Since at least 1952, Malaysian students have been attending the University of Illinois. Some early Malaysian Illini have included actuaries, architects, chemical engineers, civil engineers, historians, human resources administrators, mechanical engineers, and student leaders too.

Read on to learn about more early Malaysian Illini!

Early Illinois – Malaysia Connections

During the first century of the University’s history, Malaysian connections were just beginning and limited documentation can be found in the University Archives. For example, researchers interested in 1880s Malaysian climate should see the Christiansen family correspondence in the English Professor Ernest Bernbaum papers (Record Series 15/7/50). For a Malaysian tour fifty years later, in 1931, future Geography Professor Joseph A. Russell (Record Series 15/10/15) visited Asia and the Pacific region, including Malaysia, at the end of his studies which are recorded in photographs and a scrapbook too. In 1934, a private collection of Malaysian textiles were loaned for galleries in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. In 1956, U.S. Department of State, Office of Southeast Asian Affairs, officer in charge of Malayan affairs Mr. Rufus Z. Smith spoke to students about U.S. Foreign Service careers. During the Fall 1957 term, George A. Miller visiting professor Mr. Zelman Cowen, who assisted in preparing the constitution for the new Federation of Malayan States, taught comparative constitution and gave four lectures too. Three of the lectures included, “The Experience of a Sister Federation“, “Emergence of a New Federation“, and “The Rule of Law“. In 1964, Malaysian Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Dato Ong Yoke Lin came to campus and delivered the keynote address “Malaysia, its Formation and Problems” to the Model United Nations student organization. In fact, at least one Daily Illini reviewed the address too.

During the last fifty years of University history, Malaysian connections deepened significantly. During 1968 and 1969, Economics Professor William A. Neiswanger (Record Series 9/5/20) could be found studying the Malaysian economy and its neighbors. During the 1970s, Agriculture Economics Professor Harold W. Hannah (Record Series 8/4/34) Hannah served as a consultant for a United Nations Development Program (1972) to draft a policy blueprint for an agricultural university at Serdang, the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (now University Putra Malaysia). At the same time, Natural History Survey researcher Lewis J. Stannard (Record Series 43/5/20) would correspond with Malaysian entomologists too. In 1981, the University’s Institute of Aviation was contacted to train as many as eighty Malaysian aviation powerplant and aviation airframe specialists. [1] In 1985, History Professor Winton U. Solberg (Record Series 15/13/45) traveled to Malaysia and to neighboring countries too. In 1990, the University received a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a research project titled, “Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Dust and Smoke in Malaysia”. [2]

Some of the earliest Malaysian students did not leave many records behind. From Illio yearbooks and Daily Illini newspapers, we might infer that early Malaysian Illini were very busy with their studies and more than a few students came from Ipoh too.

Of course there were graduate students too. Some of the earliest graduate students have included Mr. Swee-Ping Chia (M.S. Physics, 1968; PhD Physics, 1972) and Mr. Eng-Bin Lim (M.S. Mathematics, 1970). In fact, Mr. Lim completed his PhD at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Organizations

For the first fifty years of Malaysian Illini history, like Chinese Illini, Hawaiian Illini, Hong Kong Illini, Indonesian Illini, Singaporean Illini, and Taiwanese Illini, some early Malaysian Illini were part of the large historic Chinese Students Club. However, at the same time, some Malaysian Illini and other interested students formed additional student organizations to explore the cultures of Malaysia too.

In 1952, the first Malaysian cultural night might have been organized. Then known as “Malaya Night” (now “Malaysian Night”) students organized an evening program of educational entertainment about the people of Malaysia. There were student lectures, folk music performances, Malaysian game demonstrations, and two film screenings too. Today’s University campus still includes annual Malaysian cultural events including Malaysian Night too.

Continuing the work of their predecessors, today’s Malaysian Illini support each other through the Malaysian Student Association (MaSA). Every year, the MaSA organizes annual social events, fundraising programs, travel trips, and cultural events like Malaysian Cultural Night which is supported by the annual Warong Malaysia fundraising food fest on campus. Of course, all events are open to all interested Illini everywhere.

Are you a Malaysian Illini? Do you know someone who is? We’d like to hear from you! Please send us a message or leave a comment below. We want to include you and your story, as we celebrate the first 150 years of the University of Illinois.

Happy First 150 everyone!

(A special thank you to 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 Malaysian Student Association members for inviting me to their events and sharing some of their stories too.)

References

[] As always, a special thank you to all students, staff, and faculty whose tireless work for student life and publications (many of which are available at the University Archives) help preserve the memories of Illini everywhere.

[1] Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, February 19, 1981, page 179, Record Series 1/1/802; July 16, 1981, page 331.

[2] May 10, 1990, page 535.