UIA to get RM100mil to champion 'true Islamic values'

Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) Malaysia will soon get  RM100 million a year in research funds to help it champion true Islamic values in a fallen world, Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.

To help the 30-year-old university defend the religion against an onslaught of ‘Western’ values, Muhyiddin said the government was prepared to make it only the sixth university in Malaysia with such a grant.

“You can clap your hands. We have the money,” Muhyiddin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, told an audience of about 4,000 flag-waving undergraduates at UIA.

“I can give you an assurance that by 2014, UIA  will be recognised as a research university.”

Malaysia now has only five research  universities - Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Mara, Uuniversiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Muhyiddin lauded that UIA, with about 10 percent of its students from outside Malaysia, was  a bastion of Islamic faith in the world.

“Muslims are now facing challenges which are not of their own making...The spread of western liberalism, under the pretext of human rights activism and gender rights movement, have brought new beliefs and ideas that are totally against Islam.”

Muhyiddin cited that some Muslims were told that they have the right to denounce Islam and defend gay rights, lesbianism and same-sex marriage as examples.

“As we all know, these are sinful acts abhorred by Islam,” Muhyiddin said.

He said UIA therefore had to be revitalised to be “a fortress of Islamic intellectualism and serve as a beacon of light for the Muslim Ummah (community of believers).”

[More to follow]