Zahra Mir Rahimi, an Iranian architect who has studied in Malaysia, made the remarks in the “Knowing Nations” session of Peace Sprit Foundation.
Ms. Mir Rahimi has in Kuala Lumpur for several years for her postdoctoral studies in architecture in the National University of Malaysia and is currently living in Iran.
She started the session with talking on education and studying in the Southeast Asian country, which she called very expensive; “yet it was a good experience and I realized that barriers should not stop you.”
Regarding the culture of Malaysia she underlined “I found the Malay people generous and very loyal to traditions; as a Muslim country Malaysia celebrates Ramadan in a very spectacular way with Fitr being its greatest holiday and even lots of tourists came to visit the country for its Ramadan ceremonies.”
“Yet it should be noted that the religious communities live in harmony in Malaysia and the traditions and ideology of all of them are respected in the same way,” Ms. Mir Rahimi commended.
On education system, she hailed the good and friendly relationship between the student and the professor in all fields; “you feel no discrimination there and both students and professors have access to the same facilities.”
“The cooperation between industries and universities is also noteworthy; industries direct their projects through universities and aid of academicians, which means students enter the market just when they start their education in the university,” Ms. Mir Rahimi underlined.
“Tourism is the most important industry of Malaysia; some basic goods such as meat and chicken are even imported and that is why the goods are very expensive in the country,” she said while talking on economic and cultural aspects of Malaysia.
“Despite the enormous volume of tourists visiting the country, its culture is not affected largely; even you can see traditional Malay outfits on students and employees,” she hailed.
She added that Malaysians are not considered hardworking and most of them have Indonesian servants; “eating is like an entertainment for the Malay people and you can see them in restaurants everyday.”