Dear Soffian,
Thank you for the info and appreciate the feedback
everyone takes time to give. Hope there'll be more to
come.
I'm back in London now & flying back to KL on
Saturday. Aber was good though it has been raining
everyday:(
I have emailed you some of the photos taken during my
visit from last Sunday up until Wednesday. When you
can, it would be good to have it up on our
www.abermalaysia.blogspot.com
As I am pressed for time in doing up a report proper,
I hope you can take this as an ad-verbatim report of
the Presidents' report in attending to 2 ocassions at
Aber, namely the OSA Committee Meeting on Monday 9
July 2007 and attending the University graduation
ceremonies in the capacity of the President of OSA for
Tuesday 10 July at 11am and at 3pm.
1.0 Cita & I arrived Aber on Sunday 8 July 2007 at
1.30pm. We took the scenic route of M4 via Brecon
Beacons to avoid Silverstone traffic if we were to
take M1-M6. At 4pm I met up with the Vice Chancellor
& Principal, Prof Noel Lloyd at his residence, Plas
Penglais. He was kind enough to avail time and most
approachable. We had a good 1 hour discussion over
matters of OSA, Alumni, Malaysian Alumni Club and the
University itself.
It can be as early as 1 September 2008 that our
University will change its name to ‘Aberystwyth
University’. The VC also mentioned that there will be
a new head for the Business School by the start of
next term.
2.0 The OSA Committee meeting met on Monday 9 July
2007 at 11 am after a final working group meeting
which started at 9.30am. Both went very well after
much due consideration on issues of Reunion, Annual
Dinner, database and activities to move the OSA
forward.
2.1 It has been decided that for the 1st time in its
115 years history, the Easter Reunion and Annual
Dinner will be held outside Aberystwyth. It will be
in Cardiff in 2008. More news on this will be
notified when hotel arrangements etc are finalised.
The OSA committee seeks to ensure that the hotel is
family friendly with bathroom ensuite, at the same
time having conference facilities and ample parking
etc. Major complaints in the past 5 years by those
attending reunion have been the facilities and
accommodation that Aber have in existence simply is
not good enough by the numbers. It may be 21-23 March
2008 but lets wait for the notice from OSA organising
committee on this. Some of us may still make our way
to Aber before or after the reunion and annual dinner
anyway since its only about 2 hours from Cardiff and
Cardiff is only 2 hours train ride from London.
Hopefully the Conrah renovation with conference
facilities etc will be completed in the near future
and we may very well one day have it there.
2.2 Some of the issues discussed or decided may be
found in the next OSA Annual publication which is due
out towards the end of 2007. Aber graduates are
welcome to write in anything to the Editor, Mr Ifan
Moelwyn Hughes where if the content is appropriate,
shall be included in the Annual. The cut off time for
articles prior to editing is typically October.
2.3 OSA committee was informed about the
abermalaysia.blogspot.com to which they were happy to
note. OSA is working out with the University on their
own website which is admittedly can be much better.
3.0 At 1.30pm I had a luncheon meeting at a
restaurant inside the Theology department (Old
College) with Steve Lawrence (Director of Development
and External Affairs) and Virginia West (Director of
Wales International Consortium). They are planning to
follow an entourage to Malaysia on 9 September 2007.
The entourage is likely the initiative of the
International Business Wales entity which together
with the WIC are creation of and receive support from
the Welsh Assembly. Virginia will revert to me about
possibility of booking the British Commissioner's
dinner time at his residence for the Malaysian Alumni
members to come over and meet the business delegates
from Wales that comes with the entourage. I have also
advised Virginia for the Welsh assembly via IBW or WIC
or British Council Wales to advertise a supplement in
The Edge.
Any Malaysian Aberites interested to do business or to
offer something to Welsh businesses can and are
encouraged to attend. Will keep you posted.
4.0 At 4.30pm I had another meeting but this time its
up at the law faculty, Hugh Owen building.
4.1 Law faculty has changed its name. Its now
Department of Law and Criminology (DLC)
[www.aber.ac.uk/law]. My former personal tutor, Chris
Harding, is now head of DLC & I managed to catch up
with John Williams and several younger staff of the
faculty, namely David Poyton and Neil Kibble who are
both very good for us to be in touch as they also
represent the younger breed of proactive lecturers.
DLC also now offers Certificate of Practise for those
who want to be solicitors. At long last!
4.2 An informal discussion was held on Aber and
raising its profile internationally. The discussion
was lead by Pro Vice Chancellor, Prof Aled Jones who
is another Aber Professor (in History) that will be
good to keep in touch as he propels our University to
greater heights. My input was I'm sure what many of
you would say and that is for each faculty to leverage
on the traditional strength of each department, eg.
law faculty should leverage on Agriculture (even more
so that IGER is merging with UWA), International
Politics, etc to have at its disposal availability to
specialise in streams of areas like Intellectual
Property for Biotech, Diplomacy and Negotiations etc.
At the same time I propose Aber to initiate
specialization in the form of a Islamic Finance Centre
or cell in the law or business faculty since over
USD400 trillion of islamic financial instruments are
out there and growing but an acute shortage in human
capital such as islamic finance lawyers even in
malaysia (as painfully explained to me by Salman
Younis, MD of Kuwait Finance House).
4.3 Dinner that night was with Aled Jones, John
Williams, Chris Harding, David Poyton, Neil Kibble.
It was at a new restaurant opposite Light of Asia,
called Le Vignoble which served fantastic food.
5.0 Tuesday 11am I attended the graduation ceremony
for the Arts faculty of English literature, History
etc. I never thought that I would wear a robe again
but this time to sit on the stage with the President
of the University, VC, Pro VCs, Registrars and the
works. I was up there in the capacity of the
President of OSA. Lunch with the VC and guests was at
Penbryn Hall. The 3pm ceremony was for Theatre, Movie
and Television studies which is now the largest
faculty at Aber. I was only informed after 3pm that
the graduation ceremony can be viewed live over
internet [www.aber.ac.uk/graduation].
There were numerous news photographers due to the fact
that Peter Karrie was conferred Fellowship and sat on
stage with us as well. He is an actor and theatre
performer and known nationwide due to his performances
in Phantom of the Opera.
5.1 Dinner reception was at VC’s residence, Plas
Penglais which some of your may remember to be
opposite the main entrance of the university.
The President of our University is and has been The
Hon Lord Elystan Morgan for the last 10 years. He
read law at Aber in the early 1950s. He is a retired
Circuit Court Judge and was MP of Caermarthen. He
remembers Tun Ghazali Shafie's at the tail end of Tun
Ghaz’ time at Aber but remembers Tun Salleh Abas more
as they were contemporaries. As past president of OSA
also, he acknowledges the Malaysians for the
participation and being active if not at least in
touch with Aber in their own ways.
I did mention to him that the hard work and foundation
of Malaysian Alumni Club was done by Tan Sri Arshad
and the earlier committees members.
He also introduced Cita and I to Lord Hooson who is a
dear friend of Jeyaratnam of Singapore and shared with
us his experiences over at Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew.
5.2 Dinner with VC and guests itself was at Penbryn
Hall again.
Caught up with the university’s registrar, Mrs Catrin
Hughes as well as the CFO, Richard.
Prof Noel Lloyd again thanked OSA and Alumni from far
away in his speech. A short speech was also made by
the incoming President of the University, Sir Emyr
Jones Parry who will succeed Lord Elystan Morgan on 1
January 2008. Sir Parry is also UK’s permanent
representative to the United Nations and received his
Fellowship by Aber Univ last year. More information
on his appointment can be found in the recent archives
in www.aber.ac.uk.
6.0 On Wednesday morning I attended to the OSA stall
for a short while before the law faculty buffet
reception for graduates at 11.30am. At present were
Chris Harding, Richard Ireland, Ann Sherlock and Neil
Kibble mingling around with graduates and
parents/family of graduates. I left by 12.15pm and
head to town, had lunch at Selim Bichen’s restaurant
(Home Café and Restaurant near the top of the High
Street) as well as paid homage to Mona Liza souvenir
shop own & run by Ceredig & Beth. Eventually and
reluctantly we left Aber at 3.00pm, stopping by at
Rhayader and Aberedw.
7.0 Prof Aled Jones may lead a delegation to Malaysia
in November 2007. He has asked for our input on how
we can assist the University in propelling itself in
Asia. They are equally eager to meet up with you and
I took the liberty to mention how well everyone is
doing including Aber’s representation in 2 key
positions in the Malaysian Bar Council, in banking, in
finance, in Petronas, Industry, government,
businessmen & women and many other professions. We
can perhaps look into a mutual benefit scenario viz
the alumni and members as well. Your ideas and
proposals are welcome; shall we arrange some events
during their visit? Your call guys.
Please accept my apologies lest I left anything of
substance out in this report or for any shortcomings
whatsoever. Have a good weekend.
FARIZ ABU BAKAR
UCW 1991
Thank you for the info and appreciate the feedback
everyone takes time to give. Hope there'll be more to
come.
I'm back in London now & flying back to KL on
Saturday. Aber was good though it has been raining
everyday:(
I have emailed you some of the photos taken during my
visit from last Sunday up until Wednesday. When you
can, it would be good to have it up on our
www.abermalaysia.blogspot.com
As I am pressed for time in doing up a report proper,
I hope you can take this as an ad-verbatim report of
the Presidents' report in attending to 2 ocassions at
Aber, namely the OSA Committee Meeting on Monday 9
July 2007 and attending the University graduation
ceremonies in the capacity of the President of OSA for
Tuesday 10 July at 11am and at 3pm.
1.0 Cita & I arrived Aber on Sunday 8 July 2007 at
1.30pm. We took the scenic route of M4 via Brecon
Beacons to avoid Silverstone traffic if we were to
take M1-M6. At 4pm I met up with the Vice Chancellor
& Principal, Prof Noel Lloyd at his residence, Plas
Penglais. He was kind enough to avail time and most
approachable. We had a good 1 hour discussion over
matters of OSA, Alumni, Malaysian Alumni Club and the
University itself.
It can be as early as 1 September 2008 that our
University will change its name to ‘Aberystwyth
University’. The VC also mentioned that there will be
a new head for the Business School by the start of
next term.
2.0 The OSA Committee meeting met on Monday 9 July
2007 at 11 am after a final working group meeting
which started at 9.30am. Both went very well after
much due consideration on issues of Reunion, Annual
Dinner, database and activities to move the OSA
forward.
2.1 It has been decided that for the 1st time in its
115 years history, the Easter Reunion and Annual
Dinner will be held outside Aberystwyth. It will be
in Cardiff in 2008. More news on this will be
notified when hotel arrangements etc are finalised.
The OSA committee seeks to ensure that the hotel is
family friendly with bathroom ensuite, at the same
time having conference facilities and ample parking
etc. Major complaints in the past 5 years by those
attending reunion have been the facilities and
accommodation that Aber have in existence simply is
not good enough by the numbers. It may be 21-23 March
2008 but lets wait for the notice from OSA organising
committee on this. Some of us may still make our way
to Aber before or after the reunion and annual dinner
anyway since its only about 2 hours from Cardiff and
Cardiff is only 2 hours train ride from London.
Hopefully the Conrah renovation with conference
facilities etc will be completed in the near future
and we may very well one day have it there.
2.2 Some of the issues discussed or decided may be
found in the next OSA Annual publication which is due
out towards the end of 2007. Aber graduates are
welcome to write in anything to the Editor, Mr Ifan
Moelwyn Hughes where if the content is appropriate,
shall be included in the Annual. The cut off time for
articles prior to editing is typically October.
2.3 OSA committee was informed about the
abermalaysia.blogspot.com to which they were happy to
note. OSA is working out with the University on their
own website which is admittedly can be much better.
3.0 At 1.30pm I had a luncheon meeting at a
restaurant inside the Theology department (Old
College) with Steve Lawrence (Director of Development
and External Affairs) and Virginia West (Director of
Wales International Consortium). They are planning to
follow an entourage to Malaysia on 9 September 2007.
The entourage is likely the initiative of the
International Business Wales entity which together
with the WIC are creation of and receive support from
the Welsh Assembly. Virginia will revert to me about
possibility of booking the British Commissioner's
dinner time at his residence for the Malaysian Alumni
members to come over and meet the business delegates
from Wales that comes with the entourage. I have also
advised Virginia for the Welsh assembly via IBW or WIC
or British Council Wales to advertise a supplement in
The Edge.
Any Malaysian Aberites interested to do business or to
offer something to Welsh businesses can and are
encouraged to attend. Will keep you posted.
4.0 At 4.30pm I had another meeting but this time its
up at the law faculty, Hugh Owen building.
4.1 Law faculty has changed its name. Its now
Department of Law and Criminology (DLC)
[www.aber.ac.uk/law]. My former personal tutor, Chris
Harding, is now head of DLC & I managed to catch up
with John Williams and several younger staff of the
faculty, namely David Poyton and Neil Kibble who are
both very good for us to be in touch as they also
represent the younger breed of proactive lecturers.
DLC also now offers Certificate of Practise for those
who want to be solicitors. At long last!
4.2 An informal discussion was held on Aber and
raising its profile internationally. The discussion
was lead by Pro Vice Chancellor, Prof Aled Jones who
is another Aber Professor (in History) that will be
good to keep in touch as he propels our University to
greater heights. My input was I'm sure what many of
you would say and that is for each faculty to leverage
on the traditional strength of each department, eg.
law faculty should leverage on Agriculture (even more
so that IGER is merging with UWA), International
Politics, etc to have at its disposal availability to
specialise in streams of areas like Intellectual
Property for Biotech, Diplomacy and Negotiations etc.
At the same time I propose Aber to initiate
specialization in the form of a Islamic Finance Centre
or cell in the law or business faculty since over
USD400 trillion of islamic financial instruments are
out there and growing but an acute shortage in human
capital such as islamic finance lawyers even in
malaysia (as painfully explained to me by Salman
Younis, MD of Kuwait Finance House).
4.3 Dinner that night was with Aled Jones, John
Williams, Chris Harding, David Poyton, Neil Kibble.
It was at a new restaurant opposite Light of Asia,
called Le Vignoble which served fantastic food.
5.0 Tuesday 11am I attended the graduation ceremony
for the Arts faculty of English literature, History
etc. I never thought that I would wear a robe again
but this time to sit on the stage with the President
of the University, VC, Pro VCs, Registrars and the
works. I was up there in the capacity of the
President of OSA. Lunch with the VC and guests was at
Penbryn Hall. The 3pm ceremony was for Theatre, Movie
and Television studies which is now the largest
faculty at Aber. I was only informed after 3pm that
the graduation ceremony can be viewed live over
internet [www.aber.ac.uk/graduation].
There were numerous news photographers due to the fact
that Peter Karrie was conferred Fellowship and sat on
stage with us as well. He is an actor and theatre
performer and known nationwide due to his performances
in Phantom of the Opera.
5.1 Dinner reception was at VC’s residence, Plas
Penglais which some of your may remember to be
opposite the main entrance of the university.
The President of our University is and has been The
Hon Lord Elystan Morgan for the last 10 years. He
read law at Aber in the early 1950s. He is a retired
Circuit Court Judge and was MP of Caermarthen. He
remembers Tun Ghazali Shafie's at the tail end of Tun
Ghaz’ time at Aber but remembers Tun Salleh Abas more
as they were contemporaries. As past president of OSA
also, he acknowledges the Malaysians for the
participation and being active if not at least in
touch with Aber in their own ways.
I did mention to him that the hard work and foundation
of Malaysian Alumni Club was done by Tan Sri Arshad
and the earlier committees members.
He also introduced Cita and I to Lord Hooson who is a
dear friend of Jeyaratnam of Singapore and shared with
us his experiences over at Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew.
5.2 Dinner with VC and guests itself was at Penbryn
Hall again.
Caught up with the university’s registrar, Mrs Catrin
Hughes as well as the CFO, Richard.
Prof Noel Lloyd again thanked OSA and Alumni from far
away in his speech. A short speech was also made by
the incoming President of the University, Sir Emyr
Jones Parry who will succeed Lord Elystan Morgan on 1
January 2008. Sir Parry is also UK’s permanent
representative to the United Nations and received his
Fellowship by Aber Univ last year. More information
on his appointment can be found in the recent archives
in www.aber.ac.uk.
6.0 On Wednesday morning I attended to the OSA stall
for a short while before the law faculty buffet
reception for graduates at 11.30am. At present were
Chris Harding, Richard Ireland, Ann Sherlock and Neil
Kibble mingling around with graduates and
parents/family of graduates. I left by 12.15pm and
head to town, had lunch at Selim Bichen’s restaurant
(Home Café and Restaurant near the top of the High
Street) as well as paid homage to Mona Liza souvenir
shop own & run by Ceredig & Beth. Eventually and
reluctantly we left Aber at 3.00pm, stopping by at
Rhayader and Aberedw.
7.0 Prof Aled Jones may lead a delegation to Malaysia
in November 2007. He has asked for our input on how
we can assist the University in propelling itself in
Asia. They are equally eager to meet up with you and
I took the liberty to mention how well everyone is
doing including Aber’s representation in 2 key
positions in the Malaysian Bar Council, in banking, in
finance, in Petronas, Industry, government,
businessmen & women and many other professions. We
can perhaps look into a mutual benefit scenario viz
the alumni and members as well. Your ideas and
proposals are welcome; shall we arrange some events
during their visit? Your call guys.
Please accept my apologies lest I left anything of
substance out in this report or for any shortcomings
whatsoever. Have a good weekend.
FARIZ ABU BAKAR
UCW 1991
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