Kepada Semua Timb. Canselor Dan Ahli Akademik IPTA

Berita Dunia No 1 

Yet again, Malaysian varsities not among world’s top

• Malaysian universities failed latest (THE) World Reputation Rankings 2015
• too few scholars citing country’s tertiary institutions among best in the world
• 100 most prestigious universities includes two Singapore varsities 
• not enough scholars around the world named any Malaysian university to top 100
• Singapore had two top entries – NUS 24th place and NTU in the 91-100 band 
• Malaysia has never been featured on the list
• Idris Jusoh says universities world class,  on par with Britain, Germany, Australi
• unlike M'sia, those three countries have highest number in World Rankings 2015
• US had most number of institutions at 43
• followed by United Kingdom (12), Germany (six) and Australia (five)
• Harvard University tops list again 
• followed by Cambridge and Oxford  
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology dropped to fourth place 
• Stanford University edged to number five
• NUS and NTU only Southeast Asian institutes made list
• Asian universities in top 50 University of Tokyo (12), Tsinghua University, China (26), Kyoto University, Japan (27), Peking University, China (32)
• global reputation vital – helps university develop student & academic talent 
• 2015 results drawn from 10,507 survey responses from published senior academics
• reminder to Idris Jusoh that Malaysian universities are nowhere near world-class
• Idris conveniently refers to QS University Rankings where Malaysia universities in top 300
• in other rankings like THE, Malaysia is not even recognised. 
• we are nowhere near world class status 
• QS World University Rankings last year, Universiti Malaya 151, UKM  259 
• UTM 294, USM 309 and UPM 376. 
• disappointment UM and UKM did not submit data for ranking
•  annual World University Rankings 2014-2015
• missing out opportunity to be assessed against other universities in the world.
• full list of 2015 Times Higher Education World Reputation survey can be viewed here.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/yet-again-malaysian-varsities-not-among-worlds-top#sthash.410Sn7RG.dpuf

Berita Dunia No 2

• UMP hopes anti-witchcraft SOP will become law
• Universiti Malaysia Pahang committee for advanced studies in witchcraft law
• formulated standard operating procedure (SOP) to combat witchcraft
• chairman, Dr Mahyuddin Ismail, said SOP result of two-year study 
• involving Islamic medicine practitioners, Islamic scholars, judges and psychiatrists
• grant of RM189,000 from Education Ministry under knowledge transfer programme
• we have formulated provisions on evidence, proving of case, as well as the SOP. 
• just waiting for any states to make first move to introduce law
• So far, Brunei has showed keen interest ..for it to be implemented in the country
• several roadshows in Sabah and Sarawak since last year
• roadshow will be expanded to the east coast states before west coast in April

My comments.  Ok lets do the easy one first. The Standard Operating Procedure for Witchcraft or sihir / jampi serapah ??

I have some simple questions for Dr Mahayuddin Ismail, chairman of the Committee for Advanced Studies in Witchcraft Law, University Malaysia Pahang. 

1. How many centuries do you think will it take for UMP to make it to the Top 100 Universities in the World rankings? By the year 2300? 2500? 

2. Will your witchcraft SOP identify Haron Jin's "perubatan jin" hocus pocus as withcraft or not? Please answer honestly. Yes or no?

3.  Will your witchcraft SOP identify Nik Aziz's "jampi air", "doa air" hocus pocus as withcraft or not? Please answer honestly. Yes or no?

4.  Will your witchcraft SOP identify some of the "upacara pertabalan di Raja" that we have in the country as withcraft or not? Please answer honestly. Yes or no?

5.  Will your witchcraft SOP identify the 'bomoh hujan' hocus pocus (to ask for rain during drought etc) as withcraft or not? Please answer honestly. Yes or no?

If your answer to any of the questions 2, 3, 4 or 5 is "No" then I think it will be a long time before you hit the Top 100 Rankings. Maybe Top 10,000 pun tak jadi.

Do you know what the Quran says about witchcraft or sihir? 

Have you checked the phrase "sahrin aleem" (ulama sihir) in the Quran? What did the "sahrin aleem" say? What does it imply for witchcraft?

Now lets talk about the University Rankings.  

I think our 2nd Education Minister Idris Jusoh is just amusing himself that our universities have made it to the Top 300 in relatively unknown and unrated 'rating methods'.

Few or none of our academics and universities are known anywhere in the world, especially among academics, to be well known for anything.

(Exceptions were the late Prof Syed Hussein Alatas. Another exception can be the International Islamic University's Faculty of Medicine which is building up quite a name for itself in orthopaedic replacement surgery aka bone implants, bone replacements and surgical procedures for broken bones.)

But other than the few, generally our universities are black holes. Yet we may spend more money on our universities than say Harvard University or Cambridge University.

We claim to be at the center of the Malay world but we are not even recognised as the center of Malay Studies. The Universiy of Leiden in Holland is still recognised for their research on the Malay Archipelago. 

Now there is a confused attempt to link Malay history  to the Arabs and Islam and ignore a past which was a mix of Indian, Hindu, Thai, Cham, Buddhist influences etc.  

It is also a fact that all Vice Chancellors as well as Heads of Departments at our IPTAs are usually not multi racial. Pendek kata kita tak bagi kat orang lain, even if they qualify. VC & Head of Department semua kita biasa bagi kat orang kita saja, whether they qualify or not.  Ini soal dasar. 

So when this is the situation, lets not waste time participating in all these University Rankings, Top 100 etc. Buang masa saja.  

The Top 100 rankings etc are based on international, universal  Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs for academic achievement and excellence.  They are 100% merit based. 

It is part of our policy or "dasar" to KIV meritocracy.  Kita belum lagi boleh jadi 100% meritokrasi. So dont waste time trying to measure our IPTAs with World University Rankings etc.   This is the reality of our IPTAs.  Kita jangan terlalu syiok sendiri.

But I have a suggestion. This is a more practical suggestion and these are all achievable. 

Firstly,  get our academics and professors to generate world class research that will be recognised by international academic journals. That can be a first step. This is being done but not enough. 

If  the  "committee for advanced studies in witchcraft law"  can get its findings published in some international 'Witchcraft Law Journal' then that will be good. But I doubt there is any Witchcraft Law Journal  left in the world today.  For example  Salem is now better known as a cigarette (do click on the link). 

Anyway, get our academics and professors to publish world class new books with cutting edge findings in their respective fields.  If you search Amazon.com for new books in academic fields tak ada satu pun buku yang di tulis oleh profesor IPTA kita. Not that I know of.

Try to get our IPTAs to become world leaders in specific fields where we are already a world leader (palm oil, oil palms, plantation management, rubber technology etc). We already have a huge advantage here because 'source material' semua kita punya. Tapi sedihnya  itu pun tak ada atau sangat kurang.

Here is something more crucial : please generate IPTA graduates who are employable anywhere in the world.  

Let our IPTA graduates go out into the world and get jobs in Hong Kong, New York, London, Zurich, Tokyo, Shanghai etc. (Baghdad, Kabul, Medina, Damascus, Islamabad semua tak payah lah.  Silap-silap nanti jadi rekrut ISIS pula).  But this is not happening yet in large numbers.  

Of the 1 million people who applied for the recent 10,000 Police jobs many were IPTA graduates.  That is very bad.

Turkish universities were geared up to produce university graduates who are world class - they can get a job anywhere in the world and work anywhere in the world. Tapi itu dulu. Now with Erdogan's "islami-cessation" that too might 'cease'.  

So dont worry too much about World University Rankings. Let us focus on producing highly productive university graduates, multi skilled, multi confident, multi cultural, multi flexible, multi user friendly in our own society as well as anywhere in the world. 

We owe it to our young graduates to make them true citizens of the real world.   Not the witchcraft world, the highly imaginary Arabised world etc. 

Otherwise one day they will turn around and say that their older generations were a stupid people.