Musa (left) receiving his Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Development Economics) from Azman.
KOTA KINABALU (Dec 13): Former Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Development Economics) by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) at the 25th Convocation Ceremony on Wednesday.
The honorary degree was presented by the Pro-Chancellor of UMS, Tan Sri Azman Hashim for his greatness and excellence in leading the state’s economic development to the point of being called the ‘Sabah Economic Development Architect’.
When giving a speech, Musa greatly appreciated and expressed his gratitude for the very high respect that UMS gave to him.
“For me, the award that UMS gave me is very valuable.
“Therefore, it is not wrong for me to share the honor of this award with all my friends in the Sabah Cabinet at the time, fellow strugglers in the leadership, all family members and public service officers including my officers who were very dedicated when serving to help me carry out heavy duties as Chief Minister of Sabah,” he said.
Touching on the field of education, his deep focus on the development and improvement of the quality of education began when he was appointed as the director of Yayasan Sabah in 1994.
“I am aware that the issue of education is very important and is the main pillar of achieving excellence in life, especially in the state of Sabah which at that time was quite behind in the field of development compared to other states.
“I believe that the great economic success, the improvement of educational knowledge and the excellence of efforts to develop the state, are closely related to our commitment to produce highly educated human capital.
“Recognising the importance of this, the Sabah state government that I led had given a clear focus on efforts to build quality education infrastructure,” he said.
Musa also called on UMS graduates not to be satisfied with a single degree obtained during the convocation.
“Try to continue your studies because education is a continuous and never-ending process or lifelong learning,” he added.
Musa served as Chief Minister of Sabah for 15 years from 27 March 2003 to 11 May 2018 and was appointed as UMS Pro-Chancellor from 2005 to 2018.