IMU Alumnus Represents Malaysia in the International Arena

International Medical University (IMU) Psychology alumnus, Immanuel Tan, graduated with his degree in October 2016 and is currently pursuing his Master of Public Administration (MPA) at Texas State University, United States of America. Immanuel works as the Graduate Assistant for the Office of International Affairs and serves as the Operations Coordinator of the Student Leadership Board at Texas State University. Immanuel is also a member of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) and American Society for Public Administration. In addition, Immanuel is currently serving as an intern at the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations where he is proud to serve and represent the country.

Prior to his master’s degree, Immanuel worked as a Recruitment Consultant in a Japanese Recruitment Company based in Kuala Lumpur and was successfully promoted to Team Leader after 8 months of work. In addition, Immanuel was selected to be part of the Malaysian Representatives team to attend the Annual General Meeting in Japan and was the only non-Japanese employee across Asia to be awarded the Commitment Grand Prix 2017 Award by the President of the Group of Companies. His achievement was recorded by the Office of the CEO, both Japanese and English versions, in the exclusive edition of the Annual General Meeting’s booklet. Immanuel was also the recipient of Best Performed Rookie 2017 in his company. Throughout the past several years, Immanuel gained opportunities to represent Malaysia in various international conferences. Last year, he was selected to be among the top 80 international delegates from across the ASEAN countries to receive invitation and full sponsorship from the United States Department of State to participate at the “Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Workshop on Economic Engagement in ASEAN” in Vietnam. Immanuel emphasises that the work to prepare and inspire young people to carry the torch of building a stronger ASEAN community must be done. The Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), initiated and launched by former President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, is a U.S. government’s signature program to strengthen leadership development and networking in Southeast Asia. Apart from that, Immanuel had the opportunity to speak with the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, to discuss on the roles of Malaysian youths in building a stronger ASEAN community. This was held during his trip to the Philippines to participate at the ASEAN Youth Summit 2017, themed “Strength in Diversity, Building One ASEAN Community”. Immanuel expresses his sincere gratitude and appreciation to all his lecturers at IMU who have nurtured and guided him in many ways. Immanuel describes his lecturers as being special and committed who see tomorrow in every student’s eyes. IMU is not just another tertiary institution; IMU is the place to be for all students, where talents are unleashed and where future stars are cultivated professionally. Besides that, Immanuel also congratulates IMU Healthcare for breaking the new ground on Bukit Jalil’s First Patient-Centric Hospital and has full confidence that IMU will succeed extraordinary. Immanuel is thankful that the Psychology programme at IMU has significantly broaden his understanding of people’s behavior, performance, and mental operations which enables him to serve and work with people better. Immanuel served as the President of the 2nd International Medical University Psychology Ethics Forum and is grateful to gain experiences and soft skills such as leadership skills, negotiation skills, communication skills and time management while preparing for the forum. He reflected that every experience is a wonderful gift.

“Each day, we see people with all kinds of successes from around the world and we tend to distance our capabilities with them, thinking that we are too far behind from what they can achieve. It is high time for us, as Malaysians, to recognise that Malaysians are resilient and are capable to do wonders, more than what the world can ever imagine.” – Immanuel Tan

Immanuel believes that young people across nations are given bountiful opportunities to attain excellence each day. These opportunities are there to mold us, edify us and strengthen us. The challenge for so many of us is that we are so busy with our daily distractions that we miss out on these opportunities, of which if we grab these opportunities and do the best we can, these would bring us up to another whole new level of success and the zeal to make a difference in the lives of those around us.

Immanuel emphasises that no one should ever start to devalue themselves because of their social status, financial capabilities or academic abilities. He encourages all young people to see themselves as a valuable asset that is significantly useful and needed to the society. Success is for everyone and everyone deserves a fair and equal opportunity.

Related article: IMU Psychology Student Represents Malaysia at the WFUNA International Model UN Conference.