Our Asia visit comes to a close in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We are here to meet with Dr. Kay Peng Khoo, a longtime Regent University Board of Trustees member, whose recent lead gift helped launch our chapel construction.
Karen and I spent part of the day visiting the famed 'Petronas Towers', massive twin towers wrapped in tubular metal and rising some 90 stories, the spire making them the world's tallest buildings when completed in the 1990s (The photo is taken from an observation deck on the 86th floor. Dubai is the locus of today's tallest structure). The towers reflect Malaysia's aim to be a "modern industrialized country by 2020," though our cab driver grumbled that the government had made a "ridiculous decision" to codify the native Malay language and so "young people today speak little English. We cannot compete with other countries. They want to make us the next France." An article in the local paper featured a prominent educator who worries that "young Malaysians growing up in rural areas will be severely English deficient."
"Kuala Lumpur is Malaysia's Chicago or Los Angeles," commented Dr. Khoo when we met later in the day. "Malaysia is far more developed than people know. Industry is thriving, and our natural resources are expansive. We have a unique system of government; we elect a 'King,' but the system works fairly well."
In our 40 hours in Malaysia, we were struck by the fine roads, modern buildings and multilingual residents. Dr. Khoo and his colleagues Dr. Wong Hong Meng (governing council for Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship) and Mr. James Wong from Malayan United Industries, agreed that Regent University could also recruit some high level students from Malaysia: "Regent is well known in Christian circles as an excellent university," says Dr. Khoo. "We will help you recruit the next generation of Asian leaders!"
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