Media Statement (2)
by Lim Kit Siang  

(Parliament, Saturday): A parliamentary roundtable of MPs, academicians and  NGOs will be convened next week on “Higher Education in Crisis (2) – unjust and discriminatory termination of Professor Ramasamy by UKM” to address the continued deterioration of the  higher education crisis in the country.

It is most unfortunate that the creation of a Higher Education Ministry and the appointment of a Higher Education Minister has not ushered  in the  reform of the higher education system where  intellectual creativity and academic excellence are  given the highest premium but instead there has been a deepening culture of fear, subservience and mediocrity  universities when there should be academic freedom and autonomy.

It is clear that the administrations and managements of the public universities have learnt nothing from the Terence Gomez debacle or Professor Ramasamy would not become the latest victim of the injustices and discrimination of the university bureaucracies.

It is an adverse reflection on the Higher Education Minister, Datuk Shafie Salleh that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had to intervene in the Terence Gomez case, when the Minister should have been able to resolve it without the matter reaching the highest level of government.

Will Shafie be able to justly and equitably resolve the Ramasamy case without having the matter pursued to  higher levels?

It would appear that the 12-member Higher Education Study Committee set up by Shafie to come out with a formula to  transform Malaysian universities into internationally-recognised centre of excellence is a waste of time, when cases of academic victimization and discrimination like the Ramasamy case can continue to happen without check.

(06/08/2005)