annual landing of the course materials from Gippsland!
Excellent secretaries, especially Anne Marie Matthews,
made this demanding work manageable.
A deficit that was overcome in terms of applied
communication studies was the lack of media
production facilities, which was also a risk for
our competitive edge over rival Communication
programs. A media lab had been a vague goal until,
one day, the Facilities Manager, Lily Leong advised
that some space rationalization had made available
an old teaching room that could be renovated as a
production studio. Robin Alfredson was consulted,
and (as he was a specialist in acoustics engineering)
examined the room for noise efficiency, gave the nod,
and we began to discuss a budget and resources.
Dr Yeoh fed suggestions and sources for suitable
equipment and fit out. The project unfolded over about
six months and the new lab was in operation in 2004.
Lily and her amazing team, headed by Hamdi Barjah,
were everyone’s friends at MUM, and the studio was
the piece de resistance of their generous support for
Communication.
Our other arch supporter was Mrs Khoo, the librarian,
her deputy, Teoh Poh Lin (now Dr Teoh and librarian at
Edith Cowan University, Perth) and library staff at Tun
Hussein Onn Library, which Sunway College shared
with Monash at the time. Mrs Khoo made contact
even before I arrived in KL and from that moment
bestowed generous budgets on our library holdings.
At a pulsing rate, hundreds of book titles were
added each year in every aspect of Communication,
flooding students with resources to supplement their
Monash course books. My favourite extra-curricular
activity was to be dispatched on behalf of the library
for selection at the several book fairs each year!
And lunch! Mrs Khoo regularly hosted marvelous
lunches where buffet tables, laden with the full range
of Malaysian treats and traditions, and cognizant of
every cultural season – Malay, Indian and Chinese
– appeared. I was frequently an honoured guest,
and Mrs Khoo generously coached this greenest of
expats in appreciation of Malaysian cuisine. Did I like
Malaysian food? Well, yes!
Indeed, banquets, lunches and hospitality were a
feature of life at MUM, whether at the mamaks across
the road, or upstairs, with various guests, at the
student-run restaurant on the top floor of the Monash
building. The sense of hospitality and spectacle was
also apparent in the lavish graduations held at Sunway
Lagoon. My last in 2003 was a highlight, a week-
long event, including the pre-graduation dinner, the
graduation, and a Scholarships and Prizes ceremony,
all presided over by the (then) new Vice Chancellor,
Professor Richard Larkins. I recall meeting many
parents, and the emotional excitement of
the graduates.
Graduation 2003
(Left to Right)
Cheryl Ganeson,
Nurulashyikin Md
Yunan, Yeoh Seng
Guan, Wong Li Li. ▶
15
Graduation 2003:
(Left to Right)
Nurulashyikin Md Yunan,
Lydia Koh, Firdaus Abu
Hasan, Cheryl Ganeson,
Tan Bee Choo. ▼
However, teaching and research were the richest
endeavours. For me, teaching film at MUM opened
the door to my continuing interest in Asian cinemas
and understanding of the power of screen study as an
intercultural knowledge medium. In 2002, I attended
the inaugural Sarawak Film Festival in Kuching, an
introduction to the vibrant coterie of young Malaysian
filmmakers at the time, including Lina Tan, James Lee,
and the late and brilliant Yasmin Ahmad. Some of
these people became visitors to MUM as, along with
Dr Pat and Dr Yeoh, we expanded our identity with
seminar series of guest speakers and widened our
Communication Studies into more applied activities.
This took shape, not least, in the Honours coursework
where the pioneering candidates developed projects
of external engagement, including field trips, and
guest speakers to MUM such as the scholar-activist
Dr Cecilia Ng and others.
Friends, Hospitality, and Exchanging Ways