THE LAUNCH OF HAN CHIANG UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION

SPEECH BY CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG

IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE LAUNCH OF HAN CHIANG UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION

9 FEBRUARY 2018

 

It gives me great pleasure to be here today to say a few words on the occasion of the official launching of Han Chiang University College of Communication.

Let me first congratulate the Board of Directors of Han Chiang Associated Chinese Schools Association, staff members and students on the occasion of the launch of Han Chiang University College of Communication. As an institution, Han Chiang University College of Communication has matured and grown from strength to strengt since its establishment in 1999.

Today, Han Chiang University College of Communication is an educational institution with international links to various overseas partner universities. A good education advocates innovation and modern technology for the media and creative industries all available in Han Chiang University College of Communication. Han Chiang University College of Communication is the only higher education provider in the Northern Region of Peninsular Malaysia that offers the Chinese Studies academic programme. Its Chinese Heritage Centre, located within the campus grounds is a touristic icon in Penang that preserves the authenticity of Chinese culture and serves as a research platform for the study of Chinese culture, heritage and values.

Ladies and gentlemen,

At Han Chiang University College, education is for everyone regardless of socio-economic background. The upgrade of Han Chiang University College status is indeed a defining moment and the Penang State Government is proud to witness a local university college in Penang just as the Southern College in Johor and New Era College in Kuala Lumpur.

Penang has always been in the forefront of driving technology adoption with the advent of Industry 4.0. We also seek convergence in the public, manufacturing and services sector to enable us to partake in the 4th Industrial Revolution. As we all know, the 1st Industrial Revolution happened with the invention of steam engines, the 2nd Industrial Revolution with the discovery of electricity of mass production and specialization of work, the 3rd Industrial Revolution with the invention of computers and internet. Finally the 4th Industrial Revolution revolves around the Big Data Analytics (BDA), Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Fintech, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing and Internet of Things (IoT).

As an example, Penang has launched the implementation by using one of the component in Industry 4.0 – Artificial Intelligence (AI) to fight dengue. AI will recognise patterns and make predictions without being explicitly programmed do so. The game-changing surveillance system which the Penang State Government has named CAT or Crush Aedes Totally has been enabled by an advanced model that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), based on big data analytics and epidemiological research known as AIME (Artificial Intelligence for Medical Epidemiology). AIME will collaborate with the Penang State Government and the State Health Department to implement the surveillance and prediction platform. This will enable authorities to effectively target the future outbreak spots and thereby take necessary preventive action including fogging and eliminating aedes mosquito breeding sites.

The education landscape is constantly changing with new technologies. Penang has the 3Ts of talent, technology and tolerance of new ideas to establish a creative cluster. Innovation and productivity are the key elements of wealth creation where proficiency in English and mastery of technology is an important prerequisite. This has led to the fact that Penang is a leading manufacturing hub and highly sought after by foreign investors.

Penang has a thriving community of various nationalities, and we welcome everyone from other states and countries to pursue their education in Penang. I wish Han Chiang University College every success in its endeavour to provide a dynamic teaching and learning environment for Penang in the 21st century.

Thank you.