Reaching Out to Future Leaders

Dear Friends,
When Sutra was approached by Mr Dickson Lau, Chairman of Persatuan Alumni Yayasan Tun Razak to contribute to their prestigious leadership program involving their selected young 17 - 18 year old students (awaiting their SPM results prior to their further tertiary education), I agreed to host their students.
They were fortunate that I was also able to enlist Sutra Foundation’s Trustee, the distinguished astrophysicist Prof Emerita Tan Sri Dr Mazlan Othman, to help instill some words of wisdom and knowledge to these young generation of our future leaders.
In fact, we were just discussing of the need to inspire the young generation who will soon be leading the country.
Serendipitously, Sutra Gallery had just launched an exhibition of abstract expressionist paintings by Jean-Francois Jadin, a Malaysia-based Belgian artist whose actual job here is to make his corporate clients realise their own latent creativity.
The walls of Sutra Gallery is replete with swirling colours of Jean-Francois’ paintings.
And of course, there was also Geethika Sree, Sutra’s principal dancer who would be able to give the students an experiential visual treat of dance.
By 9am two bus loads of students arrived and filled the studio. They were from all over Malaysia, representing the creme de la creme of our young generation from all over Malaysia, of various ethnicities and religions. They are expected to do well in their upcoming SPM result. Further questioning revealed they were mainly in the science stream.
The students were elegantly dressed; most of the boys in coat and tie and the girls in simple elegant trousers. They were awed by the sylvan surrounding of Sutra.
Tan Sri Mazlan spoke on the need to take advantage of the opportunities that the future hold for them and to not to be afraid of uncertainties. Mazlan emphasised that she returned to Malaysia due to her wish to contribute to the nation. This would eventually manifest in her pioneering the Space Program in Malaysia.
Tan Sri Mazlan also established the ArtScience Initiative under the Academy Sciences Malaysia. Mazlan believes that Art and Science are complementary.
Jean-Francois stated that there is an artist hiding within each one of them and it’s up to them to unlock the creativity within. He reminded them that it is also important to not have a binary perspective of Life; often it is not ‘either or’ but that they can be both an artist and a scientist.
Mastering something, he added, is about ‘skill’, whereas to achieve ‘artistry’, one has to transcend technique.
Time passes quickly at talk and Sutra dancer Geethika Sree finally performed a scintillating Odissi dance for which Sutra is known and gave the exposure a fitting end.
Ramli