The wife of Assoc Prof Dr Edmund Terence Gomez had only submitted a request for two-years unpaid leave via e-mail and had not made an official application, according to two Universiti Malaya (UM) officials.

Dr Sharmani Patricia Gabriel, an academic staff of the university, had applied for the leave in order to join her husband in Geneva for his two-year posting with a United Nations agency.

Gomez, an economic lecturer with UM, resigned two weeks ago after the university rejected his application for a two-year secondment in order to take up his appointment with the United Nations Research Institute for the Social Development to pioneer global research on racial conflict.

The university's decision had come under fire from various quarters and last week it was reported that Gomez's wife had her leave application rejected as well.

Commenting on this, the two UM officials, who declined to be named, claimed that the university was not aware of her application.

"The decision is not even at the faculty level...to say that it was denied is not right," clarified one of them, adding that Sharmani should submit a formal application to the department head who will then refer the matter to the dean.

'E-mail not official'

According to the official, the dean will then raise the matter with the board of directors, who will make the final call

"E-mail isn't official in UM, as we only use it to send documents overseas," she said.

Sharmani, a lecturer with the English Department in the Arts and Social Science Faculty, had written via e-mail to her department head Agnes Yeow Swee Kim on May 20. She received an e-mail reply on May 24.

Contacted today, Gomez confirmed that his wife had made the request via an e-mail.

He said the reply stated , "I must emphasise to you that I will not support your application for unpaid leave. We will expect you to resume your duties in Semester 2, 2005/2006."

Gomez said that his wife, who is currently on a nine-month sabbatical, is scheduled to return to UM on Dec 26.

Malaysiakini had previously quoted Gomez as saying that the reason cited by the head of department for rejecting his wife's leave application was due to some staff members retiring, resigning or going on sabbatical.

"The important point here is that the department head has emphasised that she will not support my wife's formal application for unpaid leave. She has reached the decision without first discussing this matter with my wife," he said today.

Lim's e-mail to PM

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang today urged the prime minister to intervene and allow Gomez to take up the UN research appointment on a two-year secondment from UM as well as to grant a two-year no-pay leave for his wife Sharmani Gabriel.

Lim said that he had sent an urgent e-mail to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to seek his intervention to ensure an "all-win" solution in this matter.

"I described the Terence Gomez controversy as of very urgent pressing nature, as it has given Malaysia an international black eye as well as undermining the Prime Minister's repeated call for excellence, international competitiveness, world-class universities and towering Malaysians," he said in a statement.