Media Centre

Tan Sri Datuk Dr Lim Kok Wing’s nation-building efforts were again acknowledged by the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia. At the institute’s Crystal Award 2004 recently, Tan Sri Lim was bestowed a Special Acknowledgement Award in recognition of his role in last year’s Kuala Lumpur World Peace Conference and the Plight of the Palestinians project.

Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology itself picked up two awards: the Kuala Lumpur World Peace Conference winning in the Image Building category, and the Plight of the Palestinians project, in the category of Voluntary Programmes.

The winning campaigns are activities that deal with global issues and highlight the need for unity among different races and nationalities to promote a better, more peaceful world.

Expertise in creativity and innovation

The first of its kind to be convened by a Muslim-majority country, the Kuala Lumpur World Peace Conference held in August 2003 saw Limkokwing students initiate organise the event that brought together distinguished world leaders.

The students made their presence count in many ways, notably through an anti-war exhibition they put up in conjunction with the conference. They were also involved in the production of Peacevolution, a New Age album that was launched at the closing of the conference by Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The Plight of the Palestinians project was planned with the Palestinian Embassy and was meant to educate Malaysians about the Palestinian cause and the reasons behind the underlying tension within the Middle East.

The exhibition was Limkokwing’s contribution to the endeavour undertaken by the Malaysians for Peace movement. Aimed at touching hearts and minds, Limkokwing also benefited from the presence of Arabic and Persian students on campus who provided insights that helped in the formulation of the exhibition components.

The victory at the Crystal Award has further confirmed Limkokwing’s expertise in handling projects that are focused on helping produce Malaysians who are creative, innovative, competitive, but also peace-loving and aware of global issues.

Limkokwing, in fact, has become known for undertaking various projects in support of national aspirations. Malaysians would recall Limkokwing’s contributions in such projects as the Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur 1998, the Rakan Muda youth development campaign and Inflasi Sifar (zero inflation).

Culture of excellence prevails

That winning awards has become a norm at Limkokwing cannot be doubted. Tan Sri Lim himself has garnered more than 100 awards since he started making a name for himself in the fields of advertising, communications and education; the more recent ones including inaugural winner of the Adrenaline Lifetime Achievement Award for Commitment to Educational Excellence last year. And at IPRM’s Crystal Award 2001, no eyebrows were raised when he was named the Most PR Savvy CEO.

The university college itself is a regular winner of awards: the most notable ones in recent times being the Excellence in Private Education Award 2003 from the National Association of Private Educational Institutions (NAPEI), and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry’s Export Excellence Award (Services) for 2002. The latter was in recognition of its efforts in the recruitment of international students - Limkokwing is among the private institutions with the highest number of international students (40% of its 4,000 students are from 60 countries).

Limkokwing students too have become known for their ability to win awards. Recent achievements include multimedia students Tan Kok Huat and Dennis Wong Chee De scoring big at the MSC-Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA), winning the first prize and merit award in the Best of Tertiary-level Student Projects (Creative Multimedia) category respectively.

Then there was the team of six students led by Yunika from Indonesia, helping the university college stamp its mark at the Adoi Adrenaline Student Creative Awards. In a repeat of the previous year’s victory (where 12 Limkokwing students made a clean sweep of the awards with a medal haul of two gold, three silver and four bronze), Yunika and her friends also won the Best of the Best Award, meant for the biggest winner of the event.