My wife Datin Noraizan Jamaluddin and I, and the whole family would like to wish ‘Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri’ and ‘Maaf Zahir Batin’ to all USM community including the undergraduates and our alumni wherever they may be as well as the friends of USM who have always been with us in every successful programme and collaboration.

We are still saddened by the crash of MH17 and loss of MH370. We also mourn and pray for the well-being of all involved and hope the victims' families are resilient in facing these trials.

At the same time we continue to pray for our brothers who are facing the ongoing violence in Gaza. The world is confronted with vast security and humanitarian crises especially for the Muslims in the world today.

Let us celebrate this Hari Raya Aidilfitri with strengthened ties of brotherhood and togetherness to continue to fulfill the trust and responsibility assigned to us by Allah s.w.t. Celebrations such as this give us the opportunity to strengthen ties with family members and friends near and far, to meet with those whom we have not seen for a long time and to ensure that existing friendships remain strong for a long time to come.

To ensure a festive mood, we must take this opportunity to greet and communicate face-to-face with one another rather than spending time on other activities, especially virtual communication involving sophisticated gadgets which seems to be the new lifestyle now. It is a pity if we only pay attention to the social networking site updates when we should be trying to grow closer to one another and strengthen the bonds of brotherhood.

This will not only cause the family members to be offended but also cause us to lose the opportunity to get to know and appreciate especially our parents and close family members. The fact is that technology should not replace social interaction with others.

Strengthening these ties is very important including among our university community. This is the time to extend our greetings and instil the determination to continue develop this university together for the survival of civilisation and knowledge culture as the primary core of our strength.

Strengthening family relationships makes us stronger as we mobilise the diverse disciplines available and avoid from working alone or "silo". Festivals such as Aidilfitri encourages us to get to know each other better and help forge closer cooperation to ensure the success of the trust we share.

Thus this will allow us to achieve the agenda of developing the nation and religion through education and research process which are our strength with full commitment and passion.

I pray that we will always be given protection, grace and strength to lift USM to a higher level. In defending the ideals of knowledge, however, we also need to be realistic in ensuring that what we think, plan and agreed upon are congruent and can really be accomplished as effectively as possible.

Strengthening the bonds of fraternity as the core of institutional development, community and nation is very important. Let us give a moment of thought of the fate of those afflicted by disasters, particularly the fate of our brothers and sisters in Gaza, Syria, and many other countries that are in turmoil.

Some of them are sowing discord and strife among themselves. When they are divided it would be difficult to build any institutions and organisations including the nation.

There will be some parties who take advantage and manipulate the situation to make it worse and for their own self-interest. We empathise with those affected and the wanton destruction that occurred as a result of turmoil, crisis and conflict that are going on. Children, women and civilians are often the victims with huge losses of life and the massive destruction of property.

I urge that we continue to pray for Allah’s help, support and strength in dealing with this critical situation. Let us come together to contribute generously and sincerely to the Gaza Fund that was set up by the university.

Finally, be careful when driving, be patient and exercise courtesy on the road. Respect other road users. Always remember your loved ones who are awaiting for your arrival.

Once again, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri from me and my family, and also on behalf of the entire leadership of USM.

Maaf Zahir Batin.​

Professor Dato' Dr. Omar Osman, Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia