KUCHING: A university education is arguably the ideal launching pad to working life but the process of learning should however not end there.
The advice comes from Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing who stressed the importance of a lifelong quest for knowledge.
“We may be experts and talents, but we must always keep our hearts and minds open and stay hungry for knowledge, just like a novice.
“The world is ever-changing. What is new this minute may be obsolete next,” he said in a Facebook post on Sunday (Aug 14) after attending the Xiamen University Malaysia convocation ceremony.
Tiong who is the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to China said even professors and scholars never stop learning.
Aside from textbooks and knowledge, he said many life experiences will also shape one’s future.
“We must not be complacent, self-satisfied, and stuck in our ways, preventing us from progressing with the times,” he added.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, he said education was a huge burden on ordinary families and it was common for families to work and save just to support a single member’s education.
He recalled his childhood years, saying he came from a large family and that it was not easy for his parents to send all his siblings to school as they were not wealthy.
“My early education journey was filled with many obstacles and challenges.
“I would help my father to carry cartons of eggs to the wholesale market before school and I would rush home after school to help my parents feed the chickens, ducks and other livestock.
“Although it was an arduous experience, it was one of my most cherished memories,” he said.
During those days, he said, the pursuit of education was a very ambitious commitment for a family.
But development and technology have today made education no longer so out of reach, he added.
