EDUCATION Minister Dr Maszlee Malik has not addressed the issue raised against his appointment as International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) president, said a group of university students who recently staged a protest outside his Putrajaya office.
The group – Coalition for Academic Freedom-Institutions of Higher Learning (Gabungan Pembebasan Akademik IPT) – accuses the minister of trying to divert the issue to the arrest of two activists who had taken part in the sit-in protest at the ministry last Friday.
The minister, the group said, should have answered the issues raised against his appointment instead.
“He is using the arrests to run away from the issue. He issued a long statement on why we were arrested, but not about why we were there.
“What response has he made on the protest?” the group’s spokesman Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi told The Malaysian Insight.
“Our purpose was clear. We wanted him to step down as IIUM president,” he said, adding that it was for the good of UUIM and other public universities.
He claims that Education Ministry said more politicians would be appointed to posts at public universities.
“We are made to understand that all the appointments have been planned. We were told there will be more such appointments because of some agenda,” Asheeq Ali said.
However, the officials would not reveal the nature of the supposed agenda.
Asheeq Ali, from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and Siti Nurizzah Mohamad Tazali from IIUM, both 23 and law students, were arrested early Saturday.
They were among some 10 student activists who took part in the sit-in at the Parcel E main entrance to the offices of several ministries, including the Education Ministry.
The group demanded to see Maszlee and refused to leave until the minister gave up the UUIM president appointment. The students defied police when asked to disperse on Saturday.
But only Asheeq Ali and Nurizzah were arrested, as they were in the ministry’s compound. They were released from the Putrajaya district police headquarters about six hours later the same day.
Shortly after their release, Maszlee posted a statement on Facebook that he would look into the arrests of the two students.
“I am looking into why they were detained last night because I was told that the authorities did not arrest the demonstrators,” he posted about 9am on Saturday.
Less than an hour later, he presented a chronology of the protest and measures that had been taken by the ministry to reach out to the students and negotiate with them.
Maszlee also explained that he could not meet the students on Friday during the protest as he was in Sarawak on a work trip, adding that his officer had been instructed to arrange a meeting with the students on Wednesday.
Nurizzah said Maszlee could remain silent but he needed to solve the issue.
“We want to know whether he intends to give up the appointment or not, so we can take the next course of action,” she said.
Another student activist from the coalition, Syazwani Mahmud asked why Maszlee could not emulate his boss, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and honour the Pakatan Harapan manifesto.
She was referring to the election pledge that the prime minister could not hold any ministerial portfolio simultaneously.
When Dr Mahathir named his initial cabinet, he appointed himself education minister. When he was reminded of the PH pledge, he vacated the post and appointed Maszlee, a former academic.
“Dr Mahathir could give up the education minister post in one day. Why can’t Maszlee do the same (with the UUIM presidency)?
“That’s our principle, (to) urge and pressure him,” the final-year UUIM law student said.
In a press conference last Friday, Dr Mahathir said Putrajaya would review Maszlee’s appointment as UUIM president after receiving much feedback on the matter.
“We are sensitive to public sentiment and we will review the appointment, as it is not carved in stone,” the prime minister said.
Other appointments of those linked to Maszlee to education-related positions have also raised eyebrows.
His political secretary Mohd Nizam Morad is a Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) board director and his special adviser, Wan Saiful Wan Jan, is National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) chairman.
Maszlee said Wan Saiful’s appointment was only for a limited time to ensure PH fulfilled its pledge concerning student loans from the corporation.
Wan Saiful also said his appointment did not break any PH promise, as PTPTN was not a government-owned company but a statutory body.
PH in its GE14 manifesto had promised to postpone the repayment of PTPTN loans for all borrowers earning under RM4,000 a month and abolish the blacklisting policy against defaulters.
– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/
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