From The President's Desk

Assalamualaikum and hello to all ISSAAS members.

On behalf of the Executive Council of ISSAAS (The International Society for Southeast Asian Agricultural Sciences) Malaysian Chapter, I hope it is not too late to wish members A Happy New Year 2008! We hope 2008 brings better perspectives to our life and career.

This message and the inaugural issue of the ISSAAS Newsletter are the first official communications that the EXCO has issued to members since the inception of ISSAAS Malaysian Chapter in April of 2006.

Personally, I begin my Presidency with a mixed feeling of apprehension and optimism. I feel apprehensive about whether I can continue to make ISSAAS an active and useful Society, and optimistic because I know that I have very supportive members and a reliable EXCO. Naturally, one of my first concerns was about the members and the membership list. As a very young society, I am very happy to note that we have managed to climb the ladder in membership count in a very encouraging way from 44 when I first took office to 86 at end of 2007, and I believe the number is still climbing fast and hopefully by end of 2008 we will have registered 150! Recently, we have also managed to recruit a known figure in Malaysian Agriculture Business to join us as a member. It is quite an honour to reflect the strength that this Society beholds. With all activities particularly related to sharing and dissemination of information about agricultural sciences, we hope to enhance our membership strength in the near future.

In the last two years, we successfully held two International Congresses of ISSAAS in Malaysia, i.e. December 2006 in UPM and December 2007 in Melaka. In both occasions, the participation from other ISSAAS chapters, i.e. Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, had been overwhelmingly encouraging, surpassing the number of participants from Malaysia by more than 50%. Such a scenario creates a very good platform for healthy interactions and networking among local and foreign scientists, and hopefully with far reaching technical and professional consequences. In both the congresses, we presented the most up-to-date and popular themes for deliberation and discussion, such as "Harnessing the Richness of Natural Resources towards Sustainable Agriculture" and "Agriculture is a Business".
This year's Congress will be held by ISSAAS Thailand Chapter sometime in December and most likely in Chiang Mai. I encourage members to get prepared with papers and look out for announcements from the website or in the upcoming Newsletter.

Since the interest of the Society lies very much in the technical and professional aspects of Agricultural Sciences, we have organized several Public Talks by eminent speakers. We hope such talks can enhance the flow and interception of new knowledge and useful information among members. Being a scientifically-inclined society, ISSAAS also publishes a an international journal dedicated to member countries. This is a good podium to start publishing one's work in a refereed journal. Hence, I encourage members to utilize this opportunity to the fullest.

Finally, it is my sincere wish to see that ISSAAS continue to develop into a mature and responsible society, sensitive of its own aspirations as well as those of her country. To achieve our goals, we need strong and continued support from all members through your participation and contribution on activities or programs that the Society organizes. Perhaps, as a start, members can contribute by sending in their articles or views on current issues to the 'letters to editor column' in the Society's Newsletter so that your views can be heard and shared by other members. Last, but not least, my deep heartfelt appreciation to Prof Dr Mohd Khanif Yusop, Immediate Past President of ISSAAS Malaysian Chapter (2004/2006) and Immediate Past President of ISSAAS (2005/2007), who laid a good ground for establishment of this Society in Malaysia, and also for successfully chairing both the ISSAAS Congresses in Malaysia.

Sincere regards,

Ghizan Saleh
President - ISSAAS Malaysian Chapter
Professor - Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture
e-mail: ghizan@agri.upm.edu.my