Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) secretary-general Shahruddin Md Salleh resigned as a member of Universiti Teknologi Mara's (UiTM) board of directors yesterday.

"There were voices demanding for my sacking (after my appointment in Bersatu) if I declined to resign.

"But, I chose a middle way – I tendered my resignation," Shahruddin said in an interview with Malaysiakini today.

Resigning would prevent the perception that the university might be acting unfairly towards him, he said.

His students, friends and the university's lecturers would harbour ill feelings towards the administration if he were sacked, he added.

"It is better that I resigned from my post as member of the board because I started (my career) from here (since 2009)," said the Jorak state assemblyperson.

He conceded that he could have politicised the situation by allowing himself to be sacked, thereby boosting his popularity.

“But that is unnecessary,” he said.

Shahruddin was also dropped as the chairperson of the Malaysian Institute of Translation & Books (ITBM) days after his appointment as Bersatu secretary-general on Oct 7. 

Shahruddin, an academician-turned-politician, was active in Umno for the past 20 years. He also served as Muhyiddin Yassin's political secretary from 1998 until the latter's appointment as deputy prime minister in 2009.

He was formerly a civil engineering lecturer at UiTM Shah Alam and was later made rector of UiTM Johor in Segamat.

The 60-year-old was fielded in the Jorak state seat in the 2008 and 2013 general elections.

Shahruddin's departure from Umno caused Johor BN to lose its two-thirds majority in the state assembly.

Johor BN now has 38 state assemblypersons instead of 37, while the state opposition has increased from 18 to 19 assemblypersons.