An Echo of a Life Well-Lived
It is a well-accepted fact that we borrow life, not own it. We all are tenants of the world with a ticking clock and an hourglass running out of sand.
It is a well-accepted fact that we borrow life, not own it. We all are tenants of the world with a ticking clock and an hourglass running out of sand. It is by this view that we are given one life, one chance to live it the right way, with a blank paper of rules and regulations to follow. We have no idea what or how to spend the gift of life, so we live it our way. But there are names that would echo through the years, and some that would never be set aside into oblivion. I know one man.
Mindanao State University would not be what it is today if it weren’t for its strong and remarkable leaders. As it grows, we get to know and quietly adore them but yesterday, January 8, 2022, the whole MSU Gensan was in lament with one sudden bad news: the passing of Chancellor Anshari Ali due to cardiac arrest. The news came as a shock, the suddenness of it all is a wakeup call on how ephemeral and unexpected life can be. Now, looking at it in hindsight, I can only name a few reasons why the Chancellor has fought a good fight and lived a good life.
Born on the 10th Rabi-al-Awwal of Hijra Islamic Calendar on November 26, 1963 in an island village known today as Barangay Balt of Bacolod-Kalawi, Lanao del Sur, our humble Chancellor grew to be an honorable man. He has been with the MSU-GSC since 1992 as a faculty member with academic rank of Full Professor VI in Islamic Studies of the Department of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. A Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic Civilization, obtained an MA in Islamic Studies, a Bachelor’s degree holder of International Relations, and finished Rabi Thanawi, Dr. Ali was the best choice for the chancellorship and everyone saw that.
According to Lorraine Sarigala, Internal Audit Services Head, Dr. Ali’s admirable work in the College of Law Extension as the Assistant Dean made the deans, faculty members and administrative officials nominate him to the Board of Regents as a candidate for chancellorship, and got the position. He was a Shari’ah lawyer when he was sworn in as the 6th Chancellor of the Mindanao State University-General Santos City on December 16, 2018. Full of hope and enthusiasm to further the quality of education of the university, Dr. Ali has stated in his Investiture Address that his leadership approach would anchor on divine guidance, sincerity, responsibility and strong commitment in achieving his vision for MSU-Gensan. Some of his goals were also to create more topnotchers for the school and to provide more doctorate programs, in line with the university’s vision “to be globally competitive” university.
Those declarations were proven as a fact when on his leadership, MSU-GSC has become one of the country’s national peace universities with an intensified international partnerships and engagements, not to mention the multiple internal developments and creations in the university such as the Office of Information and Communications Technology, which became a great use and benefit on the practice of the New normal education. Under his wing, MSU Gensan has not become deaf to the needs of the society on the insurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was even named as a “true entrepreneurial hero” by the Gensan Chambers of Commerce and Industries Inc. all because of Chancellor Ali’s dedication for its betterment.
These are only few of the things all MSUans are thankful for. As an MSUan myself, I have seen and pondered on what Mindanao State University- General Santos City has become throughout the years, how it overcame its challenges and how it rose to greatness as one of the best performing schools of the region. I bet everyone would agree that a huge part of it was because it has the best Chancellor there is, in the name and form of Dr. Anshali Ali. He may be gone, but his name echoes, and will always be.
To our Chancellor, Dr. Anshali Ali, and to the paradise he’s now in.