By Aida Najwa
GOMBAK, 18 August 2022: His life would remain stuck at the same point without Malaysia, a valedictorian from Kulliyyah of Engineering told the graduation audience on Tuesday (16 August).
Jisam Manasir, from Sri Lanka, expressed his appreciation towards the country, which has given him many wonderful experiences, be it friends, celebrations or food, during his time at IIUM.
“Terima kasih Malaysia kerana menjadi tuan rumah yang terbaik untuk saya. Kawan-kawan di Malaysia sentiasa membuat saya seperti di negara sendiri. Makanan Malaysia memang yang terbaik dan yang paling saya suka rendang, ” he said in the Malay language.
In his speech, he explained “we need to share the knowledge we learned with the people around us in order to make sense of them to benefit the community because their role as engineers includes striving forward for knowledge and pushing for sustainable sciences” .
According to Jisam, as IIUM fosters the Islamisation of knowledge, this institution plays a role in making the graduates’ purpose of life different from the rest.
“Everytime we hear the azan in the main masjid, that’s the reminder that we have a different and greater purpose,” he said.
During the seventh session of IIUM’s 37th convocation, Jisam Manasir was awarded with Best Student in a Co-Curricular category.
“Congratulations to my batchmates. We all deserve a pat on the back. It was not easy but alhamdulillah, we pull it through, ” he mentioned.
He wrapped up his speech by sharing his earnest gratitude to his lecturers for their assistance, friends for being there, and families who were watching from thousands kilometers away for continuous support.***