By Farah Radzuan
GOMBAK, 11 November 2017 – In recognition of his invaluable services to the country’s legal system, former Chief Justice of Malaysia, Tun Arifin Zakaria, was today conferred with the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Law at the first session of IIUM’s 33rd Convocation.
The conferment of the award was made by IIUM President, Tan Sri Dr. Rais Yatim.
Upon receiving the award, Tun Arifin shared a speech about his journey through the years of being a student all the way to this present time where he is now being honoured for such a prestigious milestone.
He mentioned that he received a scholarship from the government of Malaysia to pursue his studies in political science, but later changed his course to law at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom.
According to information available from IIUM’s convocation ceremony, Tun Arifin was appointed as the Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Malaya on 1 March 1992.
Two years later, he was appointed High Court Judge of Malaya and was then promoted to Chief Justice of Malaysia on 12 September 2011. He served his duty until 31 March 2017 when he subsequently retired.
IIUM’s 33rd Convocation ceremony also saw the conferment of other University awards on the graduands such as the Royal Education Award, the Overall Student Award, the President’s Award, the Rector’s Award, and the Best Budi (Virtue) Award.
A total of 5,165 graduands will be receiving their scrolls throughout the three-day convocation held at IIUM Cultural Centre from 11 until 13 November – 4,141 bachelor’s degree, 766 master’s and 258 PhD’s.
This year, the Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS) again tops the list with the highest number of graduates which stands at 1,217 out of 4,141.
Out of 1,217, 506 received Bachelor of Human Sciences degree, 99 Bachelor of Human Sciences (Arabic language and Literature), 146 Bachelor of Human Sciences (English and Literature) and 226 Bachelor in Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Heritage.
A total of 3,768 graduands are from Malaysia while 373 from abroad of which the listing also saw three countries at the top – 56 from Singapore, 50 Indonesia and 43 Bangladesh.***