2008 - Kuala Lumpur

2nd Convention of Asian Psychology Association

University of Malaya, Hosted by Associate Professor Jas Laile

Report on the Convention by Professor Sarlito Sarwono
President APsyA, Indonesia

The theme for the Kuala Lumpur convention was: “Building Asian Families and Communities in the 21st century”. It was sponsored by the University of Malaya and, while originally planned to be held at the Hilton PJ Hotel, in the last month the venue was changed to the University campus. Buses were provided to transport participants from the hotel to the University.
On Thursday the 26th of June, the convention commenced with the BOD (Board of Directors) meeting at the Dept. of Anthropology and Sociology, which ran the whole morning and afternoon.

SOCIAL PROGRAM – OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONIES (top)

The Convention opened with a gala evening which included a dinner reception and cultural show held at the Gazebo of Perdanasiswa , University of Malaya for all conference registrants.
The convention itself was formally opened by the Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, on Friday 27th June, at 9.00 pm. Welcoming speeches were addressed by Professor Sarlito Sarwono, the President of APsyA, and Professor Mike Knowles, the President of IAAP (International Association of Applied Psychology).
The closing ceremony was officiated over by Professor Kate Moore (President-elect) who thank the University, and it community, especially Associate Professor Jas Laile and her team of helpers who made this such a warm and friendly convention for us all.

PARTICIPANTS (top)

The convention was well attended and countries in the region well represented by 218 participants from 14 countries, i.e.  Australia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Swaziland, Thailand, UAE, and USA. There were 172 oral presentations in 27 sessions, and 27 posters in 4 poster sessions, presented by 341 authors and co-authors. There were also a symposium, two round table discussions, one lecture, one workshop, four keynote addresses (2 from US, 1 from Australia, and 1 from Malaysia). The number of participants was relatively large compared to other conventions of similar international/regional psychology organizations.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS (top)

Professors Hogop Pambookian (Shawnee State University, USA)
David P. Schmitt (Bradley University, USA)
Tian Po Oei (The University of Queensland, Australia) and
Mohamed Fadzil bin Che Din (Director, Social Institute of Malaysia).

2008 CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS(top)

The Proceedings of this conference will be compiled and edited by Professors Sherri McCarthy, Jas Laile, and Kate Moore. Papers have been called for and the closing date is 31st August, 2008.
Future announcements on the publication of this monograph will be made on this website.

NEXT CONFERENCE 2010 (top)

As mentioned, the Board met at this time and adopted amendments to the Constitution, confirmed the Board of Directors for 2008-2010 and the venue for the 3rd Conference to be Darwin, Australia in 2010.