ARAU: Raja Muda of Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail urged graduates of higher education institutions to be ethical when dealing with cyber information.
He said it was vital for graduates to filter and verify information received on the internet before sharing it with others.
He also strongly reminded them against spreading news or negative issues that could tarnish the image of any quarter besides avoiding falling victim or being involved in cyber crimes.
"New media is part of the educational and knowledge revolution which gives a significant impact to societies across the globe. The 'Internet World Statistics’ issued on June 30 this year recorded a total of 7,519,028,970 internet users in the world and 49.7 per cent of the users are from Asia followed by Africa, Europe and Latin America.
"The increase in the number of internet users has resulted in easy access of informations, with just a 'click' away . This is where the graduates have to play their roles in preventing cyber crimes or irresponsible information sharing," he said.
Tuanku Syed Faizuddin, who was Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) Chancellor, said this in his opening speech during the first session of the university's 12th convocation ceremony at its main campus here today.
Presents were Raja Puan Muda of Perlis Tuanku Lailatul Shahreen Akashah Khalil who was UniMAP Pro-Chancellor and its Vice-Chancellor
Earlier, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin awarded Honorary Doctorate in Enginering to former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
However, Abdullah, also fondly known as Pak Lah, was not present at the ceremony.
Tuanku Syed Faizuddin later conferred Honorary Master in Engineering to Aerospace Composite Malaysia operation director Sharizal Ariffadillah.
"The two figures have made major contributions in term of ideas and expertise towards the development of UniMAP apart from the country's socio-economy.
"It is my hope to see both recipients continue to share constructive ideas to further develop UniMAP into becoming a high quality, innovative and competitive university," he said in his speech.
Tuanku Syed Faizuddin also presented scrolls to 136 pioneer graduates of School of Human Development and Technocommunication during the first session.
The graduates were among a total of 3,180 students who would be receiving their diploma, degree, masters and doctorate scrolls during the six-day convocation ceremony.
The number of graduates this time was 274 more than previously and of the total, 75 graduated with PhD, 130 with Master of Science, 58 with Master of Business Administration, 2,588 with degree and 329 with diploma.
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KEYWORDS: graduates, higher education institutions, ethical, cyber information, filter and verify information, internet