Malaysia's First Nobel (Peace) Prize Laureate

Taken from The Star Online, August 24, 2014. 

PETALING JAYA: All that Mohd Nasarudin Mohd Yusof wanted to do after moving to The Hague, Netherlands, and joining the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) three years ago, was to make Malaysia proud of his service there.

Never did the 52-year-old retired Malaysian Armed Forces personnel dream that he would get a chance to fly the Jalur Gemilang high with a Nobel Peace Prize 2013 award for his work at the intergovernmental organisation that ensures member countries adhere to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of chemical weapons and requires their destruction.

“When you work overseas, no matter how small it (your work) is, you are carrying your country’s flag,” said Nasarudin.

He hopes his team’s win will spur young Malaysians to achieve the country’s dream of winning the Nobel Prize in other cultural and/or scientific advances.

“I did not win the Nobel prize for individual achievement. I received it with my organisation, for the whole team’s work,” said the chemical weapons and munition specialist.

The Nobel Peace Prize to the OPCW consisted of a medal, a diploma and a cash prize of about 900,000 euro (RM3.77mil).

Nasarudin said it was difficult initially for him to decide to relocate to the Netherlands.

“Such opportunities only come once in a lifetime though, so I decided to grab it,” said the retired lieutenant-colonel.

Malaysia’s multicultural society makes it easy for Nasarudin to get acclimatised to the different cultures of the Dutch.

He said he also got help from other Malaysians – of all backgrounds – in The Hague, including a colleague from Malaysia who holds a Permanent Resident status in Britain.

“She had already surrendered her Malaysian citizenship, but I suppose it’s true what they say – once a Malaysian always a Malaysian.”

His experience abroad had also made him appreciate Malaysia more, said Nasarudin.

To those contemplating leaving Malaysia for work or studies, Nasarudin advises them to just go for it.

“It will not make you any less Malaysian. Good opportunities only come once in your lifetime, so don’t waste the chance. That working experience will be valuable in life.”

Nasarudin said the Merdeka celebrations this year would be poignant for the Malaysian community in the Netherlands as the Malaysian spirit there had grown stronger after the MH17 tragedy.

He hopes all Malaysians can learn from this tragedy and stay united from wherever they are.

For now, Nasarudin will continue to try and do Malaysia proud from afar.

“I cannot come back yet because there is no work in Malaysia for my specialisation.

“I can contribute more if I stay in The Hague although I really miss the Malaysian weather,” he quipped.

Now, what's my take on this?
This what I call a real 'Achievement Unlocked!'

I feel extremely happy and proud of this. Finally, Malaysia has its own Nobel Prize Winner!
What's with the number of tragedies that had befallen our country, the never-ending tumultuous political scenarios, the rise of social decadence among Malaysian youths, the lack of Gold Medals achieved by our contingent this recent Commonwealth Games, the abysmal performance shown by some our athletes and the football players, plus, many other things that do not put Malaysia in a good spot,  this is definitely something akin to a miraculous balm that soothes our aching hearts.

I love Malaysia. There are many things that I am dissatisfied about this country, there are several incidents that make me embarrassed to be a Malaysian (sadly), but above all that, I am still a Malaysian. I was born and bred here, and I love this country.
There were times when I wonder why can't we be like other developed Asian countries like Japan and Korea, of which both of them had gloriously and rapidly rose towards the top after the end of the World War II. Now why couldn't Malaysia achieve the same outstanding feat?

I shall refrain from making any politically-provoking statements here. Although some of the politicians are not that smart, and that they do not contribute significantly towards the socio and economic developments of Malaysia, as they are only harping about who should become the leader, and when will the current government be replaced by oh-so-brilliant-leaders-of-the-highest-calibre, we, as the citizens must take charge to make our country be in the limelight for good reasons.

The core factor towards doing this is by having the Malaysian spirit, the spirit of patriotism. Whatever we are doing, we must do it for our country. Forget the incessant-childish-fights of the people above, we must work hard for our people. The single bit that we contributed to our country might bring upon significant effects and bring our beloved country to a good light. Wherever we go, we bring the Malaysian spirit with us. We shall make our country proud, to make other citizens to be proud to bear the Malaysian citizenship.

When we're working; as for me, when I'm working at the hospital later on, I must strive to give the best service to the people. I must work hard to uphold the integrity of a good health professional. Someday, I wanted there to be a statement uttered by someone that 'Malaysia's health professionals are among the best in the world, not just in terms of medical capabilities, but also in terms of attitudes towards each other and towards the patients'.

Sure, there is a lack of infrastructures for us Malaysians to further develop our potentials here.
For that, we might leave Malaysia for a while, (just like this Nobel Laureate), but we must constantly instil the Malaysian spirit in our hearts, so that we will return to Malaysia, and work hard towards developing our country.

Let the political leaders quarrel and fight like little children. It takes a very long time for some policies to be changed and carried out, and with them existing in our political scenario, it's hard to see our country to progress into a developed country in a short time period. Sure, they are needed somehow but yet, sometimes we could not depend on them too much. We must move on and create our own opportunities.