I am very relieved that the Association of UM Academic Staff has issued a statement on the abuses in the system.

I was teaching at a university, then housed in Petaling Jaya and have seen these abuses by university administration and academics.

There was a time when I no longer find it useful to attend any Board of Examiners' meeting because these meetings are merely keen on passing as many students as possible.

Male students in this university were also given preference in entry and in passing on the basis that they are heads of households. There is a kind of "affirmative action" in favour of less meritorious males over females.

Lecturers who oppose these unwritten policies are almost seen as 'enemies' of the state and not 'one of us'. Many non-Malay lecturers prefer to remain silent on account of their minority status.

The other problem with local universities, is the complete failure to attract competent lecturers. One factor is the salary scale. The other is preference for really poorly qualified teachers because of ethnic preferences rather than academic qualifications.

I have been horrified by the substandard information some of the poorly qualified lecturers churn out yearly to students. If teachers are totally uninspired and are uninspiring, what kind of students can one expect to graduate from these institutions?

Local universities unfortunately like government institutions have fallen into disrepute because of lack of democracy and accountability. There is cronyism to content with as well.

University libraries are not research-oriented. I have on so many occasions have to travel to Singapore to the NUS Library to do any kind of decent research.

I would be extremely reluctant to go back to teaching in the local campuses. The university system needs an overhaul. This has been said so often but the ruling regime is probably more interested in political power than the future of young Malaysians.