Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) Launching Ceremony
Remarks of the Prime Minister's Special Envoy,
H.E. Dr. Yukio Hatoyama
June 4, 2012
(Japanese)
The Most Honorable Dato' Sri Mohammad Najib Tun Abdul Razak,
Prime Minister of Malaysia,
The Honorable Datuk Seri Mohammed Khaled Nordin,
Minister of Higher Education,
The Honorable Senator A Kohilan Pillay,
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,
The Honorable Dato'Saifuddin Abdullah,
Deputy Minister of Higher Education,
The Honorable Professor Dato'Ir. Dr. Zaini Bin Ujang,
Vice Chancellor of University of Technology, Malaysia,
Professor Ir. Megat Johari Megat Mohd Noor,
Dean of Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology,
His Excellency, Mr. Shigeru Nakamura,
Ambassador of Japan for Malaysia,
Representatives of the Japanese University Consortium,
and Honorable guests,
Selamat petang (Good Afternoon).
My name is Yukio Hatoyama, and I am here as a special envoy of the prime minister of Japan.
First of all, on behalf of the government and people of Japan, please let me express my cordial congratulations on the launching ceremony of the Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology or the MJIIT. In this memorable year which marks the 30th anniversary of the "Look East Policy" initiated by Tun Dr. Mahathir, the then Prime Minister in 1982, I am greatly honored to witness the launch of the MJIIT which is an extremely important project for both Japan and Malaysia. Since I myself was involved in the establishment of the MJIIT during my premiership, I came to attend the ceremony with special feeling.
Thanks to Tun Dr. Mahathir's enthusiasm that gives opportunities for young promising Malaysians, who bear the future of Malaysia, to learn Japanese work ethics and business philosophy, the Look East Policy has lasted over the 30 years. Under the policy, some 14,000 talented Malaysians have studied in Japan and contributed to the development of Malaysia, which now became a upper-middle income country.
These former students still have love for Japan and sincerely serve as bridges between our two countries. The relationships between nations are rooted in the relationships between their people. I am well aware of the enthusiasm and great expectations that Malaysian students have for Japan. The Look East Policy has been instrumental in building what has become a very close bilateral relationship, and the results that it achieved deserves the highest praise. I believe that the Look East Policy will continue to be the cornerstone of friendship between Japan and Malaysia well into the future.
The MJIIT is one of the most visible symbols as the culmination of the Look East Policy. Prime Minister Dato'Sri Najib visited Japan in April 2010 and briefed us his idea of establishing the MJIIT, and we discussed how we could cooperate in bringing the proposal into shape. Now, after 2 years since then, we managed to provide a positive contribution to the opening of the MJIIT last September by dispatching Japanese lecturers based upon Prime Minister Najib's request. To assist this effort, the Government of Japan provided yen loans, and 24 Japanese universities established a consortium to support the arrangement of the MJIIT.
I have the utmost respect for the strong determination displayed by Prime Minister Najib in achieving his goal to establish the MJIIT.
Looking back on the past 30 years, the world's historical center of gravity has significantly shifted, and we are now in what has come to be called the "Asian century." Under the leadership of Prime Minister Najib, Malaysia has set a goal of "Vision 2020," calling for the nation to become a high-income nation by 2020. Now, Malaysia is showing a steady growth and serving as a driving force for the regional economic development as part of the centre of global growth.
Japan and Malaysia have enjoyed the extremely close and friendly bilateral relations for the long time. We are important trading partners for each other, and there are more than 1,400 Japanese companies with operations in Malaysia, making it one of the key locations for Japanese companies overseas. Meanwhile, nowadays, the bilateral relations have matured to the stage that we work together not only on bilateral issues, but also on regional and global issues as partners. Our close collaboration has deepened in various areas such as Middle East Peace Process, environment and climate change, maritime security and others.
I have been pointing out that it is extremely meaningful to deepen the exchange among the next generation beyond the state boundaries in the area of education and others in order to strengthen the mutual trust and to adopt an attitude of giving positive value to and learning from the cultures of others in the Asian region. Therefore, I came up with an idea that Japan should promote the development of human resources who will underpin the regional cooperation in Asia-Pacific in 30 years time by significantly expanding both the numbers of accepting and dispatching exchange students.
It is no other than the MJIIT should play a key role in terms of the bilateral cooperation in the area of youth exchange. I am convinced that thanks to the strong initiative by Prime Minister Najib, the MJIIT will introduce a Japanese-style engineering education to Malaysia and will significantly contribute to the development of the entire region as a centre of excellence of engineering education not only for Malaysia but also for ASEAN.
As citizens living in this region, we are facing many common challenges, including natural disasters, climate change and energy.
With the MJIIT's establishment, I look forward to seeing researchers from Japan, Malaysia and the ASEAN present "prescriptions" together for solving these problems in the future.
I have learnt that the MJIIT set a philosophy to develop human resources who are skilled with originality, professional expertise, social skills, creative planning and execution skills. It will be realized by cultivating students' basic management and design planning skills to finish the graduate school under the Japanese "kohza system." Your assistance will be vital to achieve this ambitious goal and contribute to the development of the region as a center of excellence for engineering education. It will be crucial that the MJIIT develops ties with academia and industry, particularly with Japanese companies.
In this regard, I would like to seek your assistance for further development of the MJIIT. And I am also committed to supporting the MJIIT and enhancing the bilateral relations as one of those who were involved in MJIIT's establishment and as the President of the DPJ Japan-Malaysia Parliamentarian's Friendship League with a view to cherishing the common value of Asia together with you.
Last but not least, please let me conclude my remarks by offering my gratitude to everyone who has worked so hard to make this project a reality and best wishes for the MJIIT's continued success.
Terema Kasih. Thank you.
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