Pro-government academic Dr Ridhuan Tee Abdullah has shrugged off accusations of plagiarism, and said his critics were out to "character assassinate" him.
Ridhuan, who is now associate professor at the National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM), said such claims would not affect his credibility.
Saying his detractors took issue with his views, Ridhuan, who is a columnist for Umno mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia, challenged them to state their arguments instead of making baseless allegations.
"Come and face me. If they are not happy with my arguments, why resort to such character assassination? Arguments can be countered through proper argument," he told online news portal Malaysiakini.
He was referring to the claim by Senator Dr Ariffin S. M. Omar, a former colleague of Ridhuan, that Ridhuan had been appointed associate professor by UPNM last year despite being hit by allegations of plagiarism.
"An investigation was launched but the vice-chancellor and the deputy vice-chancellor of academics at that time did not take any action against Ridhuan and instead he was promoted," Ariffin told a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.
He noted that Ridhuan's elevation did not sit well with other lecturers at UPNM.
"We have sacked students who were found to have plagiarised their papers. And what more when a lecturer is found to do the same? Are we saying that it is alright for a member of the teaching staff to do it?" he asked.
Seputeh MP Teresa Kok meanwhile said Ridhuan had copied an article originally written by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia lecturer Dr Airil Yasreen Mohd Yassin.
"When you compare both articles, you will find that Ridhuan has copied almost the whole article from Dr Airil, including the grammar mistakes in the original article, without any attribution to its writer," said Kok.
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