Lim Kit Siang today called on University of Malaya (UM) pro chancellor Raja Nazrin Shah to give personal attention to the case of Dr Edmund Terence Gomez who was said to have left UM after his application to pioneer a United Nations (UN) research project was rejected by the university.

"As a 'scholar prince', I call on Raja Nazrin to look into the case of Gomez (photo right) to ensure that the UM could restore its position as a world-class university where the 'best and the brightest' can find academic home," the parliamentary Opposition Leader said in a statement.

Raja Nazrin holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Britain's Oxford University and a PhD in political economy and government from Harvard University.

Gomez has been denied a two-year leave of secondment to take up the prestigious research appointment at the Geneva-based United Nations Research Institute for Social Development to pioneer global research on racial conflict. The rejection has forced Gomez to resign from the university.

Strange goings-on

Lim said if UM vice chancellor Dr Hashim Yaacob is unable to give a satisfactory explanation for his outrageous refusal to grant the application to Gomez, "this will cast a dark shadow on the commitment of the university to the Prime Minister's lofty goal of cemerlang, gemilang, terbilang ."

He said the incident will further undermine the international credibility and repute of the UM.

"I have received a 23-page file about strange goings-on in the University of Malaya and I will study them before deciding on the next course of action," he added.

On another case, Lim said it was 'most extraordinary' and a "relief" to find that the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) board of directors and its chairperson, Dr Zainul Ariff Hussein had never asked for the resignation of the university's vice chancellor, Prof Muhamad Zohadie Bardale.

"'Extraordinary' because the pressure by the UPM board of directors for Zohadie's resignation had been confirmed by none other than the Higher Education Minister, Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh.

Best interests served

"A 'relief' because the sudden turn of events showed that there is 'light at the end of the tunnel' to resolve the UPM controversy in a manner which is in the best interests of the UPM students and the academic community," he added.

Muhamad Zohadie was said to have been asked to resign over a controversial poem he had recited and a memorandum he submitted to the Higher Education Ministry.

His poem, recited at a recent function, was alleged by certain quarters of ridiculing the minister Dr Shafie Salleh.

The vice-chancellor was said to be miffed with the ministry's decision to transfer a new aerospace programme from UPM to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).