Students from over 100 countries join university's largest Merdeka celebrations

Students from the Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) concluded their four-day Merdeka celebrations at their Bukit Jalil campus yesterday.

To rejoice in the nation's 58th year of independence, students from APU organised a series of celebrations from 5-10 September 2015 involving students from more than 100 different countries.

The celebrations comprised a Merdeka Unity Run that involved 700 students, staff and members of the public. Various student bodies at the university also organised a Malaysian Food Fiesta that encouraged its students to taste over 50 types of Malaysian food, including roti bakar, banana leaf meal, thosai, wantan mee, Chinese dumplings, nasi lemak, laksa, samosa and aloo parantha. This proved to be a hit among both local and international students.

On the final day of the celebrations, an estimated 150 students from various countries joined to witness and participate in the closing. The emcees were TRaXX FM's radio DJs Roundhead and Double D, who had the audience in stitches as they quipped on the quirky aspects of languages and food in Malaysia.

The highlight of the entire event was the "Journey through Time", a 2-hour play that narrated the historical development of Malaysia towards independence. The play underlined the importance of being historically, socially and politically conscious of the country's past and present. It also featured Malay joget, Iban Ngajat, Indian Mallari, Punjabi Bhangra and Chinese fan dances performed by various cultural societies in the university.

According to the Project Director of the four-day celebrations, Niraanjana Sunathan, the efforts towards making this event a success was representative of how much unity can mean as a fundamental strength in a community such as APU as well as in the country. The student project director said that one of the aims of the celebrations was to enrich the experience for the international community at APU to understand better the country they are studying in and how it can inspire them to do the same with their respective home countries.

APIIT Education Group CEO Datuk Dr Parmjit Singh in his speech expressed his pleasure at witnessing the fruits of the students' hard work. "Events like this add on to leadership skills, as students learn to work within teams - [all] part and parcel of personal development and ultimately the fundamentals to the process of educational development." He described APU as a microcosm of a globalised world where each student can come together to celebrate each other's events and cultures.

Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan who officiated the event was impressed and commended Datuk Dr Parmjit Singh on establishing such an institution that nurtured a historically conscious student community. It proved that youths today still strive to know more about their country at a time when many are asked if they appreciate what it means to be Malaysian and independent.

The minister said, "It reminds Malaysians as well as students from all over the world who are here to get their education that [this] is very important and I wish that many more colleges and universities would undertake events of this nature during the independence day."

APU's largest Merdeka event ended with a fusion song inviting the guests of honour on stage - celebrating the diversity, talent and efforts of the students who worked hard to dig deeper into the country's past to share with their fellow students.

The Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) is among Malaysia's premier private universities. It offers a wide range or degree programmes with Technology as a common core, including Information Technology, Engineering, Business & Management, Accounting, Quantitative Studies and Media. APU has been rated at Tier 5 (Excellent) under the SETARA 2013 ratings by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) on 1 November 2012.

For more information, please visit the APU website here.