Fight brewing between Higher Education minister and his deputy

Recent exchanges over Twitter between Higher Education minister Khaled Nordin and his deputy Saifuddin Abdullah have pointed to a friction between the two with regards to the government's approach to anti-establishment students.

Saifuddin, who has been praised by a section of students unions for his less antagonistic stand, had responded to Khaled's remarks chiding 'opposition politics' for being based on "cheats, lies and fabrication".

“A struggle becomes despicable when it is based on cheats, lies and fabrication. It’s akin to opposition politics,” said Khalid in a Twitter post yesterday, not naming his target of anger.

Saifuddin had then asked his boss to who he had referred to.

“Dato, who’s despicable?” Saifuddin twitted.

"Some people just loved chaos, thinking they could emerge as heroes," came Khaled's reply.

Saifuddin had earlier expressed regret over a scuffle at Universiti Putra Malaysia following the University's decision to annul the election victory there of 11 candidates alligned to the anti-establishment minded group, Pro-Mahasiswa (Pro-M), leaving six students injured and some damages.

“If TNC HEP (Deputy Vice Chancellor) had met the students, the incident could be avoided,” he said.

UPM's deputy vice chancellor Dr Mohd Fauzi Ramlan said he would not press charges against the students but rubbished demands for him to issue an apology.

“I did no wrong, why should I apologise?” he asked.

- Harakahdaily