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Learning Through Film

With aims to expose students to the industry and real-life film making processes, the School of Media, Arts and Design (SOMAD) recently hosted a Film Screening and Discussion Session with DOA MAMA Productions, Indonesia, who the production house behind the film titled “Lasagna”.



Apart from screening the movie at the session, under the moderation of Dr. Stephen Poon from SOMAD, Adi Victory, the Director of the film, spoke about his experience leading the production crew throughout the filming process pipeline, together with Daniel Victory, Bangga Ramadhan and Fabiana Alam, the Producers and Co-Producer of the movie. As independent filmmakers, they shared their hands-on experience going through crowdfunding, pre-production, post-production, distribution and screening processes of the independent short film. The film was the winner of the Europe On Screen Pitching Forum in Indonesia last August 2018, and the team has been collaborating with creative industries and public figures in Indonesia ever since.

The short film was compelling, as the storyline revolved around the issue of drug trafficking, death sentences, corruption and sexual exploitation that have been taking place in various countries in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia. It was an eye-opening experience for students who attended the session, as they were inspired by the strong will and passion of the production team in using films to tell stories, that were previously untold. Although this was the first film screening organized by SOMAD, it was a successful one after all!

Synopsis of Lasagna – “Eve without Adam”:

The story begin when Rudi and Mirna had met in Italy and decided to get married. But everything changed when they went back to Indonesia, and Rudi was sentenced to death because of some reason.

Coming close to her husband’s executions, Mirna was asked to come with a piece of Lasagna to the prison. Rudi was arrested with the possession of 8kg of cocaine at Soekarno Hatta International Airport. He was accused of smuggling drugs from Italy to Indonesia. Lost in court, facing hard reality that he was sentenced to death. Rudi wished to enjoy his last Lasagna with Mirna. Mirna cooked the most delicious Lasagna for her husband. But when his eyes finally met hers, Rudi chose not to eat the Lasagna. He wanted the Lasagna to be a witness to their goodbyes. In the end, Mirna and Rudi dancing beautifully while Lasagna watched on them.

Lasagna was Rudi and Mirna’s favorite meal when they both went to the Pharmacy Faculty in the University of Naples, Italy. Lasagna isn’t only food for them, but also a witness of their love, rage and happiness.

Nurturing Financial Innovation – Industrial Visit To Maybank’s Innovation Centre


Recently, in line with the Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0, the Banking and Financial Services industries are undergoing revolutionary changes as well. Maybank, as the largest bank in Malaysia, adapts to the culture of change, allowing them to transform from a traditional bureaucratic banking environment to an innovative hub for the development of Financial Technology (FinTech).

To learn from the industry experts, students of the Banking & Finance and Islamic Banking & Finance programmes visited Maybank’s Innovation Centre recently, under the guidance of Ms. Ng Hui Chen & Ms. Ummi Kalthum from the School of Accounting & Finance.



During their visit, the students went on a tour around the impressive workspaces of the Innovation Centre; and they were impressed by the environment that differed greatly from a traditional bank office. Ms. Sabrina Ema and Mr. Wong Kin Seng from Maybank delivered an inspiring talk during the visit; the visiting group was pleased to hear from them about how Maybank penetrated the culture of change and innovation in a traditional bureaucratic banking environment, as well as how Maybank built the FinTech ecosystem by providing assistance for the FinTech startups in Malaysia. The duo also shared insights on Maybank’s future directions, in which FinTech will be one of their main focus areas for 2020.

Another major focus of the industrial visit was also to share the values of entrepreneurship. Both Ms. Sabrina and Mr. Wong gave useful tips to our students on funding procedures and options as well as the necessary regulatory support required, for them to become successful entrepreneurs. As Maybank has funded many startups in FinTech, the advice was extremely useful and we were pleased to listen to those stories of experience.

We have been maintaining a good industry-academia relationship with Maybank, while many of our alumni have embarked on interesting careers with Maybank. Through this visit to Maybank’s Innovation Centre, we look forward to seeing our students contributing to their growth as FinTech professionals of the future.  

Learning About Taxation In The Era Of Digital Economy

In line with the digital transformation that is happening in line with the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0), there is a need for taxation professionals to address, adopt and embrace the changes within the industry. With aims to exposing students towards the digital impacts towards taxation, the School of Accounting & Finance (SAF) recently hosted an industry talk conducted by TraTax, an independent tax advisory firm that is one of the top 10 firms in Malaysia.

Mr. Renganathan Kannan, Tax Partner of TraTax conducted the talk for our students under the BA (Hons) in Accounting and Finance with a specialism in Taxation programme. Apart from sharing his practical knowledge of being actively involved in the tax practicing industry, Mr. Renganathan also distributed copies of the Budget Commentary 2020 for our students’ academic reading. The interactive lecture, titled “Taxation in the Era of the Digital Economy”, highlighted the changing landscape of taxation in the digital economy, as well as the expectations towards future tax professionals, in order to excel within the industry.
 
We are honoured to be the first university selected by TraTax to host the lecture . TraTax is amongst our 10,000 industry partners who are actively involved in helping us to develop industry-relevant curriculum.