facilitating the work of your office mates;
greeting each other and accord simple courtesies like good morning, pardon me, I am
sorry, thank you, have a great day.
Finally, plan early for the third phase of your life - retirement particularly your health
and finance.
Posted on June 20, 2013
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