Special honours forUPM academics

By KANG SOON CHEN

educate@thestar.com.my

EARLIERthis month, InternationalTrade and Industry Minister Datuk SeriMustapa Mohamed announced that the

country's export of halal products had goneup from RM23.1bil in 2010 to RM35.4bil as oflast year.

The burgeoning growth of the country'shalal industry did not happen overnight.Throughout the years, the Government hasput in various measures to make Malaysia aglobal hub for the production and trade ofhalal products and services.

Accordingto Mustapa, the Government hasbeen actively involved in an effort to raise thehalal integrity level, besides building thecapacities of the halal product companies andpromoting the Halal Malaysia brand.

The Eighth International Halal Showcase(Mihas) held at the Kuala Lumpur ConventionCentre last year brought together halal food­stuff and new technology from around theworld.

A total of385 companies from28 countries,including Malaysia, took part in the four':dayshowcase.

The Halal Products Research Institute inUniversiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has been atthe forefront of research and development(R&D)in the halal detector technology.

Prof Datuk Dr Yaakob Che Man, who isknown as the "halal scientist" from the UPMFaculty of Food Science and Technology,founded the aforementioned institute.

His brainchild is HaFYS,a halal verificationsystem that can detect porcine DNAwithin anhour through polymerase chain reaction.

The product, which was acknowledged asa breakthrough innovation in halal detectortechnology, bagged several awards at thenational and international level including theNational Intellectual Property Awards,Islamic Innovation Awards, Brussels EurekaAwards and the Biolnno Awards.

Currently, it is patented in Malaysia and22 other countries including the UnitedStates.

ProfYaakob was among the 15 academicstaff from UPM who received the Vice­Chancellor Fellowship Award from theSultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin IdrisShah during the Putra Academic ExcellenceAwards (MGAP)2011 ceremony recently.The Sultan is the Chancellor of UPM.

Held for t.he fourth time since 2009, MGAPwas a gala ceremony honouring the achieve­ment of UPM's academic staff in the areas ofteaching, research, innovation and profes­sional services. The awards were formerlyknown as Putra Teaching Award, Researchand Innovation Award, and ConsultationAward. Four new categories were introducedto the awards this year including the awardsfor Professional Services, Book Publication,Journal Publication and Arts and Creativity.

ProfYaakob was also one of the threerecipients of the highest overall award - theVice-Chancellor Special Award - in theresearch category, Food Science andTechnology cluster.

"To many people, halal products are just areligious issue because even countries in theMiddle East did not see the halal industry asan important player in the economic sector,"said ProfYaakob.

"What they fail to see is that the halal cer­tification is a good marketing tool for the .products as it is also a mark of quality assur­ance. Furthermore,halal products are suita­ble for both Muslims and non-Muslims," headded.

The multiple-award winning professor,who was also named as the National TokohMaulidur Rasul in 2010, maintained thathalal science should not be viewed as sec­ondary to other branches of science.

'There is no reason why halal scienceshould not be compared to science in outer­space exploration. Although halal is a reli­gious requirement in Islam, halal science isnot limited to Muslims only," said ProfYaakob.

UPM attained its research university statusin 2006 under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Itreceived an extra boost earlier this yearwhen Higher Education Minister Datuk SeriMohamed Khaled Nordin announced thatthe university officially gained autonomy

Prof Fatimahreceived recognitionfor theimportant role she playedin advisingtheGovernmenton national policiesin agriculture.

together with four other public universities.UPM vice-chancellor Datuk Dr Radin Umar

Radin Sohadi said the university alwaysencourages the academic staff to carry outhigh-impact studies that are beneficial to thecommunity and-the industry ..

, ''The culture -of research excellence in theindustry will spur the growth of human cap­ital and the economic sector in the country,"said Dr Radin Umar.

During hi,s speech at the awards ceremo­ny, Dr Radin Umar said that research and

'development and the commercialisation ofresearch remained as the main focus of theuniversity's development plan.

IS ''The university has a mission to makemeaningful contributions towards the crea­tion of a prosperous nation through our dis­covery of knowledge among the studentsand the academic staff," said Dr Radin Umar.

Meanwhile, Assoc Prof Dr Zeenathul

DrZeenathul,who is a molecularbiologyandvirologyspecialist,was acknowledgedfor herexcellencein teaching.

Nazariah Allaudin (rom the VeterinaryMedicine Faculty was acknowledged for herexcellence in teaching with the Vice­Chancellor Special Award in the tea'chingcategory, Pure Science and Health cluster.

The passionate educator said the awardreceived was a very special token for theeight years she spent teaching in the univer­sity.

"Learning in the university involves com­plex knowledge acquisition and a high intel­lectualism. It is important that students havea positive attitude and they need to be com­mitted to their disciplines," said DrZeenathul who specialises in molecular biol­ogy and virology.

To stir intellectualism in her classes, DrZeenathul set in the motion for her studentsto debate various topics so as to sharpentheir critical thinking skills. "I believe thatthere is no wrong answer and every short-

coming can be improved," said Dr Zeenathulwho is known for her teaching philosophy,"Be champions to make learning a wonderfulexperience".

She shared that there was never a dullmoment in her lectures as her students werevocal and raring to participate in discussions.

The last recipient of the Vice-ChancellorSpecial Award; Prof Dr Fatimah MohamedArshad from the Institute of Agricultural andFood Policy Studies, received recognition forthe important role she played in advising theGovernment on national policies in agricul­ture.

"The agriculture sector is neglected inmany developing countries with very littlespent on its R&D.In Malaysia for instance,the food sector has remained stagnant in thelast decade because more focus was given tothe manufacturing industry," said ProfFatimah who received the award in the pro­fessional services category.

The global food crisis in 2008 which trig­gered the exponential rise of food prices inmany countries, such as the 50%to 100%hike in Haiti, was a wake-up call to theworld that the agriculture sector was stillimportant, said Prof Fatimah.

"Can you imagine that even our countrywas not spared the crisis when we faced ashortage of rice? And the prime ministerfrom Haiti was forced out from officebecause of the food crisis," said Prof Fatimah.

"Some people tend to look at the exportearnings and profit in the investment onagriculture. What they often overlook is thata sustainable agriculture sector protectsagainst the insecurity problem and socialuprising, as seen in countries which sufferedthe food-crisis," said Prof Fatimah. She addedthat the award she received will spur her onher cause to campaign for a sustainable agri­culture sector in the country.

"Vou can never go wrong when you investin food. Human civilization started with agri­culture and it should stay that way," shesaid.

Sultan Sharafuddin, accompanied by Dr Radin Umar (in red tie), visits Prof Yaakob (bottom left) at his booth.