UKEC

The United Kingdom and Éire Council (UKEC) for Malaysian Students. It is an umbrella body of the the Malaysian Students Societies in the universities and colleges in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

Founded in 1995 as the UK Executive Council for Malaysian Students, the body has in 2006 amended the constitution and UKEC’s name to include the Republic of Ireland or Éire. Its current chairman is Amir Fareed Abdul Rahim, who currently reads History and Economics at Pembroke College, Oxford.

History

Malaysia Students activism in UK started actively in early 1960s when the first coalition of student bodies established as MPPM UK (Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar Malaysia- Malaysian Students Representative Council.) The coalition ended in mid 1980s. Adlan Benan Omar the then UKEC chairman and Mohd Hirmiadi Don bin Rahim the then President of UKEC Supreme Council were the co-founders of the UKEC.

Purposes

The purposes of the organisation are:

1.To facilitate interaction and friendly relations among the various Malaysian Societies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland based on the principle of mutual respect.

2. To achieve co-operation in solving problems of a social, cultural and economical character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for the Malaysian way of life and for universal kinship without distinction as to race, [...], language, religion and political affiliation.

3. To provide an outlet for social, cultural and academic activities amongst Societies and to assist the administrative duties of the Malaysian Students Department (MSD), and any of its other functions as may be necessary for the benefit of the Malaysian Students.

4. To be a centre for harmonising the actions of Societies in the attainment of these common ends.

Membership

The membership of the council is opened to all other Malaysian students societies registered with a university, polytechnic or institution of learning; or academic bodies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

Members

According to its website, the council members are the Malaysia Students Societies at;

1. Lancaster University
2. University of Bath
3. Cambridge University
4. University of Hull
5. University of Exeter
6. University of Glasgow
7. University of Cardiff
8. Imperial College London
9. King's College London
10. University of Oxford
11. University of Edinburgh
12. Leicester University
13. University of Liverpool
14. London School of Economics
15. University of Birmingham
16. Newcastle University
17. University of Bristol
18. Queen Mary, University of London
19. University of Surrey
20. University of Manchester
21. University of Southampton
22. University of Warwick
23. University of Sheffield
24. University of York
25. Queen's University Belfast
26. University of Kent
27. University College London
28. University of Portsmouth

Partners

The council also weaves its partnership with other Malaysia Students organisations in France and Germany.

Activities

The UKEC could be assumed the most active Malaysia students council in the world. With the plethora of the networks that it has, the UKEC has organised many forums, talks, seminar and social gatherings for Malaysia students for the last ten years since its establishment.

Since 2007, the UKEC is widely known for organising the Malaysia Students Leadership Summit(MSLS). The annual summit is known to be the platform for Malaysia students to discuss and share their thoughts through the forums and the Q&A sessions with the prominent speakers. In 2007, the summit had attracted almost 1000 participants and invited speakers with the likes of Tony Fernandes, Raja Nazrin Shah and the then Higher Education Minister, Dato' Mustapa Mohamed.

The summit had also created issues when the boo-incident happened when one of the invited speakers, the then Vice chancellor University of Malaya Datuk Rafiah Salim was greeted with boos and catcalls when she said public university students had the freedom to express their thoughts and ideas.

Hearing their disapproval, Rafiah retorted: "Behaviour like this is exactly what causes people not to respect you. You won’t even give me a hearing. And you won’t get respect." "If you behave like that, nobody will listen to you because it is not worth listening. You are not respecting others." On 2nd and 3rd of August 2008, the council had successfully organised its second MSLS.

Online Journal

To promulgate more interesting and healthy debates between the students, UKEC launched its official online journal, CEKU.org.uk. The journal receives contribution from the Malaysian students in UK and Éire, United States of America and Malaysia.

The current chief-editor of the online journal is Mohd Hizami Iskandar, a law student at Magdalen College, Oxford.

The views of the contributors do not reflect the view of the UKEC per se.

Rumors and Speculation

Critics said that the council is a vehicle used by ambitious people trying to get into the committee in order to get a nice CV in order to climb up their career ladder by using the networks and influences throughout the governments and corporate sectors.

This is perhaps true, to some extent when most of the UKEC Committee ended up being the most sought after professionals back to Malaysia. However, it is worthwhile to mention that most of the UKEC Committee themselves graduated from the most prestigious institutions in UK ;Oxford, Cambridge,Imperial, King's, LSE,Bristol and UCL,just to name a few. It is undoubtedly true, that they have gained the sufficient skills to be the crème de la crème through funds collection, lobbying,big events organizing and so on.

The communication and management skills that they have acquired could be manifested by their success to organize big scale event like MSLS and Projek Amanat Negara.

Given Malaysia's national leaders strong attachment to the UK varsity, given the fact that many Malaysia corporate leaders graduated from UK universities and continue the legacy by inheriting that values to their children, it is not surprising that the UKEC manages to get the support and to be what it is today.

Notable Alumni

• Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad,former Vice Chairman, the assemblyman of Seri Setia, Selangor

• the late Adlan Benan Omar, the co-founder, former Secretary of Keadilan Youth Movement

• Mohd Hirmiadi Don bin Rahim, the co-founder, Chairman of the Young Professionals Chamber of Malaysia (PROMUDA)

• Ziad Razak,former Vice Chairman, special officer to the Prime Minister

• Wan Mohd Firdaus Wan Mohd Fuaad,former Chairman, Special Officer to Chief Minister of Johor