By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix: Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI)

PUTRAJAYA, 22 April 2016 – Two linguists from the National University of Malaysia  (UKM) won the Grand Prize for the best Humanities and Social Sciences journal article at the 2015 Higher Education Ministry and Malaysian Scholarly Publishing Council (MAPIM) awards ceremony, here today.

The prize, won by Associate Professor Fazal Mohamed Mohamed Sultan and Mohd Romzi Ramli, was for their article titled Ganti Nama Bahasa Mendriq: Analisis Program Minimalis.

They took home a cash prize of RM5,600.

Dr Fazal’s interest in researching about the Mendriq tribe and their language developed when he realized that the dialect hasn’t been studied by other scholars.

“My concern is that without a comprehensive study of the language, which is part of their culture, it will become extinct,” said Dr Fazal.

UKM also bagged two consolation prizes for the Science, Technology and Medicine category.

One prize was won by the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), which published a book written by Research Fellow Dr Halim Razali, director Prof Datuk Seri Dr Kamaruzzaman Sopian and Principal Research Fellow Dr Sohif Mat, on the performance and life cycle of hydrogen engines.

They were awarded cash prize of RM 4,000.

Meanwhile, Prof Dr Nur Hamiza Adenan and Prof Dr Mohd Salmi Noorani from the Faculty of Science and Technology, won RM1,000 for their paper which discussed on predicting flood plain water flow using the Chaos Theory.

The Awards and prizes were presented by Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.