MONDAY, 24 OCTOBER – Staff and students of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)grieve the passing of a former member of UMS Board of Directors who was also a prominent figure of the national security team, Tan Sri (Dr.) Henry Chin Poy-Wu.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr. Mohd Harun Abdullah, the passing of the late Tan Sri Henry was a great loss to the nation and the state, and especially felt by UMS community as the late Tan Sri was the longest serving member of the Board of Directors of the university.

“Throughout his tenure at UMS, the late Tan Sri had contributed immensely to the university especially in the sharing of ideas and experience particularly in setting the direction of UMS.

“On behalf of UMS, we offer our condolences to the family members and hoped that they would stay calm in facing this difficult moment,” he said in a statement today.

Tan Sri Henry, 79, died at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) in Kuala Lumpur at 6.04 am due to a stroke.

The late Tan Sri left behind his wife, Puan Sri Shirley Cheng Hua Chien, 72, a son and a daughter, and had served the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) for 38 years before retiring in 1993.

Tan Sri was involved in various historic events such as serving as a Secretariat to the Cobbold Commission and the Government Committee in 1962, defending the country during the Kalabakan incident in a confrontation, engaging in gunfight against the Armed Unit of the Communists in Kampar, Perak (1980) and played an important role when negotiating with the Malaya Communist Party (PKM) and North Kalimantan Communist Party in 1990.

He was appointed as the Kuala Lumpur Commissioner of Police from 22 June 1990 until 12 August 1993.

After his retirement, he continued his service to the country as Chairman of various companies, educational institutions and sports associations.

Tan Sri Henry was appointed to the Board of UMS from 2001 until 2015.

For his service and dedication to UMS, Tan Sri was awarded an honorary doctorate in Sociology at the 17^th UMS Convocation last year. – (fl)

MONDAY, 24 OCTOBER – Close to 1,500 attended the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) ‘Soaring Upwards: Let’s Talk Higher Education’ programme that filled the Main Lecture Hall 2 at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), recently.

The programme was hosted by the Higher Education Minister, Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh and was a signature programme of MOHE in disseminating  information on higher education in Malaysia as well as successes that have been achieved at national and international levels.

The Soaring Upwards: Let’s Talk Higher Education programme was a continuation of MOHE Tour: Soaring Upwards that was successfully held between January and April 2016.

In line with the vision of MOHE to develop youths and believing that education could spur national development, the programme focused on youths from education institutions, skills training centres, government agencies, private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) including associations and organisation in the country.

Four icons were invited to share their success stories in the programme, they were the Managing Director of Wan Nazri  & Partners and the Chief Structural Engineer of the Mecca Tower Clock, Abraj al-Bait, Wan Nazri Wan Aria; National High Jumper who represented Malaysia at the Rio 2016 Olympics; Nauraj Singh Randhawa; National Gymnastic athlete, Farah Ann Abdul Hadi; and Astro Awani broadcast journalist, Hilal Azmi.

The programme was also attended by Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Dr. Mary Yap Kain Ching; Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), Dato’ Prof. Dr. Rujhan Mustafa, and Vice-Chancellor of UMS, Prof. Datuk Dr. Mohd Harun Abdullah including Principal and Senior Officials of the university. – (fl)

Photo: Suzeanywati Gasinin

FRIDAY, 21 OCTOBER – Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr. Mohd Harun Abdullah reminded members of the Student Representatives Council (MPP) to carry out the mandate given to them with dedication and transparency.

He said the selection of the 2016/2017 Student Representatives Council (MPP) should ensure that issues and matters related to student welfare and current affairs could be brought up and settled amicably.

“MPP shoulders the responsibility to maintain the image and reputation of UMS, as well as put UMS as the best public university.  Thus, this responsibility is not only focused on students, but as an ambassador for the university,” he said.

He was speaking at the presentation of credentials to the newly appointed MPP of the 2016/2017 session, yesterday.

Professor Datuk Dr Harun also advised the MPP line-up to submit their rational and practical proposals so that they could be refined and deliberated by the university’s management.

The  2016/2017 Session MPP had voted Mohd Afi Haziq Sapili as President, whilst Wan Mahussin Wan Zain was elected as the Vice-President.

Nur Adilah Ismail was chosen for the post of Secretary General, whilst Lim Way Yang assumed the post of Treasurer. – (fl)

THURSDAY, 20 OCTOBER – The National Library (PNM) in collaboration with the State Library, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Library and Librarians Association of Malaysia (PPM) Sabah Chapter recently organised a Hands-on workshop on Digital Library.

The two-day workshop was held at the Shares Lab (Makmal Saham), Faculty of Business, Economics and Accounting (FPEP) and Medicine Lab (Makmal Perubatan), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FPSK) was attended by 200 participants comprising UMS students, librarians and state as well as federal agencies civil service staff in Sabah.

PNM, in a statement explained that the objective of the workshop was to familiarise public service staff in Malaysia to make the Digital Library of the PNM National Library as the main medium of reference for information, besides stepping up efforts to encourage more people to refer to authentic information.

The Hands-on workshop on PNM Digital Library was in line with PNM efforts to increase usage statistics in tandem with the targets set by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, to achieve 3 million users by 2016 and raise awareness on the importance of reading and information literacy amongst Malaysian society.

Through the workshop, participants were given guidance specifically on the use of database contained in the Digital Library Services of PNM.

PNM Digital Library Services is one of the MOTAC Transformation Plans under the Public Service initiatives.  PNM Electronic Resource Portal (PNM Digital) was introduced in April 2012 and this portal is the main portal that enables Malaysians to access to a variety of information from databases and PNM Digital initiatives.

The service can be accessed via the url: www.pnmdigital.gov.my. – (fl)
Source: Library UMS