UOW Malaysia KDU Penang

Speech by YAB Chow Kon Yeow Chief Minister of Penang

UOW Malaysia KDU Penang

Assemble Final Year Exhibition 2020

11 January 2020

 

 

Good evening.

 

It is absolutely a great pleasure for me to be here and to be able to view the design proposals by all 21 graduates at their Assemble Final Year Exhibition 2020, on this very evening.

 

It is apparent that throughout this exhibition, there is a presence of balanced development, effective planning and the very notion of awareness of community dynamics. This is as underlined in Penang2030, an action plan that focuses on improving livability, economy, civil participation and balanced development to achieve ‘A Family-Focused Green and Smart State that Inspires the Nation’. The Penang State Government is planning to take things to the next level and, as such, through the Penang2030 vision, we are focused on making Penang as a model state with an eye to progress and prosper together as a nation at large.

 

Therefore, I am certainly glad that this exhibition provides a good opportunity for the public to better understand the shift towards the paramount goal of Penang2030 vision through the designs that students have envisioned for the public. I am also thrilled to see that the students (citizen) of UOW Malaysia KDU, Department of Built Environment have been inspired by the Penang2030 vision to retain and improve the wonder of our cultural treasure. These cultural assets are the very core of who we are as Malaysians.

 

George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site features Malaysia’s best restored and re-adaptive traditional architecture as well as a multitude of the nation’s culture and heritage. Achieving missions of Penang2030 and the preservation of heritage buildings in Weld Quay, an area which is a core zone of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, is part of what the students have designed upon.

 

This exhibition emphasizes on the importance of heritage conservation by turning old heritage buildings in Weld Quay area into retail areas, museums and healthcare facilities. The design proposals of these 21 students also aims to achieve several strategic initiatives of Penang2030 vision such as to diversify recreation, arts and culture facilities, to enhance the welfare and care system of Penang as well as to create a variety of quality tourism products in the island.

 

This clearly exhibits proficient abilities and widespread quality of the graduates from a unique perspective which makes the design more extravagant, further highlighting the wide-ranging aptitude of DOBE, UOW Malaysia KDU. It is satisfying to see such a wide scope of plans that guide the new stage of improving social collaboration and state comprehensiveness.

 

I greatly hope that through the exhibition today, more Penangites will be able to comprehend the direction that the state is steering towards as exhibited in the designs of the 21 students today, and with that understanding, I hope that it will motive even more Penangites to share and contribute their ideas from their very own unique perspective that can be channeled into realizing the Penang2030 vision and to make Penang as a place that is even more enviable than it already is. 

 

Finally, I would like to thank the curatorial team from DOBE, UOW MALAYSIA KDU PENANG UNIVERSITY COLLEGE and all committees who contributed in making the Assemble Final Year Exhibition 2020 a great success. I truly wish each one of the exhibitors a great and successful journey ahead.

 

Thank you.