The opposition will move an urgent motion in Parliament on Monday to debate the dismal performances of Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) as shown by the Times Higher Education Supplement World University Ranking 2005.

Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, in giving notice to Parliament Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib yesterday, said he sought to debate the matter after the question hour on Monday.

UM plunged from 89th to 169th position while USM dropped off the list of top 200 universities after being ranked 111 last year.

In his notice, Lim described the two varsities' poor performance and the failure of 15 others universities to even be ranked as a reflection of "a deep and worsening higher education crisis".

He said this has relegated Malaysia from a country with a world-class university in the 1960s to one with "academic mediocrity".

"It is a national shame when it appears that any university in Australia is better than the best in Malaysia when (our) human capital and talents are no less inferior to Australians.

"If we lose out, it is in our system of governance and educational institutions," he said in a statement today.

The veteran opposition leader, who is Ipoh Timur MP, said the ranking seriously reflected Malaysia's losing battle for international competitiveness with far-reaching implications.

Urgent debate

He also noted that not a single Malaysian university has been listed on the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's annual academic ranking of the World's Best 500 Universities in the last three years.

"It's Parliament's duty to hold an urgent debate," he added.

Lim also noted his disappointment with cabinet ministers for their lack of response to his e-mail last Tuesday reminding them of their collective responsibility on major policy failures and scandals.

"It is most disappointing that the cabinet meeting (itself) was a dismal failure as there was no bold and courageous step to halt the rot, arrest the decline in university excellence, standards and quality."

He said that all hope now rests on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi "but can he rise up to the challenge?"

He expressed sadness over the inability of cabinet ministers whom he described as lacking in "fresh ideas and new energies" at the same time "suffering from a terrible blindness to recognise the grave dilemmas".

To illustrate the point, Lim questioned the ministers' silence over the giant billboards in UM bearing the photographs and names of the PM, the deputy premier and the higher education minister.

Shame and dishonour

"I visited the UM campus yesterday to find out whether the seven giant billboards including the three using the leaders' photos had been removed.

"I was most surprised to find that all seven are still standing, making me wonder as to what was discussed at the last cabinet meeting with regards the ranking," he said.

The giant billboards were put up on Oct 31, two days after the 2005 rankings were released.

Describing them as "billboards of shame and dishonour", Lim said they constituted a public endorsement by the three photographed leaders for as long as they remained erected.

He said every day the billboards are allowed to stand marks another day of failure by the university and government to return UM to a world-class varsity.

If the billboards are not brought down soon, he vowed to highlight the matter in Parliament as they (billboards) "advertise the urgent need for the removal of the UM vice-chancellor and a total revamp of the administrative leadership".