"It's fun and I get to learn what people think," said David Shear, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy, who was recently at Nilai University College (Nilai UC) to give a talk on Sino-US relations to students. "Other reasons for giving these talks are to promote understanding of US foreign policy as well as to hear and understand what Malaysians think about the US and the world.
"Of course, I am also here to promote the US educational opportunities," said Shear. "I try to make these visits to tertiary institutions once a month, more if time permits."
Nilai UC, of course, has it owns American Degree Transfer Programme and this hugely popular programme allows students to transfer a maximum of 90 credits to an American or Canadian University of your choice. This flexible programme offers majors in Applied Science, Business, Computing, Engineering and Liberal Arts and is designed to train students to think critically as well as develop a questioning attitude. Shear was visibly impressed by Nilai UC's facilities when given a short tour of its 105-acre award-winning campus.
A number of students who attended the talk were also keen to know about getting visas to study in the US. Shear allayed their fears by assuring them that only a very small percentage of visa applications get turned down. "There are about 6,000-7,000 Malaysian students in the US at any one time and we want to change the perception that visas are very difficult to obtain," Shear assured.
However, Shear's main topic for the day was Sino-US relations which he thinks is hugely important. "How the US and China interact will be the single most important issue in East Asia in the coming years," Shear explains before giving a brief yet informative talk. He went through the years of so-called "ping pong diplomacy" of the Henry Kissinger and Jimmy Carter era all the way to the present day with how the US views China's continued military expansion.
The assembled students were invited to ask Shear questions and things did get quite lively as a number of thorny issues were brought up. Shear had to deflect questions regarding possible US boycott of Beijing Olympics this year as a result of the Tibetan crisis ("Officially, the US does not recognise Tibet as a sovereign state") to the prickly issues surrounding Taiwan. At the end of a animated question-and-answer session, Shear admitted that the Nilai UC talk was certainly one of the most "challenging" of his school visits with so many questions being asked. But he noted that this was a good sign as it showed Nilai UC students here were up-to-date with current affairs and had some interesting viewpoints to share.
"I must thank Nilai UC for inviting me and I certainly look forward to coming again as this was certainly a lively debate," he concluded. As Nilai University College is located in the picturesque suburb of Putra Nilai and is a mere 45-minute drive from Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Founded in 1997, Nilai UC offers a range of programmes from Diploma in Nursing to Degree in Accounting and Management. It has a proven track record in producing well-rounded graduates who don't just excel at book learning.
