Twenty-seven years after she sat among KYUEM’s first graduating batch, Siti Kamariah Ahmad Sukhi returned to the college as guest of honour – this time as the Yayasan Hasanah trustee behind the scholarships of more than 300 students who followed her.
LEMBAH BERINGIN: Twenty-seven years ago, Siti Kamariah Ahmad Sukhi sat in Kolej Yayasan UEM’s (KYUEM) Great Hall as a 19-year-old Renong scholar, part of the college’s very first graduating batch. This year, she walked back into that same hall as guest of honour at KYUEM’s 2026 Awards Day.
“I stand before you as someone whose own journey began right here, 27 years ago. I sat where you are sitting today – part of KYUEM’s very first graduating batch,” she told this year’s graduates. “If you had told that 19-year-old girl she would one day return as guest of honour, she probably wouldn’t have believed you.”
Now a chartered accountant, Siti Kamariah serves as managing director and trustee of Yayasan Hasanah – a role that has placed her, decades later, on the other side of the very kind of scholarship that first brought her to KYUEM.
A verdant wonderland
Returning to campus ahead of the ceremony, Siti Kamariah said the visit brought back more than nostalgia. “Walking through the campus this morning felt like stepping into a meaningful chapter of my life,” she said. “KYUEM was a verdant wonderland – a place where friendships flourished, where talents were nurtured, where horizons were expanded.”
She said the college’s residential setting – often the first time its students live away from home – shaped her as much as its classrooms did. “What KYUEM gave us was far more than academic preparation. For many of us, this was the first time living away from home – managing our own time, navigating friendships, setbacks, responsibilities,” she said. “We were not merely preparing for university. We were preparing for life. And the most important lessons I learned here were not found in textbooks – they were found in friendships.”
She distilled that experience into a list of lessons drawn less from lectures than from daily life on campus. “The classroom teaches knowledge. The community teaches wisdom. The dining hall teaches inclusion. Student leadership teaches responsibility. And living together teaches empathy,” she said.
A lesson in curiosity
Among her recollections was an unconventional one: learning Russian as part of her studies at KYUEM. “We even learned Russian – and at the time it felt unconventional. But the lesson was never really about Russian. It was about curiosity. About learning that the world is much larger than our immediate surroundings,” she said.
That mindset, she said, eventually led her further than she expected – including a stint working with the United Nations in New York. “Years later, that mindset opened doors I could never have imagined,” she said.
Investing in the next generation
Today, Siti Kamariah’s connection to KYUEM extends well beyond memory. As managing director and trustee of Yayasan Hasanah, she now oversees the scholarship programme that supports KYUEM students – including 31 scholars among this year’s graduating batch alone, part of more than 300 Yayasan Hasanah scholars the foundation has supported at KYUEM since 2007.
“Someone once invested in me. Now, in my role at Yayasan Hasanah, I have the privilege of helping create opportunities for the next generation,” she said. “Every scholarship represents more than financial support. It represents trust. It represents potential. It represents a belief that investing in young people is one of the most powerful investments we can make.”
“What difference do I want to make?”
Addressing this year’s graduates directly, Siti Kamariah urged them to look beyond career titles when thinking about their futures. “Many of you will go on to become engineers, scientists, doctors, leaders. But I’d encourage you to ask a question even more important than ‘what do I want to become?’” she said. “Ask instead: ‘what difference do I want to make?’ Because success is not measured by the titles we hold. It’s measured by the lives we touch.”
She offered a short set of principles to carry forward. “Be ambitious, but remain humble. Be confident, but remain curious. Be successful, but remain grounded,” she said. “Cherish the friendships you build here. And wherever life takes you – never stop learning.”
Full circle
Closing her address, Siti Kamariah reflected on the distance – and the symmetry – between the student she once was and the guest of honour she had become. “27 years ago, I left KYUEM a hopeful young scholar. Today, I return as your guest of honour. Life has come full circle,” she said.
Her hope for the graduates in front of her, she said, was that some of them would one day find themselves making the same journey back. “My hope is that one day, many of you will return too – as people who used their talents to make a meaningful difference in the world,” she said.
