Malaysian Scholar Joins Global Search For Knowledge And Skills

By Neville D'Cruz MELBOURNE, May 7 (Bernama) -- A Malaysian scholar is making waves as part of a growing tide of students who have taken their education to the global classroom. Michael Chin, formerly from Cheras, Selangor is one of an estimated three million postgraduate students globally studying overseas, and this number is expected to double by 2025. After completing his Bachelor of Business Administration at the University Utara of Malaysia in 1995, Chin, 40, attended Cambridge University from 1996-98 for his Master of Business Administration before moving to Australia last year to undertake a Master of Laws (Juris Doctor) at Monash University, here. Students like Chin, who travel the world to further and complete their education, not only pick up valuable life skills and experience through exposure to many different cultures and environments, they are making themselves attractive to future employers. Since graduating from UUM, Chin has worked for Canada's telecommunications industry, Malaysia's Mitsubishi Bank and Lion Group of Companies, Amsteel Securities in London, and management consulting company Accenture and accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers in Australia. He has also provided financial and commercial advice to senior management at Airservices Australia, the country's sole air navigation service provider, and developed a commercially viable financial strategy to protect the company during the global financial crisis. "It (international study) shows I also have an emotional strength because I think it requires a lot of resilience to be able to move to a new country and re-establish," Chin told Bernama. This resilience and adaptability is something that owes much to his upbringing. The youngest of five children, Chin attributes his success to the "encouragement, sweat and tears" of his mother, Tan Sow Kim, who raised her family on her own and passed on to her children lessons of tolerance, justice and resilience. Chin attended Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur in 1984 and quickly embraced the school's philosophy of developing holistic students who were a mix of scholar, sportsman and gentleman. As well as success in martial arts and athletics, he held leadership roles in the school's Scouts group, Christian Union, archery club and Board of Chairmen. At UUM, Chin was recognised as one of Malaysia's top graduates, winning the National Young Achiever Award in 1992, the Lion Gold Shield Award for Best National Undergraduate in 1994, the Royal Academic Award for Top National Graduate and the Distinguished Service Medal by the Conference of Malay Rulers in 1995, and the Tunku Abdul Rahman (Prime Minister) Award for Best National Graduate in 1996. He attributes some of his success to the help given by several Malaysian academic leaders including the late Tun Suffian Hashim, the late Tan Sri Othman Yeop Abdullah, Tan Sri Shamsuddin Kassim and Associate Professor Faudziah Zainal Abidin. At Cambridge, Chin received a Chevening Scholarship and won a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Award, and in Australia he was presented with the 2012 Prime Minister's Australia Asia Award as one of Australia's top students while undertaking his Juris Doctor at Monash. "The Monash JD programme presents the best outward and international focus for law, which is adapted to Australia's and Asia's environment," Chin said. "The standard of the Monash Law School is equivalent to - if not better than – the major law schools in the US or UK," he said. Between his studies and his work, Chin has also found time to extend his personal passion for social justice. He established the Monash Christian Legal Society and the UrbanREACH and CapitalREACH ministries, which help the poor. He has also worked with the Melbourne CrossCulture Legal Counselling Centre. "Besides providing legal advice on criminal matters, family violence, family breakdowns and human rights issues, we try to assist with a person's underlying emotional, mental and spiritual health." While studying at Monash, Chin last year became the only first-year student to take part in the inaugural JD Moot Competition, which required him to present legal submissions to a full bench of the Victorian County Court. As part of his 2012 Prime Minister's Australia Asia Award, Chin will undertake a six-month placement at Shanghai Jiao Tong University to complete his studies in Chinese banking law, international law, foreign trade and investment law. "I will be able to see the bigger picture of global transactions, professional relationships and networks as well as to improve myself intellectually and personally to be able to appreciate what is happening nationally, regionally and globally and not have a myopic view of what happens in Australia." After he graduates he hopes to be admitted to the Victorian Bar here, contribute to the Banking and Financial Services Law Association and take part in the Australian Law Reform Commission's study of privacy of cross-border credit protection information. In the longer term, he plans to attend an Ivy League university such as Stanford or Harvard to continue his doctorate studies in law, and to apply his skills to such regulatory bodies as the OECD and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. -- BERNAMA