Respected Malaysian business and finance leader Tan Sri Datuk Oh Siew Nam has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Canterbury (UC) in Christchurch, New Zealand, recognising his contribution to business, finance, public service and philanthropy.
The honour is conferred today at the university’s Faculty of Engineering graduation celebration, with his son, Andrew Oh, accepting it on his behalf.
Siew Nam graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in Electrical Engineering in 1962 and has since supported educational opportunities for Malaysian students in New Zealand.
His connection with New Zealand began in 1958, when he received a Colombo Plan scholarship to study electrical engineering at the University of Canterbury.
For Siew Nam, the scholarship was life-changing.
“If I hadn’t got the Colombo Plan scholarship, I would not have been able to continue university,” he says.
He had begun studying science at the University of Malaya in Singapore, expecting a government bursary and later to become a teacher. However, policy changes in 1957, the year of Malaysia’s independence, meant he was no longer able to receive that support.
Unable to cover his university fees and hostel costs, he walked to university to save bus fare and cut hair for other students.
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