special report Universiti Malaya � the country's oldest tertiary institution � has been in the limelight for the wrong reasons in recent months, with academic Dr Edmund Terence Gomez having spilled the beans on 'irregularities' in two main areas of its operations.

These respectively involve claims that unfair criteria are applied in promoting academic staff and that there is tampering with marks obtained by students sitting for examinations.

As malaysiakini set out to verify the claims and to elicit solutions for reform, two things quickly became clear:

1. No lecturer was willing to go on record with the complaints for fear of retribution.
   
   
2. None of them were willing to cite specific instances on grounds that this would lead to identification of the individuals involved.