Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in International Relations is a distinguished programme at the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences designed for those who aspire to be leaders in government, international business, or international organizations. This programme is Southeast Asia’s first International Relations degree which combines the most refined university learning with a stamp of industrial experience.
After successfully organizing the first Malaysian academic webinar that discussed Russia’s War on Ukraine on 7 March 2022. The programme organized a second webinar that discussed the updates on this international conflict that has been going on for almost two months. This webinar, conducted on 13th April 2022, aimed to discuss the causes, impacts, and scenarios of the Current War in Ukraine. Ms. Aza Jemima Ahmad Zainamin, a second-year Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) in International Relations student, skillfully moderated the webinar that involved two Professors and one Senior Fellow from prominent institutions.
The first speaker was Adjunct Professor Siva Nathan who has first-hand experience living and working in Ukraine at Poltava University of Economic and Trade (PUET). He served in Maidan, Kyiv in Ukraine during the Orange Revolution of 2014 and spent substantial time in the Donbas region. He also worked in Eastern Ukraine in the peripheral towns of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk, where most of the civil unrest has been prevalent in Ukraine from 2014 till now. Over there, he was directly involved in helping the orphans, widows, and wounded soldiers due to the war in that region. In this webinar, Adjunct Prof. Siva discussed the causes of the Ukrainian crisis from his first-hand experience.
Dr. Oh Ei Sun, Principal Advisor of the Pacific Research Center, was the second speaker of the webinar. In addition to serving at the Pacific Research Centre, Dr. Oh is also a Senior Fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. He was the Visiting Professor at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong and a Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Previously he was political secretary to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Dr. Oh Ei Sun is an avid commentator and columnist on politics, economics, and current affairs for various international media. In this webinar, Dr. Oh talked about the repercussions of Ukraine Crisis to the nations around the globe.
Finally, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Guido Benny, Programme Director, Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) in International Relations, Taylor’s University presented the updates and five predicted scenarios of the War in Ukraine. The webinar attracted many students and scholars in International Relations throughout Malaysia. In addition, Scholars from overseas also attended and participated in the discussion.
