Dr Ponndara Ith

Thank you for the kind introduction. I’m very honoured to be here at this University of Technology Sydney on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I would like to acknowledge Deputy Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, the presiding officer, faculty deans, academic staff and distinguished guests, and of course the graduates and the family and friends who stand in this hall to cheer them on.

We are here today to celebrate the achievements of our graduates, but we also need to applaud all their friends and families whose support has been central to this issue and success. I know that you all are very excited. Some of you might be very tired, a little tired, and maybe could not sleep last night because you were so eager for these days to come. You have all worked hard to reach this day, despite having faced many challenges. Let’s give them a big round of applause.

As you may know, at a young age, many of us are taught to go to high school and then to this university to obtain a degree and then join the professional workforce. Experts tell us that learning is lifelong if you want to be great or successful. Success is therefore dependent on continual improvement and application of theoretical and practical knowledge in your field of study.

UTS has this vision, a vision of lifelong learning for all, regardless of your ethnic backgrounds, gender, religion. Countless scholars, professionals, researchers and leaders from every discipline have received their education here. A new generation of graduates who walk through this campus today will all contribute to developing their own country’s collective wealth and health by preventing ill health and disease, protecting their citizens from adverse condition and molding conditions for people to thrive socially and culturally. The seeds of change that has the potential to positively transform Australian society and beyond are visible in the graduates before me.

Seeing you here in front of me gives me an opportunity to give you some of my perspective and reflection based upon experiences I have had in my own lifetime and also my experiences here as a PhD student at UTS. So, let me begin by sharing with you the following advice.

One of the best bits of advice I would like to share: You must have a vision, a vision of what you want to do or where you want to go. It might not be clear or concrete at the moment, but it’s good to start with a dream. Imagine yourself putting a jigsaw puzzle together. How are you supposed to solve it? How will you accomplish the final outcome if you don’t have a picture in mind to refer it?

I’m sure that all of us have a dream or dreams but along the journey to pursuing that dream, you have to know yourself. Be yourself and believe in your true self, because each and every one of us is unique. You have one thing that no one else in this world has: your own firsthand experience of life. You are the only human beings among billions of people who have that exact experience.

The second bit of advice I would like to share with you is to continue to be truly committed, patient and persistent. Your degree is an example of this. You achieved this virtue thus far, but to realise your vision and contribute to a fair and equitable society, you must keep going. Please.

Well, how many of you are wearing glasses? Please raise your hand. And how many of you speak more than one language? Please raise your hand. And how many of you are holding university degrees? Please raise your hand. I think you all are holding university degrees. Your glasses mean that you can access health care. The second language or third language that you speak indicates your cultural richness and diversity. And the degrees you are holding indicate that you have excellent education from UTS.

As you heard earlier, I’m from Cambodia. My family and I lived through the era of the Khmer Rouge, well, under the Khmer Rouge, who took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. We would all be dead now, targeted because of our assumed immunity, particularly people with glasses or high education. The Khmer Rouge saw centuries of unequal society and therefore they sought to end these differences. Everywhere, people were dying and being murdered overwork, execution and starvation.

Consequently, nearly 1,000,000 Cambodian populations lost their lives in three years, eight months and twenty days. And in that number were 90 per cent of health professionals, including medical doctors, nurses, midwives, public health leaders and researchers. Among these people, my parents and other relatives were also killed.

Thankfully, however, it was my grandmother who survived from the Khmer Rouge. My grandmother tried to raise my brothers and I from the afflicted crisis in the darkness of the war and genocide. She gave me two options – she said, ‘If you want to successful or great in life, please try to study as hard as possible. To achieve this success, you must be strong, committed, patient and persistent, otherwise I have 300 acres of land for you to make your living.’

I realised I was never the kind of man to be excited about labour work on the land, so I decided to choose the first option. One grandson, one human resource, one government official for the country at a time. My dream was to become a medical doctor, because I would like to be able to save the lives of my people, my community and the human family.

Finally, my dream became true. I was awarded the Cambodian Government scholarship, completing my medical doctor degree in 1993 and officially assigned to work in Prey Veng province, one of the country’s poorest provinces. In 1996, I completed my general research training and became the head of the surgical department.

Nearly 23 years later, education has been revised to new highs; yet, somehow it still exists in a vulnerable environment. The effects of war still haunt Khmer people today. Thankfully, however, I was granted an Australian Development Scholarship to study a Master of Public Health in 2003. While few Cambodians are trained in public health and I saw a need for better health care policy.

Six years later while serving as chief of a provincial health department, I was selected to undertake a PhD on prestigious Australian award scholarship to study at UTS. As a Khmer professional, I found that there are many paths in which to move forward into the future. My name is Ponndara. I am Khmer. I am an orphan boy, a medical doctor, health educator and researcher.

I have kept strong ties to the UTS for over seven years by continuing to collaborate with UTS academics on highly-regarded international public health research and policy initiative and in 2018, I have been selected as the recipient for the 2018 Alumni Award for Excellence. This award recognises our outstanding professional achievements and inspirational service as a public health leader and educator in Cambodia.

The last thing I want to leave you with is a willingness to serve people in whatever discipline you are graduating in. Certainly, not everyone becomes successful or famous, but everyone can be great because greatness is determined by great service and value. At every level of society, the key to a more successful world is the growth of compassion and the active wish to help each other. How we can, as people with elite education, might change the world by shifting our paradigms of service. I suggest to you that great people and certainly great leaders must have the capacity to walk in the shoes of other human beings. Please bear in mind you and everyone in this hall can be successful or great.

In conclusion, it is an exciting time for you all to be graduating. As I have said, the health science professions are fast changing, and you should be looking for work to understanding and embracing that change for the better. To achieve this, you must have a vision with a clear goal, strong commitment, patience, persistence and a will to serve the wider community in this dynamic era. These building blocks will hold you in good stead for the future.

Also make sure you make the most of the opportunity that lies ahead in the world. You should all be very proud to be here today. Dedicating 3-4 years of your life to complete your degree is not always an easy journey, but it’s significant and it’s quite an achievement you gain, particularly at this time of your life when there are a great deal of things to accomplish, explore and challenge.

So, congratulations to you all and well done. To the many families and friends who has supported all of the graduates over that journey. In the end, I look forward for hearing the many success stories from this graduating group that will no doubt happen over the next five years.

I personally would like to thank and acknowledge Deputy Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, presiding officer, academic deans and distinguished guests and graduates, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wife Maleny Dong, who tried to support me. Without her support I would not be able to join this special graduation ceremonies.

Thank you very much.