Distinguished guests,

I am indeed humbled by the bestowal of the Honorary Doctorate for Social Transformation by the Limkokwing Univiversity.  I accept this with a sense of great trepidation.

While it is true that I have dedicated more than three decade of my life to the service of the nation that I love, my contribution pales in comparison to our founding fathers. Indeed, I stand on the shoulders of giants and walk in their shadows.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the university and Tan Sri LKW for honoring me with this degree. Limkokwing University of Creative Technology is an institution known for its commitment to providing quality education with the key objective of producing creative and innovative graduates. Graduates who are passionate about life and all its possibilities, who approach the future with confidence, not fear, who view today as an improvement over yesterday and believe that tomorrow is full of possibilities.

Malaysians owe so much to our founding fathers who were pioneers of our first social transformation, of a nation once bound in the chains of colonialism into a nation with liberty at its core and from separate entities into a federation of 13 states.

If we look back on those days, things were different. The pace of life was slow. I can remember those days when I was young; the most exciting thing was to have a steak at the Coliseum along Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. That was the attraction then but things have changed and, as the saying goes, the only constant is change. You have to embrace change – and you should not be afraid to embrace change.

Life is now different. If you had two or three credits in MCE – oh, that was a great thing – you would have held a kenduri at your kampong. Today, you need to have 11A1s to be considered outstanding. You still find some students with 17 and 18A1s. So life is different today – life is more competitive, life is more challenging.

So what should we do? Do we sit back and become mere passengers? Or do we just look on when others move forward? The answer is certainly ‘no’. And we do not want only those in urban areas who are able to be active participants in this new world. What about those in rural areas,  kampungs, new villages and estates? These people must become active participants in the new world, in the 21st century, in the globalised environment.

They must be the people who must succeed in facing new challenges. That is really the genesis of the Generasi Kedua programme for the children of Felda settlers. Indeed, the challenges are to pursue higher education and change the people’s mindset so that they would not only posses paper qualifications like academic people, but also become educated – in a holistic sense – with knowledge, skills and right values.

You must have a burning desire, not just a spark, in you to drive you forward and move to greater things in life; that is possible. To me, you can produce a new generation of students to develop a world-class education system.

When I was the Minister of Education, I was very keen on developing both public and private institutions. I took the political risk to introduce new legislation which would enable private institutions and universities to be established. One of the leading private universities established is the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology.

You have indeed made your mark on the education landscape in Malaysia and overseas. I commend you, I congratulate you. I hope you will continue your good work to further develop this university and bring it to even higher and greater heights in the near future.

I wise to conclude my speech by saying that our challenge is clear. Our work is hard but it is worth doing it for the future, for our children’s future is at stake. Let us work together, stand shoulder to shoulder, roll up our sleeves and start this great journey—- an adventure to propel Malaysia to greater heights.

I thank Limkokwing for this honour.

Today’s graduates, young, enthusiastic come from all corners of Malaysia and from all the Felda schemes in the rural areas. We planted this seed for a brighter future for all of you.

May God guide you in your journey.