Graduation Is Just the Beginning of One’s Life Journey

I am honoured to be here with you at the convocation of Southern University College on behalf of YB Saudara Anthony Loke, Minister of Transport, who sent his best wishes. 

Graduation is an important milestone in life. But make no mistake, it is not an end by itself but the beginning of your adult life journey.

I first visited Southern College in July 1998, more than a quarter of a century ago. I was then just elected as the inaugural Students’ Union President of the newly established New Era College. Southern College Students’ Union was the first counterpart that my team and I paid a visit to.

Here I would like to use my encounter with Malaysian politics as an example to help you imagine what a quarter of a century could mean to your life. 

Just a month after my visit to Southern College, the then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was sacked on 2 September and arrested on 20 September 1998. It was a hopeless situation for Anwar’s supporters then.

For me, I pursue what I believe in. I believe in a Malaysia that is not ruled by a single party and a Malaysia that is progressive. During the era of one-party state, no one thought change of government was possible but we soldier on.

Many years later, as we persevered, many things changed. Along the way, I am proud to say that I, together with my friends, have a hand in changing some of the circumstances and conditions.

And change will continue.

I have three messages for you. First, you are very young. Be brave. Believe in something and not to be cynical. Never accept the status quo and always strive for the better, even if it takes a bit of struggle.

My second message today is that you shall keep reading, keep yourself abreast with technology changes, and keep learning new things.

In 1994, my classmate Tham Zehoe showed me the internet that was installed at his home. There were only 3,000 internet users in the entire Malaysia then. I only first started using a computer regularly and had my first email account in 1997. Nowadays, email is considered very old fashioned while Facebook is reputedly for people above 45 years old only. We have just entered the Generative AI era. 

Yet, however the world and technology change, at the core of human life is ideas. Whether you are reading something on a computer or on a piece of paper, the forms don’t really matter, the ideas do. Keep reading and keep expanding your knowledge.

When I was around your age, an older person told me that reading is like a pyramid, the more you read, the bigger your foundation is, the higher you could scale.

My elderly friend K. Siladass, a lawyer from Kluang, often reminds me of Mahatma Gandhi’s words “Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever.”

My third message is that you shall make friends, and be kind to your friends, as you may keep meeting them, either all the way with you or later in the future.

Today, I am representing Minister Anthony Loke.

Anthony and I met in 1998 during the Reformasi movement when we were student leaders from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and New Era College respectively. We were both 22 years old then.

UKM was strictly pro-government at that time. So, in 1999, Anthony and I organised an event featuring Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang and a few other opposition leaders at New Era College, which was just one train stop away from UKM. He brought around 100 UKM students to attend the event at New Era College.

Twenty five years ago, Anthony and I would not have imagined that our life paths would keep crossing and we would still be working together after so many years.

I would like you to find comrades in arms from among your friends, regardless of race and religion, who will share your dreams, struggles and journeys. It is also important that you and your friends would do things together not just for yourself but for a larger cause. After all, life is about purpose. And, I would like to see all of you as nation builders, building this nation for the better, building a better Malaysia for your generation and the ones that come after you.

This is my speech delivered at the 33rd Convocation of Southern University College on July 13, 2024.