By Danial Yusof
KUANTAN, 21 August 2020: IIUM is the youngest university in Malaysia amongst the five universities which have been recognised by the UNESCO but what makes IIUM different from the rest is the implementation of Islamic perspectives into the dimension, said Prof. Emeritus Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifli Abdul Razak during his session with Kulliyyah of Medicine (KOM), on Tuesday (18 August).
He is concerned on how the Kulliyyah can portray its differences to the public by engaging the medical and health perspectives not only physically but also mentally and spiritually so that the institution can play its role at a global stage.
“KOM has got a good project, Gender Dysphoria, where we can look at how the marginalised group of LGBTs can be ˜saved by IIUM and the impact the programme gives to participants in moving forward, the Rector said.
The Rector suggested for the Kulliyyah to come up with other flagship programmes for it to move forward in line with the holacratic style of leadership by engaging with other kulliyyah.
Meanwhile, according to Dean of KOM, Prof. Dr. Azmi Md Nor, the Gender Dysphoria flagship programme is a collaboration of expertise with other kulliyyah in Kuantan campus which focuses on the LGBT community with an objective to bring back the community to the right path.
“Due to COVID-19 pandemic, we have to postpone the Gender Dysphoria 2.0 flagship programme to next year in which we will expand participation not only from Malaysia but also from Southeast Asia countries including Singapore, Thailand and others.”
The Dean commented apart from Gender Dysphoria flagship programme, the Kulliyyah will look at the plantation of ˜Musang King durian in IIUM. The project which aims to start on a small scale will be participated by other kulliyyah to look at the effectiveness of durians breed to be planted in IIUM.
“We will also be collaborating with Pahang State Agriculture Department to examine how mixed breed of durian like ˜Musang King is different from normal durian trees in terms of taste, smell and the way of taking care of it, he said. ***