The SEAMEO Council President's Report 1998

His Excellency Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Wijaya Dato Haji Abdul Aziz Umar's current term as SEAMEO Council President is the third time His Excellency has served the Organization, having been elected President twice in 1986 and 1992.

During his term, the SEAMEO Council President assumed leadership in providing new directions and opening up of new avenues of collaboration. He accomplished this effectively through his visits to the SEAMEO Member Countries and dialogues with the Centres, Governing Boards and the Ministries of Education. One of his most noteworthy accomplishments in his present term is the inclusion of Myanmar as the tenth Member Country of SEAMEO, which further fortified the solidarity of the SEAMEO family in the region.

The SEAMEO Council President's first visit is Singapore where he was the Guest of Honor of the RELC International Workshop. He proceeded to Malaysia and paid a courtesy call to the Minister of Education and visited SEAMEO TROPMED and SEAMEO RECSAM.

During his visit to the SEAMEO Secretariat in Bangkok, he acknowledged the hard work and commitment of the staff and congratulated everyone on the efficient coordination of the organization's programmes and activities.

During his official visits to the SEAMEO Centres, the Minister reaffirmed the invaluable contribution of the SEAMEO units as Centres of Excellence. At SEAMEO TROPMED, he met post-graduate students. At SEAMEO TROPMED, he met post-graduate students. At SPAFA, the His Excellency offered facilities in Brunei Darussalam for Thai students to participate in field studies at the Betalong Field Centre and other areas of cultural interests.

In Thailand, His Excellency paid a courtesy call to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Thailand Mr Pancha Kesornthong and the Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr Chuan Leekpai, who himself was a former SEAMEO Council President. His Excellency sought the continued support of the Prime Minister to SEAMEO.

While in Thailand, he also witnessed the signing of MOU between the Ministry of University Affairs and SEAMEO on UNINET and SEAMEONet. SEAMEONet will be used as a regional educational intranet system SEAMEO management and for accessing a virtual library and sharing databases and courseware among various universities, colleges, institutes and schools among SEAMEO Member Countries.

On the occasion of SEAMEO's first official visit to Myanmar, SEAMEO's newest member country, the SEAMEO Council President visited the Institute of Medicine, Dagon University, Yangon University and other educational institutions. He met with Myanmar's education officials and emphasized the benefits gained from being a Member of the SEAMEO family especially with the opportunities made available through the organization's facilities and expertise on education, science and culture. To cap his visit, he offered scholarships to qualified Myanmar students to pursue courses at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam and SEAMEO VOCTECH every year.

(Ref: SEAMEO Annual Report 1997/1998. Bangkok: SEAMEO Secretariat, 1998. p.8)