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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
PROFESSOR TAN SRI DATO’ DZULKIFLI ABDUL RAZAK
Rector, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)
Chairman of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM)
Malaysian Educationist and Scientist
He was the 5th Vice-Chancellor/President of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) from 2000 to 2011; a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Policy and Management (1995-2010); and WHO Scientific Committee of Tobacco Product Regulation (2004-2006).
Since 2013, he has been appointed to the Performance and Delivery Unit (PADU Corp) Board of Trustees to monitor the Ministry of Education Blueprint. From 2011 to 2013, he was the Chair of the Independent Review Committee to give input into the Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013-2015). In 2015, he was appointed a member of the Advisory Board of Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT).
His latest major scholarly contributions are Fourth Industrial Revolution – The Leadership Dilemma (2018) and Voicing Concern (2018), the seventh volume of the same title comprising his weekly columns from 2015 to 2017. Another contribution Nurturing a Balanced Person – The Leadership Challenge (2015, 2017) won the Anugerah Buku Negara 2016 award and is listed as one of the 50 Best Malaysian Titles for International Rights 2017-2018, according to the National Book Council of Malaysia (MBKM).
GEMMA GUERRERO CRUZ ARANETA
Writer, creative journalist, historian, advocate of Philippine
culture, heritage and tourism
After college (Maryknoll, 1963), Mrs. Araneta worked as Information Writer and Chief Docent for the National Museum during which she passed the Civil Service exams for Information Editor.
In 1968, President Ferdinand Marcos promoted her Director, but Mrs. Araneta had to resign in 1971 to campaign for her husband, Antonio Araneta, who ran for delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Mr. Araneta represented the 4th district of Manila.
When Pres. Marcos declared martial law in September 1972, Mrs. Araneta fled to Mexico City with her children. She lived there for 18 years, working as a researcher at the Centro de Estudios Económicos y Sociales del Tercer Mundo, (Center for Third World Economics & Social Studies), a think tank of former Mexican President, Don Luis Echeverria. In 1978, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Mexico City engaged her as Asistente Principal de Programacion (Principal Programming Assistant).
A writer since she was nine years old, Mrs. Araneta has a weekly column in the op/ed section of the “Manila Bulletin”, one of the oldest newspapers in the Philippines. Her favorite topics are history, politics, heritage conservation, art and cultural tourism. Last July, Mrs. Araneta launched her 9th book, Fifty years in Hollywood, the USA conquers the Philippines.
She was Secretary of Tourism during the short-lived term of Pres. Joseph Estrada (June1998 to Jan. 2001). She encouraged Filipinos to travel in their own country, promoted cultural and community-based tourism that kept traditions alive and was environment-friendly. She spearheaded a nationwide “clean restrooms” campaign which gained the immediate support of gasoline stations and pit stops along the tourism highway. She advocated polemical issues like seamless travel and “Open Skies”.
From 2007-2013, Mrs. Araneta was an Executive Assistant of the Mayor of Manila, Alfredo S. Lim, in- charge of the Manila Historical and Heritage Commission, which protected built heritage and arranged official ceremonies to celebrate the lives and deeds of Philippine heroes.
After leaving government service, Mrs. Araneta was elected chairperson of the Heritage Conservation Society, a non-government organization; she is a lifetime member of the Philippine Historical Association, the Philippine National Historical Society and the Museum Volunteers of the Philippines. She is a guest curator of the National Museum of Fine Arts.
On her father side, Gemma is the great grand niece of Jose Rizal, the Philippines’ national hero, whose elder sister Maria was her great grandmother. It is no wonder that her 8th book, Rizal’s True Love, is about her eminent ancestor.
Gemma is married to Antonio Araneta (Phd, Oxon); they travelled (clandestinely) to North Vietnam in 1968 to report about the US war of intervention. She published her second book, Hanoi Diary, after that month-long journey.
The Aranetas have two children: Fatimah an urban planner and Leon, an entrepreneur. They have three grandchildren.