Malaysians represent majority of Asean students in Taiwan — Lau
SIBU: Malaysians constitute the largest number of students from Asean who are currently studying in Taiwan.
Citing the latest statistics, Sibu Chinese community leader Temenggong Dato Vincent Lau said at present, there are 17,000 Malaysians undertaking various fields of studies in Taiwan.
“In fact, whether they are students heading to Taiwan for education or visitors going there for tourism, Malaysians form the largest number of visitors from Asean,” he said in his address for Sarawak Taiwan Graduates Association (STGA)’s 55th anniversary dinner at a hotel here last Saturday.
Lau also said Taiwan had been and would continue to be promoting good ties with Asean in four key areas – economic and trade cooperation, human resources exchange programme, sharing of resources, and goodwill.
On STGA, he said the members had remained united “through thick and thin”, since the formation of the association over half a century ago.
“They (STGA) have gathered their strength. They have also been promoting higher education opportunities in Taiwan, and also nurturing goodwill between the people of these two lands.”
On Taiwan, Lau said for more than half a century, Malaysian students had headed off to the country to pursue higher education.
“With China opening up towards globalisation, more students from around the world have been heading to China to study, and to Taiwan as well.
“For the Sarawakian graduates returning from Taiwan, they have formed various associations across the different divisions as their way to build and promote goodwill with Taiwan,” he said, adding that their efforts had helped develop Chinese education in Malaysia and also promote Chinese cultural activities.
“We see the fruits of their labour in this anniversary celebration. I am happy to be with them tonight,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the education development in Malaysia, Lau acknowledged that the country would do away with Arts and
Science streams at secondary schools beginning next year, to give students ample choice in their selection of subjects.
In this regard, he also observed that over the past several years, the percentage of Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination candidates who took the Chinese Language subject was still low.
“Under the new education system, we fear that students would continue to forego taking up Chinese subjects at school.
“Therefore, I fear that this could affect the Chinese Language subject and its development in secondary schools.
“In fact, the number of secondary school students taking up Chinese Language subject is already dropping. This is a situation that we do not want to see,” he added.