Muhyiddin under fire over honorary doctorate award

The DAP continues to press Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on his acceptance of a honorary doctorate from the United States Sports Academy (USSA) last Thursday, alleging the possibility of conflict of interest in the award.

According to the opposition party, this could be in the form of the extension and expansion of the training programme for Malaysian physical education (PE) teachers which is conducted by the USSA.

Already the pilot project to train 1,000 PE teachers last year cost the government RM22.9 million.

An extension of the programme to re-train 50,000 PE teachers over the next five years would cost taxpayers in excess of RM1 billion, DAP election strategist Ong Kian Ming warned in a statement yesterday.

Ong said while USSA president and chief executive officer Dr Thomas Rosandich has defended the doctorate award given to Muhyiddin, citing merit and a proven track record, there appeared to be conflict of interest involved in the award.

"The USSA could potentially benefit from a contract worth up to RM1.15 billion if the pilot project involving the training of Malaysian (PE) teachers is extended and expanded.

"USSA had already indicated (on its website) that the project has been extended to 2013, and the number that will undergo the programme this year is 1,500," Ong said.

Education minister shows poor judgement

On Jan 18, Ong had asked whether the doctorate awarded to Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, was given in exchange for the RM22.9 million contract from the Malaysian government.

The USSA website also states that the International Diploma in Physical Education and Scholastic Sports (IDPESS) programme may be expanded into a five-year effort and include the retraining of 50,000 Malaysian teachers.

Ong (right) said Muhyiddin might have shown poor judgement in accepting the honorary doctorate.

"It could easily be interpreted as an attempt by USSA to 'curry favour' and perhaps `bribe' him into agreeing to the extension and expansion of the PE teachers training programme," he said.

Ong called on Muhyiddin to confirm whether the training project has been extended and why the project was given to an online United States university without an open tender being called.

The DAP politician had previously said that the cost of the programme, at RM22,900 per person, was too expensive, compared with the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) programme that offers a Diploma in Sports Studies programme, over six semesters, for only RM5,709.

It is also learnt that USSA was also one of the organisations behind the controversial International Peace and Harmony Award given to PM Najib Razak's wife Rosmah Mansor in a gala event in New York three years ago.