Bismillhirahmanirrahim,
·
Yang Amat Berbahagia, our
honorary guests, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Dr Siti Hasmah
·
Tuan Yang Terutama
Datuk Othman Hashim, Malaysia Ambassador To United States, and berbahagia Datin
· Tuan Syed Bakri, Consul General,
·
Your Excellencies,
·
Distinguished Guests,
·
Members of the Media
·
And my fellow friends
Ladies and Gentleman,
Assalamualaikum
Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh, Good Morning and Salam 1 Malaysia
·
First and foremost, I
would like to welcome Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Dr Siti Hasmah, to New
York City, or as they say it, “The City That Never Sleeps”.
·
Let me also extend my
appreciation to all the distinguished guests for taking their precious time off
to be here today. It is a great pleasure to welcome all of you.
First and foremost,
let us celebrate the reason we are here today. We are here today, to celebrate
and commemorate the achievement of our very own home grown leader, who has done
so much for our beloved Malaysia. I don’t think there is one other person, who
is more deserving, to receive the 2012 Rafik Hariri UN-Habitat Memorial Award.
For that, I am truly
honored to be able to speak on behalf of all the Malaysian students in the U.S.
and tell the man of the hour, himself, that we are proud of you and will
forever be grateful for all the things that you have done for our nation. You,
sir, turned Malaysia into a role model for other developing countries to strive
hard and grow in the umpteenth speed.
Allow me to share a story.
My economics professor, Professor Richard Anderson, called me “Mahathir Guy”. He
called me with that name because during his first class, I told him that I came
from Malaysia. He eagerly asked me, “Do you know Mahathir?” --I proudly
answered his question “Yes! I know him! He is our former Prime Minister”. Ever
since that day, my professor never called me by my birth name and I was always known
as “Mahathir Guy”. This is to show that the impact of Tun Mahathir’s legacy
does not limit to just Malaysians. His influence goes far and beyond, as far as
the United States of America.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Tun Dr M has shown the
world that hard work and dedication really do pay off in life. He has done
nothing but motivate and aspire all of us to do our best in everything that we
do. Many of us have achieved great awards in school. Some of us have even been
offered by many great companies to work for them here in the U.S. However, most
of us would politely turn those offers down because just like Tun Mahathir, we,
too, have our very own mission in life to help our beloved country grow.
Some of us even have
had an early start and already en route to achieve this mission of ours. We
work very hard, day and night, to tell the world the great things about
Malaysia. Of course, our job has been made easy ever since Tun made the world recognize
the presence of Malaysia on the world map. Nowadays, it is very rare for
Americans to not know about our country. Again, we would like to thank you for
granting us with all these wonderful opportunities, especially to be able to
travel 24 hours just to acquire the best knowledge and give back to our country
later.
Lastly, I would take a
brief moment to voice out my hope for the Malaysian students abroad to continue
to excel in their studies and continue the struggle to assist our country to
establish itself as one of the best in the eyes of the world. Sure, Tun M has
done most of the work, but I personally believe that we can’t solely count on
our leader while we enjoy the ride. If we unite and work hand-in-hand together,
I am pretty sure it would speed up the success rate and before you know it,
Malaysia will be the next big economic giant of the world.
Before I hand back
this mic over to the MC, I would like to share with all of you a quote by a
very powerful and respectful man, Tun Dr Mahathir. And I quote, “Mahasiswa yang
hanya memiliki pengetahuan tinggi tanpa nilai peribadi murni, tidak mampu
memacu pembangunan negara bagi mencapai sasaran negara maju”—I hope that’ll put
some thoughts in perspective in all of us, especially the students of Malaysia
here in the U.S.
Lastly,
Please grab this
chance to meet him, and thank to him for what he has done for all of us. This
could be your only golden ticket to meet one of the most respectful men in the
world.
THANK YOU SO MUCH,
Father of Modernization. You have done us proud, once again!
By :
Muhammad Afiq Hassan
Chairman of United States UMNO Club Liaison Committees
Co-Chair MEC USA
Photos by : Michael Boon and Khalis Othman