Digital township in the making in Miri

MIRI: Developer Naim Holding Bhd plans to develop Bandar Baru Permyjaya as a digital township in Miri.Chairman Datuk Abdul Hamed Sepawi yesterday disclosed that Naim was working with a
national Radio-Frequency Identification Device (RFID) agency and China-based Guangzhou agency on the system for the township in Bandar Baru Permyjaya. Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, Abdul Hamed disclosed that it was in line with development and progress of Miri and vision of Malaysia as an advanced and developed country by 2020.
“The technology has been widely applied in major cities in China. They are more advanced in this aspect and we want to introduce the technology and concept in the areas we develop in Miri,” he added.

Abdul Hamed was accompanied a group of directors from Jinan University led by the university’s vice president Ye Qin. The delegation was on a fact-finding mission to Miri looking into the possibility of setting up a Jinan University offshore campus here. The delegation, on Naim’s invitation, is looking into the proposed site in Bandar Baru Permyjaya with the size of around 200 acres.

“We are looking at the emergence of China as a new global economic player besides traditional US and Europe. There is also a shift in trend between Malaysia and China with the increase in business linkages and networking,” said Abdul Hamed.

He said the setting up of the university here in Miri would be an opportunity to prepare Mirians and Sarawakians at large to be part of the global economy.

He was also confident that Miri and Sarawak in general would be able to provide the students for the university with the yearly increase in the number of non-Chinese enrolment into Chinese schools in the state, particularly in rural areas. Among other factors is the location of Miri as it is quite close to countries such as Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.

“The delegation will present a paper to the university and China’s education ministry on the proposal. We hope to hear the good news in the next couple of months as the delegation is keen on this,” said Abdul Hamed.

Meanwhile, Ye Qin disclosed that Jinan University is the first state-run university open to overseas Chinese students in China, directly under the leadership of Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council. It is one of the key comprehensive universities of the state’s Project 211.

“The university has turned out approximately 200,000 talented graduates
of different professions for 123 countries. It can be said that it has students all over the world,” said Ye Qin.

At present, the student population totals 38,858 from 84 countries, comprising 26,717 full-time students with 7,817 post graduates enrolled in masters or doctorial programmes and
18,198 undergraduates.

Of the total student population, 12,216 are from overseas or Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.