No party political interference in universities

DAP National Deputy Chairman and MP for Kepong Dr Tan Seng Giaw calls on all political parties especially UMNO to stop from interfering with our universities.

Universities must have freedom and independence. There should not be any form of extremism and terrorism that would disrupt a university or the country.

During the debate on the Supply Bill (Budget 2009), Dr Tan touched on the Times Higher Education (THE) --Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings 2008. No Malaysian university is in the top 200. University of Malaya (UM) is 230, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)250 and Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM)320.

The top five are: 1 Harvard University, 2 Yale University, 3 University of Cambridge, 4 University of Oxford and 5 California Institute of Technology. National University of Singapore NUS) is 30.

In the 50s, UM was a branch campus if NUS (at the time, it was University of Malaya). Now UM is 230 and NUS is 30. Why?

Many factors affect a university such as traditions, social, historical and financial factors. Rankings like Times' are not the only criteria. They give an indication on the quality of a university.

It is possible for our universities to be within the top 50 of the world instead of over 200. One important constraint is party political interference. All political parties must understand that they must refrain from so doing. The top five as mentioned are not saddled with party politics.

Dr Tan Seng Giaw