Foreign Minister’s Commendation for FY 2023

Dr. Jamila has been involved in educational exchanges between Japan and Malaysia for many years. She studied in Japan under the Look East Policy, which was implemented by the Government of Malaysia, and later obtained her Master's and Doctoral degrees in Japan as a Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) Scholarship student.

After returning to Malaysia, for 25 long years, Dr. Jamila made great efforts to promote study in Japan by utilizing her experience in Japan as a Japanese language lecturer at AAJ (Ambang Asuhan Jepun), Universiti Malaya, which provides special preparatory programme to Malaysian youths aiming to enter Japanese universities.

In 2022, Dr Jamila transferred to the Japanese Programme, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya, which offers the only bachelor’s degree programme in Malaysia in Japanese Language and Linguistics. In addition, in 2021, Dr. Jamila was appointed as the Director of Malaysia-Japan Research Centre at Universiti Malaya, and has been contributing to the promotion of Japanese language education and Japanese studies in Malaysia through the Grant Assistance for Cultural Grassroots Project of Japan and Japan-related various events.