The Peace Road Charity Run Penang 2017 was held recently at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Main Campus. The run was jointly organised by the Asia Pacific University-Community Engagement Network (APUCEN), Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles of Penang (CARP).

Over 1,000 participants came together under the spirit of peace and unity to take part in this running event, held at the USM grounds which served as the run route. Many of them had gathered at the USM Minden Field even before dawn to run in the 7-km race.

The run also served as a fund-raiser to assist charitable organisations, namely Cerebral Palsy (Spastic) Children’s Association of Penang and Ajar-ajar Malaysia (which provides free tuition for underprivileged children).

The Chief Executive Officer of APUCEN, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Aileen Tan Shau Hwai said, the Peace Charity Run was initiated 3 years ago in Korea and today the Peace Run has been carried out in more than 130 countries promoting global peace. This is the very first time it has been held in Penang and USM is honoured to host the event.

"This is a Fun Run to promote peace. Each of us believes that it is more than just a run; deep inside each of us, we believe in promoting 1Nation1Heart for Peace," she added.

Meanwhile, according to a participant, who only wanted to be known as Mr. Wong, this is an awesome running event that can satisfy both the internal desire for peace and the external need for exercise.

Said another participant, Siti Sarah, this run provided a good platform for all runners to get together and share the spirit of togetherness and also to strengthen the ties among family members and friends, by getting fit and healthy through running.

Aside from the run, a lucky draw was also held offering attractive prizes such as laptop, bicycles, rice cookers, mobile power banks, thermos, backpacks, infuser water tumblers, stainless steel food containers and 3D Trick Art Museum free entry tickets.

Among those present at the run were the representative of the Chairman of Penang Port Commission (PPC), Dato’ Philip Kang Chun Keong; Overseas Director of Universal Peace Federation (UPF) Malaysia, Yutaka Yamada; Deputy Director of Penang Youth and Sport Department, Vijayan Kumar Nambiar a/l Nadarajan Nambiar; Director of USM Sports and Recreation Centre, Muhamad Mohd Hanif; Advisor of CARP Penang & Ajar-ajar Penang, Wendy Koay; President of the Cerebral Palsy (Spastic) Children Association of Penang, Ng Fook On; and Peace Road Charity Run 2017 Main Sponsor & ODR Lubricants Business Development Director, Darren Hah.

APUCEN is a regional network of academic institutions of higher learning concerned with promoting the culture of university-community engagement in a proactive, inclusive, holistic and participatory way.

With its current membership of 92 from 19 countries, APUCEN will continue to seek for corporate sectors as well as NGOs to be its members, with the aim of working together to conduct more Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities that would have an impact on the society at large.

The APUCEN International Youth Volunteer Awards 2017 was initiated to honour, recognise and acknowledge active youth volunteers who are committed to sustainable community engagement activities. The award also aims to increase awareness of the importance of volunteerism and community care among students and youth (balancing the knowledge and character of the next generation). Through this award, we hope to help kickstart APUCEN Students Chapter to boost APUCEN membership and most importantly to encourage teamwork and cooperation among students and young academic staff.

Each award came with a cash prize of USD3,000, a trophy and a Certificate of Appreciation from APUCEN. The judges for APUCEN International Youth Volunteer Awards were Professor Dato’ Dr. Adnan Hussein (Universiti Sains Malaysia), Professor Dato Dr. Mohd Ismail Abd Aziz (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia), Professor Madya Dr. Abdul Malek Abdul Karim (Universiti Utara Malaysia), Dr. Nazarudin Zainun (Universiti Sains Malaysia) and Professor Emeritus Chris Pratt (Australian College of Applied Psychology). Overall, a total of 61 applications from various institutions has been received from seven countries namely Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Pakistan, South Africa, Indonesia and Thailand for all 7 awards honoured in this programme; Youth, Health, Women, Education, Environment, Entrepreneurship and Open Award.

The award presentation was presented during the opening ceremony of the 3^rd APUCEN Summit 2017, held at Hotel Jen, Penang, Malaysia on 20 April 2017. The award was presented by the Honourable Minister of Higher Education Malaysia, YB Dato' Seri Idris Bin Jusoh.

Multicultural Youth Service (MCYS) 2017 was held in Penang, Malaysia from 5^th May – 9^th May 2017 mainly organized by Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and collaborated with Asia-Pacific University-Community Engagement Network (APUCEN), Wanita Gerakan Pulau Pinang and supported by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). The main objective of MCYS is to raise up young leaders to serve others for the well-being of our global human community with the mission to help young people in personal leadership development and peace-making skills by providing service-learning opportunities based on the universal principle of living for the sake of others.

There are a total of 120 scholars including staff who came from 10 different countries including Malaysia, Japan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Yemen, India, Indonesia, Algeria and Philippines. The universities and colleges involved are AK academy, UTHM, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya and others. MCYS 2017 with the theme of ‘Building Our Youth for Tomorrow’ successfully cleared the dreadful environment of Jalan Dinding and replacing them with beautiful mural painting. All the participants showed their care and love thus build a good relationship with the 35 neglected old folks at Jalan Dinding, Georgetown, Penang.

The Secretary General of UPF, Mr. Ng Shu Lin said, MCYS not only assist young people in character building but also groom them to become responsible citizens and outstanding young leaders in respective communities. Therefore, MCYS 2017 organizing committee decided to bring hope and make a change in this area with all the participants.

MCYS 2017 in Penang has definitely achieved the goal of strengthening and develop a harmonious rapport among youths from various backgrounds through intercultural cooperation. MCYS project offers a very sustainable platform to youths in leadership development and peace education, we realize only love, unity and trust can together build a world with lasting peace, harmony and co-prosperity.

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM, 9 December 2016 – The future generation has a very important role to play in shaping the nation and therefore they need to be nurtured.

The Asia-Pacific University-Community Engagement Network (APUCEN) President and also the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail, said this in her opening speech at the National Youth Education Seminar at Kolej Universiti Perguruan Ugama Seri Begawan (KUPU SB), with the theme ‘Visionary Youths: Catalyst for Transformation’ here recently.

“To be able to lead a nation, the future generation needs to strike a balance between knowledge and character, and this can be achieved through education.

“There should be a flexible education, where the future generation will be able to work and at the same time has access to higher education. Universities need to change to make this possible; universities need to make sure that their degree programmes offer value and flexibility in order for the students to acquire living skills and have an entrepreneurial mindset,” she said.

Asma stressed that today’s youth have to face the 21st century challenges that cannot be ignored, for example economy crisis, globalisation and fast digital pace. As such they need to be competitive in order to meet these challenges, and must be more involved in community activities and volunteerism.

“The future generation, born in the internet era, needs to know how to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong with the information overload from the internet.

“Therefore, education plays a very important role in guiding this generation to balance between knowledge and character towards forming a healthy generation and instill in them the values that build character in order for them to be able to give back to the society,” she said.

The seminar was graced by the presence of the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Negara Brunei Darussalam, YB Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohammad Yussof as the guest of honour as well as the Acting Ra’es of KUPU SB, Dr. Haji Adanan bin Haji Basar.

The seminar was attended by some 300 participants comprised of government officials, academics, students and APUCEN Council members.

The former President of APUCEN who is also the former Vice-Chancellor of USM, Professor Dato’ Dr. Omar Osman, gave the keynote speech entitled ‘The Megatrends, Youth Development and Higher Education”.