Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Academic Staff Association has written to the acting Vice Chancellor Professor Abdul Rashid Abdullah expressing 'concern' at politicians attempting to advance their personal political agendas by coming into the campus and holding private meetings with academic staff.

Although no specific name of a politician and the occasion were mentioned, the letter signed by association president Jaya Prakash was obviously referring to the recent private meeting that Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu had with the Dayak lecturers in the Unimas campus.

A copy of the letter has been distributed to the Dayak staff.

According to a lecturer who spoke on condition of anonymity, the association is worried about a precedent being set that will allow politicians to make use of the facilities in the campus to hold private meetings to further their political agenda.

"If you open the floodgate, what will happen next? You'll have some politicians who want to talk to the Chinese staff, etc and there will be no end to it."

"This is not a good precedent," he said. "Unimas is a federal agency. We are committed to academic excellence. The administration should not allow this."

He said it would be unthinkable for any minister to go into any university in Peninsular Malaysia to do the same thing.

"For example, (Selangor Menteri Besar) Mohd Khir Toyo dare not walk into Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia to hold a private meeting with the academic staff if it is seen to be in pursuit of his own political agenda."

Jabu unhappy

Jabu, an Iban politician, chose to meet with Dayak academic staff recently in what he described as a private meeting to talk about his own political struggle and what he had done for the Dayak community, including plantation activities and the state government's role in pushing for the development of Unimas in the state.

There are about 100 Dayak academic staff in Unimas.

Jabu had been particularly unhappy with some Dayak graduates, particularly members of the Sarawak Dayak Graduates Association (SDGA), which he had openly accused of trying to embarrass the state government leadership with statistics, claiming the lack of socio-economic progress among the Dayak community.

Malaysiakini learnt that SDGA president Professor Dimbab Ngidang, who was also present at the meeting, had replied to clear the air, saying that some of the facts mentioned by the minister were not correct and that the SDGA had not intended to embarrass anyone, much less the state leaders, by its recent activities in organizing seminars focusing on rural poverty.

A non-Dayak academic staff told malaysiakini he expected the acting VC to call for a meeting after receiving a letter for the Academic Staff Association to explain the university administration's stand and policy on the matter.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini 's Sarawak-based stringer.