The Higher Education Ministry has failed to take any action to investigate the allegations of irregularities in the promotion exercise, marks tampering and misappropriation of funds in Universiti Malaya, decried its academic staff union.

The UM Academic Staff Association (UMASA) issued a statement in response to a malaysiakini report where Higher Education Minister Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh dismissed the allegations as untrue.

"The only conclusion that UMASA can derive from the minister's highly unsatisfactory responses to these issues is that he has failed to carry out an investigation into these allegations of corruption and mal-administration in UM," said UMASA head Rosli Mahat.

"The minister has clearly avoided addressing the specific issue of the serious allegation of impropriety in the promotion exercise," he said.

In a written reply to a question raised by Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang in Parliament, Shafie said the academic promotion in the university was done in accordance to set rules - through advertisements, applications from staff, short-listing and finally, interview sessions.

Rosli reiterated that the higher education minister was given a comprehensive report which highlighted evidence of irregularities in promotion exercise at the university's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

According to Rosli, a committee of inquiry was set up last year to investigate the alleged irregularities.

Public probe needed

The association called on Shafie to establish a public commission of inquiry to probe the depth of the situation and to ensure that mechanisms were put in place to prevent further irregularities in the promotion exercise.

It has been claimed that certain unqualified academics had been promoted without going through the proper process and that their curriculum vitae was not made public.

On tampering of marks at the country's premier university, Rosli argued that not only should Shafie address the matter, he should also inform Parliament on how errant academics be dealt with.

"The minister should stop feigning ignorance of this complaint and instead inform Parliament how this ministry will deal with a university management that sanctions the alteration of grades against the objections of the examiners," urged Rosli.

UM economic assoc professor Dr Edmund Terence Gomez had earlier cited an incident where a paper in one of the faculties registered a high failure rate, but despite strong protest from the lecturers, the department concerned decided to award 13 additional percentage points across the board to all students.

In his answer to Parliament, Shafie said that marking system is monitored by a marking committee at the department or faculty level in order to ensure that the system is smooth and transparent.

Corruption in UM

The minister also claimed that there is no evidence to support allegations of misappropriation of funds in the university's residential colleges.

However, Rosli said the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) had been told of the complaints. He called on the minister to provide Parliament with the results of the ACA investigation into the matter.

"The disclosure of these reports is imperative in order to reassure the public that this government is indeed serious about its commitment to look into all allegations of corruption that have been filed with ACA," read the statement.

Rosli said the staff association is willing to assist Shafie in facilitating investigations of the allegations "as they grievously undermined the good name of our university."