Vital to master critical thinking, students told

Pure academic achievement is not enough to guarantee employment. Students should inculcate themselves with the culture of creative and critical thinking, says former Human Resources Minister Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that university graduates will not land a job without having soft skills,” he said during the launch of the Malaysia Festival of The Mind VII yesterday.
Dr Fong applauded initiatives by the Government and groups like the Malaysian Mental Literacy Move­­­­­­ment (MMLM) in promoting mental development and literacy to develop the nation’s human resources.
Utar council chairman Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik said new businesses were moving away from physical products and were now dealing in ideas and patents.
“Half of the United States’ exports are ideas. Instead of just selling trucks and cars, they are now exporting music and movies,” said Dr Ling, who is also the MMLM founder.

Visionary leaders: (From left) Dr Chuah, Dr Tan, Dr Fong, Fernandes and Dr Ling posing for a photo after the launching of the Malaysia Festival of The Mind VII at TAR College in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The two-day festival was organised by MMLM in collaboration with Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) and Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC).
Also present were AirAsia group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, who was a guest speaker at the launch, Utar president Datuk Dr Chuah Hean Teik and TARC principal Dr Tan Chik Heok.
The festival featured talks, workshops and exhibitions on mind mapping and memory improvement, and will also be held at the Utar campus in Perak from Oct 8 -9.