Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this
mk-logo
From Our Readers
Honour promise of political non-interference, grant varsities autonomy

LETTER | The National Rights Human Society (Hakam) notes with great concern that Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik has recently been appointed as president of the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM).

Universities are pivotal institutions in producing mature & critical-thinking leaders of tomorrow. But for far too long, public universities in Malaysia have suppressed political views which oppose the government of the day, punished students for exercising their freedom of speech & stifled their own lecturers from criticising government policies.

This is a direct result of the Government having too much power over the appointment of university administrators, whom then – consciously or sub-consciously – are too eager to pander to the powers-that-be.

The appointment of the education minister as IIUM president is a manifestation of the exact rot in academic freedom which happened in the past.

It is also a breach of promise No.50 of Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto, which is to restore the authority and independence of public universities.

On a broader level, the education minister should be a minister for all public universities in Malaysia.

Having the minister as a president of one particular public university inevitably signals a perception of the Government’s bias towards IIUM, which would affect higher education policy in general.

Hakam is therefore encouraged by the Prime Minister’s recent statement following the heavy public backlash, that the education minister’s IIUM appointment is not carved in stone and will be reviewed.

Hakam calls for the education minister to decline and/or step down from the office of the president of IIUM and also urges the minister to step up on the necessary reforms to grant autonomy to our public universities.

It has also been reported that two student activists who were protesting on the appointment in Putrajaya were arrested by police early this morning and have been released on bail.

Hakam condemns the arrest of these student activists, which is a violation of their constitutional right to assemble peacefully and urges the authorities to respect and facilitate this right.


The writer is the secretary-general of Hakam.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

ADS