BANGKOK, Jan 27 (Bernama) -- Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
was conferred the honorary doctorate in Political Science from Naresuan
University, here, today.
Chairman of the Naresuan University Council Prof Dr Krasae Chanawongse in
his citation said the award was in recognition of Dr Mahathir''s life-long
commitment to the people of Malaysia to create a sense of national identity and
pride in Malaysia.
It was also in recognition of his statue as an extraordinary leader in
Southeast Asia, he said.
The university''s President Prof Dr Suhjin Jinahyon conferred the honorary
doctorate on Dr Mahathir in a ceremony at a hotel, here, the first time the
university with its main campus in Phitsanulok, conferred the award to a
Malaysian.
The university is named after King Naresuan and started as the College of
Education in 1967 and later became the Phitsanulok Campus of Srinakharinwirot
University in 1974 before officially granted u university status on July 29,
1990.
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THAILAND-MAHATHIR 2 BANGKOK
Dr Mahathir in his acceptance speech expressed sincere appreciation to the
university for conferring the award.
In commending the university''s vision and mission to transform the
university as the beacon of knowledge, he said the culture of lifelong learning
need to be nurtured in the minds and hearts of graduates as the world moved
towards a knowledge-based economy.
"In today''s world, lifelong learning is essential because continuous
research leads to new knowledge and discoveries," he said.
He said with new knowledge comes innovation, agility and increased
productivity that would eventually contribute directly to the nation building
process.
"We have to learn from the examples set by Ibnu Sinna and Al-Khawarizmi in
the fields of medicine and mathematics respectively and in more recent years, we
should emulate the creativity and innovation displayed by Mark Zuckerberg and
the late Steve Jobs," he said.
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THAILAND-MAHATHIR 3 (LAST) BANGKOK
It was clear that education should be used as a vehicle for change,
empowerment and emancipation, said the Malaysian fourth prime minister who took
office from 1981 until his retirement in 2003.
Thomas Elva Edison, he said, who created light bulb was often credited with
the creation of the first industrial research laboratory in the 19th century.
He experimented more than a thousand times before he could eventually
perfect his creation.
"But in his own assessment, he did not fail in his experiments for he learnt
a thousand wrong ways to create light bulbs. That is truly the spirit that is
much needed in this modern time which will without doubt benefit mankind as a
whole," he said.
Dr Mahathir''s wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali and Malaysian Ambassador to
Thailand Datuk Nazirah Hussain also attended the ceremony.
--BERNAMA
JM JRL
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