Former Universiti Malaya (UM) vice-chancellor Rafiah Salim has claimed she had to live with all kinds of "nonsense" pertaining to political interference during her tenure in the university.

"Things like who can we bring in to speak to the students, who we can't - even among the Barisan Nasional people," she revealed during an hour-long interview with Malaysiakini yesterday.

um rafiah salim interview 171108 08 "It has become a very sensitive job to carry out but as I was focused on what I wanted to do for UM, I had to swallow these nonsense, otherwise I will not be able to do what I want to do for UM," she added.

To a question, she admitted that one recent case of such political interference was UM's decision to cancel a speech by Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi who was to speak there early this month.

The university had withdrawn its invitation to Ebadi, an outspoken critic of the human rights situation in Iran, two weeks before she was to deliver a speech on Islam and cultural diversity.

At the time, Rafiah denied that there was pressure from the government to scrap the event.

Grilled over academic freedom in UM

The first woman to head a public university in the country, Rafiah's contract was not renewed recently and she was informed on the decision 48 hours before her term expired.

In the first-part of the interview published yesterday , she attributed gender discrimination as a reason for her contract not to be renewed.

The 61-year-old former law lecturer and Bank Negara assistant governor was appointed to head UM in May 2006.

Elaborating on the political interference in the university, the former vice-chancellor said she was in "total agreement" that the government should amend the restrictive Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) to give more autonomy to campuses.

According to her, the university management had enjoyed more autonomy and the situation was much better when she was the head of the UM's law faculty in the late 1980s.

um rafiah salim interview 171108 03 "Those days when there was autonomy, I remember we brought in Pak Lah (Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), a young and handsome man at that time, and then we also brought the oppositions in to have a big discussion, it was quite fun actually," she said.

Rafiah, who pride herself for pushing academic excellence in UM during her stint, however appeared defensive when grilled on why she had not been vocal in pushing for more academic freedom in the country's oldest university.

Questioned on why she had not made a similar call to amend the UUCA when she was the VC as her statement would have carried more weight then, she retorted:

"Can I undo the UUCA? No way -lah , (carried) a lot of weight? Come on, don't joke. If the opposition and their bigwigs in Parliament can't change the UUCA, I orang makan gaji (a wage earner), you think they want to listen to me?"

Rafiah also stressed that she did not try to stop UM law associate professor Dr Azmi Sharom from writing in an English newspaper but conceded she had told the latter not to write about the university in his column.

um rafiah salim interview 171108 09 "I didn't allow him to write on UM because when he writes, he doesn't write the good things and it's always about the negative things.

"I always said that as a UM staff, you don't badmouth your own (university). If you can't be fair, then don't write," she argued, adding that she was "bugged" by the ministry over Azmi's column.

Azmi, a vocal academic, had criticised in one of his articles the university's preference for the pro-establishment candidates over the anti-establishment faction in the campus elections.

Although he did not name any particular university, his alluding in his writing to UM landed him in hot soup when he was reportedly hauled up by Rafiah for an explanation.

Next project - a book on UM

On students' freedom, Rafiah said she did not mind her students being active in politics provided that it did not come at the expense of their studies.

"Join -lah (politics), what the heck man, except that I am very firm with students that if they are so involved in politics and not focused on their studies, that would get me very angry," she said.

um rafiah salim interview 171108 05 "You have to remember 80 percent of (local university students') funding come from taxpayers' money. I am one of the taxpayers and I don't want to see student stay here for five years and can't get a degree because they are fooling around with politics or non-politics (activities)."

On her immediate plan, Rafiah said she was writing a book on her two-and-a-half year tenure in the university and targeted it to be completed in three months' time.

According to her, the book will include the "good and the bad things" that had happened to her in UM. It will contain more exposes of political interference, she claimed.

Asked if there will be any official farewell ceremony for her in UM, Rafiah said it was initially planned to be held this Friday but had been put on hold as she was leaving for overseas on Thursday.

Part 1: Axed UM VC says its because she's a woman