By Nitipol Kiravanich
February 25, 2022 -- A lifetime contributor to helping refugees and migrants resettle in New Zealand and an Industrial Engineering and Management alumnus of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), George Arulanantham, once again received one of the highest achievements and was appointed as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM). From working as an engineer to being recognized for his service to the community, Arulanantham spoke of AIT as a place that has opened many doors.
Mr. Arulanantham was recently awarded the New Year Honours 2022 (ONZM) granted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II. The official announcement was published on Friday 31 December 2021, for his tireless services to assist the community to relocate and assimilate into New Zealand society. Although this is considered one of the highest awards, it is not his first. In 2012, Mr. Arulanantham and his wife Anne Uma George were granted Queen's Service Medal New Year honours for their community work (George for Tamil Community and Anne for wider Community). Out of all his accomplishments, he said, “I work for people. The medals, honors, or awards were never my goal.”
Mr. Arulanantham Receiving Queen Service Medal from Governor-General Lieutenant General Sir Jeremiah Mateparae in 2012
From love of mathematics and hard sciences
Before his lifetime accomplishments, Mr. Arulanantham, a Sri Lankan native from the village of Annaicoddai in city of Jaffna, recalled his childhood growing up in a normal Catholic family attending the church and a school built by his great-grandfather Mr. Rappiyel Chaddampiyaar. The young George Arulanantham had a passion for mathematics and hard sciences which he had aspired to become an engineer. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Peradeniya, he decided to pursue his Master’s in Industrial Engineering and Management at AIT.
George Arulanantham (located on the far right) at AIT in 1993
Upon completing his studies in Thailand with AIT, Mr. Arulanantham had an opportunity to migrate to New Zealand where he is currently residing in. His career kickstarted as an Instrumentation and Control Engineer at Flotech Limited in New Zealand, which is locally owned but operating in Europe, North America, and Asia. His professional career spans as an Engineer, Chief Engineer, Global Service Manager at Flotech, to leading Instrumentation and Control Design for WorleyParsons which is an organization that provides consulting services to the resources and energy sectors, and complex process industries.
Mr. Arulanantham is currently working with Alstef Group, Glidepath Limited a French Company in designing Baggage Handling Systems for Airports internationally. Throughout his career, he experienced many challenges such as the economic crisis in 2008 and 2012, the oil market crash, and currently Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. He managed to overcome them all, drawing from his “years of dedication and the ability to anticipate the issues.”
Helping others
Having established himself as a successful engineer with the love of hard sciences, there is another side to Mr. Arulanantham and that is his passion to help others. “Most of the engineers are trained to be logical centric, interpersonal skill and communication are not their expertise,” Mr. Arulanantham explained. But for him, having heard about his great-grand father involvement in building school and church in his village, had instilled in him “at the back of my mind, I believe that one day it is my responsibility to do the same.”
Living in New Zealand and calling it a second home, he witnessed many refugees coming to New Zealand. His goal is to help them gain access better quality of life, drawing from his personal experience of Sri Lanka Civil War from 1983 to 2009. In 2001, Mr. Arulanantham began assisting refugees and migrants, particularly the Tamil community (the Dravidian ethnolinguistic group who traces their ancestry back to India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, union territory of Puducherry and Sri Lanka). His contribution was as being a “bridge” between the refugees, governmental agencies, and non-government agencies with the settlement.
Later, Mr. Arulanantham set up the Immigration Committee and became the President of the service to the Tamil Community where he also established a second Tamil school (Pakuranga Tamil School) for children in the Manukau area. One of the goals is for the children to learn their mother tongue and keep their culture alive. His contributions later extended to a wider community such as serving as a Board Member of the Asian Social Services New Zealand (2001 – 2004); as an Executive Member of the Auckland Regional Ethnic Council (2001 – 2009); as an Executive Member of the New Zealand Refugee Council (2001 – 2009); and as an Executive Member of the Ethnic Voice of New Zealand (2004 – 2009).
Mr. Arulanantham is a member of Rotary Club and has been a Director for International Grants and Projects at the Onehunga and One Tree Hill Rotary club. During this time Rotary built two schools in Vanuatu, a country in a South Pacific Ocean nation. He was a Chairperson of the Taranaki branch of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand in 2014. Since 2017 George has been the Honorary Treasurer of IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK) of the Auckland Region.
After graduated from AIT, Mr Arulanantham worked in Bangkok and lived in AIT. His wife Mrs. Anne George was working as a teacher AIT International School and provided accommodation inside the AIT. While living in AIT, his second daughter was born. His two daughters then attended AIT International School. Speaking of his memories of AIT, he highlighted “AIT has made him more confident and open doors to many opportunities that lay a foundation to his career.” The alumnus shared his experiences at AIT to be, “one of the favorite places in my heart.”
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Further reading:
New Year Honours 2022 - Citations for Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit: https://dpmc.govt.nz/honours/lists/ny2022-onzm/
Honours a double delight: https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/central-leader/6239030/Honours-a-double-delight