Education Key To Sustainable Communities, Says Malaysian Developer

By Neville D'Cruz MELBOURNE (Australia), May 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysian-born master planner Maha Sinnathamby says only education can help communities survive the perils of global urbanisation. Maha, as he is popularly known, is the founder and Chairman of the internationally acclaimed Greater Springfield Land Corporation development near Brisbane. Greater Springfield, which has been declared the world's best master planned community by the International Real Estate Federation, has so far attracted more than A$11 billion in both public and private investment including an A$2.6 billion government-funded rail line to Brisbane. Maha's reputation as a visionary master planner has spread globally. He has been invited as a key speaker at the International Real Estate Federation Congress in Petaling Jaya of Malaysia's state, Selangor later this month. His contribution to education in Australia was recognised about five years ago when he was conferred an honorary doctorate from the University of Queensland. Next week, he will receive an award from the University of New South Wales for the design and engineering of his development. In his development, a precinct is dedicated exclusively to education, with 10 private and public schools, an expanding campus of the University of Southern Queensland and a variety of specialised learning and higher education centres. More than 44 per cent of the 30,000 Greater Springfield city residents are now enrolled in formal education. It has the highest student-to-resident ratio in Australia, and one of the highest for any urbanised community in the southern hemisphere. Its first graduate student was not only raised, educated and trained in Greater Springfield, but also employed locally. Other precincts at Greater Springfield include health and information technology. According to Forbes International, Maha, who hails from Rantau, near Seremban, has amassed an estimated wealth in excess of A$903 million (about RM2.6 billion), since starting his project 23 years ago. The father of four high-achieving children who also work in the family business said Greater Springfield would have certainly not been truly sustainable had it not been for his own early education which began at St Paul's Institution, Seremban, studying under the dim light of a kerosene lamp. "The area where I grew up had very little running water and no electricity, so I studied hard whichever way I could," he told Bernama. "What I learned about education gave me an even bigger lesson in life -- education is the currency of the future. It can be cashed in, in just about any country, and once you have an education it cannot be taken away from you." Maha, whose daughter Raynuha is the General Manager at Greater Springfield, firmly believes that only an educated community can sustain itself. "For that reason I have invested heavily in making sure that everyone in Greater Springfield can have access to good education," he said. Several world leaders have visited Great Springfield including Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and all Australian prime ministers since the 1990s. --BERNAMA