Singapore business stalwart Loh Hoon Sun has been named The University of Queensland’s (UQ) 2005 International Alumnus of the Year at UQ’s Singapore graduation ceremony.
Mr Loh, the managing director of stockbrokers Phillip Securities, was the first president of Australia’s Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) Singapore base.
As the first international member of CPA Australia to receive life membership after 42 years service, Mr Loh has been helped develop and shape the accounting profession in Singapore.
He holds a Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours which he gained when he studied in Australia in the 1960s.
Mr Loh has been a director of companies such as the Overseas Union Bank, Singapore Unit Trust, Gulf Oil Company and helped forge stronger links between UQ and Singapore by introducing UQ’s Master of commerce, Master of Business Administration and Master of Applied Law into Singapore.
He was presented with his award at UQ’s Singapore graduation at the National University of Singapore on Sunday, September 11.
UQ, based in Brisbane in Australia, is Queensland’s oldest and largest university, which consistently ranks as one of Australia’s top research and teaching and learning universities.
Mr Loh was also guest speaker at the ceremony.
About 350 postgraduate and undergraduate students in engineering, business management, science and arts, attended the ceremony.
The ceremony was one of four being held by UQ in south-east Asia in September so graduates could share their triumphs with friends and family.
Innovative UQ molecular biologists Professor Victor Nurcombe and Dr Simon Cool were also at the ceremony.
On secondment at Singapore’s science and technology base A*Star, they are researching new wound and tissue repair techniques and also a biological paste that directs bone growth.
Students received their awards from 2pm in the National University’s Concert Hall.
UQ has nine agreements with Singapore institutions to foster research and academic collaboration and student and staff exchanges.
Singapore students make up almost three percent of UQ’s total student population.
UQ is a member of the Group of Eight, an elite group of universities which conducts 70 percent of all university research in Australia.
It is also one of only three Australian members of Universitas 21, an international network of comprehensive, research-intensive universities committed to quality through benchmarking against world-best practice.
UQ consistently receives the maximum five star ratings for teaching and research and for positive graduate outcomes.
For more ceremony details visit http://www.uq.edu.au/graduations/?page=21124
Media inquiries: Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (0413 380 012, m.holland@uq.edu.au).
Acceptance speech by Loh Hoon Sun
I am very honoured to receive the 2005 University of Queensland International Alumnus of the Year Award. This is also an honour to all UQ alumni in Singapore, many of whom are very successful in their respective fields of pursuit.
It was 41 years ago that I attended, like you do today, my graduation ceremony at the City Hall in Brisbane. On that occasion, the then Vice-Chancellor, the late Professor Sir Fred Schonell, in his speech, advised the graduands to be honest and natural and not to pretend to be what you are not. Not pretend to be what you are not.
These words are simple but very meaningful. This important principle in life is still valid and equally applicable today despite the tremendous changes in the world during the last 41 years. It has certainly withstood the test of time.
I like to take this opportunity to share with you briefly my career experience after graduation.
I started work as an Audit Assistant in a chartered accountant's firm in Brisbane for a year. Then I returned home and worked as an Accountant, Office Manager, Company Secretary, Group Financial Controller, General Manager and Executive Vice President in different industries in Malaysia and Singapore, including plantation, logging, mining petroleum and banking. Now I am the Managing Director of Phillip Securities Pte Ltd. Phillip Securities is a stockbroking firm providing a wide range of financial services in 11 countries manned by 2500 people.
I attribute the progress in my career to a good education and continuing education, honesty in life, good work attitude, getting along well with people, working hard and planning ahead.
Having graduated from the well regraded University of Queensland is an important foundation to my career path. Overseas exposure also helped to broaden my horizon. I certainly learned a lot during my years in Australia, its people and its culture, besides university education.
Different people have different ways of thinking and doing things and have different philosophies of life. We can benefit in learning from each other and in understanding each other better. This is especially important now as many Singaporean businesses are expanding overseas and require their employees to be located in different parts of the world.
To all graduates today, I congratulate you on your achievements. As you embark on the next step in your lives, I wish you satisfaction in your successes and hope that you learn from your failures. Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground. And, one day, if you find yourself standing here looking back on the past while staring at the face of the future, I hope it will be with pride that you tell your story.
Thank you.
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