KUALA LUMPUR: MCA president Wee Ka Siong today hit out at Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng over the latter’s “political revenge” in slashing funds for its Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar).
Wee also said there was no need for Guan Eng to be jealous of the achievements of TAR UC, which was established by MCA.
“I would like to tell Lim Guan Eng here, don’t be jealous of the achievements of TAR UC, which was established by MCA.
“There is no need to threaten MCA. MCA will stand firm on the issue of TAR UC and will fight right till the end.
“TAR UC was founded by MCA and no one can deny our efforts and contribution. TAR UC, which enjoys academic independence with no interference in its management, has trained 200,000 graduates.
“No one can alter its history nor deny its accomplishments. This is our territory and no one can rob us of TAR UC. Do not violate our rights and we will not do the same to you,” he said in his policy speech at MCA’s annual general meeting at Wisma MCA here today.
Wee also challenged Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, to set up a Rocket University or a Harapan University.
“Since Lim Guan Eng has full confidence in the leaders of the alumni association, I hereby suggest to him to set up a Rocket University or Harapan University and invite TAR UC alumni association to manage the institution.
“If he insists on a separation of politics from education, he can position this institution as a community-founded university and use his power as the finance minister to provide annual grants in the millions to the institution so that its tuition fees can be lower than that of TAR UC.
“He will be able to kill two birds with one stone. We are not afraid of competition as long as people from the lower-income group can benefit from quality, affordable education.
“Don’t you worry, Lim Guan Eng. MCA is broad-minded, we will not attempt to prevent you from setting up your own university,” he said.
Also present at the AGM were former president Liow Tiong Lai, as well as other top party leaders and delegates.
The Ayer Hitam MP also went to great lengths to “enlighten Lim Guan Eng on the history of TAR UC”, saying that on July 15, 1968, the then education minister Khir Johari had announced the approval for MCA to set up the Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC).
Wee said MCA had successfully raised RM20 million to build the institution, which enabled Chinese students to receive tertiary education and become technicians and professionals.
He further stated that on Aug 22, 1972, then education minister Hussein Onn presented the Instrument of Government (IoG) to the Parliament and promised to support TARC financially on a 50:50 basis.
“Tun Hussein Onn also announced that TARC’s board of governors would have representatives from the government. With this IoG, the government recognised the legal status of TARC’s board of governors as well as the diplomas awarded by TARC,” he said.
Wee pointed out that when TARC was upgraded to a university college in 2013, the higher education ministry had a discussion with TARC and MCA against the backdrop of the IoG approved by Parliament in 1972 and decided that a non-profit TARC Education Foundation be established to manage the assets of TARC.
The Memorandum of Association (M&A) of the foundation, he said, clearly stated that it is a non-profit entity and all surpluses can only be used to develop TARC.
He went on to state that, following the approval of the Companies Commission of Malaysia and the finance ministry for the setting up of the TARC Education Foundation, the education ministry subsequently issued an official letter on April 19, 2013, allowing TARC’s upgrade to a non-profit private institution.
“It added that the education ministry would continue to provide an annual matching grant capped at RM60 million to TAR UC.
“Therefore, it is not a strange thing for MCA leaders to serve in TAR UC’s board of trustees and board of governors. Bound by the laws and regulations, they do not have the freedom to do as they wish.
“A board of governors plays the management role in a private institution. I need to highlight here that since the higher education ministry continued to allocate funds for TAR UC in 2013, five positions in TAR UC’s board of governors are still reserved for representatives appointed by the education and finance ministries,” he said, adding that this was a situation unique to TAR UC.
Wee questioned if Lim was aware of TAR UC’s unique situation, and expressed hope that the latter would do some homework instead of spreading false information and misleading the people.
He claimed that Lim had at first said that the government could only give RM5.5 million to TAR UC because of insufficient funds in the coffers.
“But he switched his mind and said he is ready to allocate RM30 million of development funds if MCA cut ties with TAR UC. Being consistently inconsistent is his forte,” Wee said.
The former minister also urged Lim to immediately do good on his promise to give allocations to three other community-founded higher learning education institutions, namely New Era University College, Southern University College and Han Chiang University College.
“This is not a zero-sum game. Allocation for TAR UC was written in black-and-white by the government 50 years ago, and now you are making a new promise for the three community-founded colleges. These are two separate matters.
“Lim Guan Eng, instead of making empty promises and using the three colleges to gain publicity for yourself, give them the allocation right now. We won’t be jealous of the allocation; in fact, we are very happy for them,” he said.
Wee said TAR UC’s tuition fees, as compared to that of the aforementioned institutions of higher learning, were the cheapest.
“I can guarantee that its fees are the cheapest among private institutions of similar standards in the past, present and future, even if the management needs to adjust its fees.
“I can also guarantee that TAR UC’s academic standards will be higher than that of UniKL, an institution established by a government agency,” he said.
The tuition fees for diploma courses at TAR UC, Wee said, ranged from RM15,800 and RM18,200, while UniKL charges between RM27,000 and RM39,000.
As for degree courses, TAR UC’s fees are from RM31,000 to RM38,000, while UniKL’s fees fall between the range of RM54,000 and RM65,000.
“Lim Guan Eng warned TAR UC not to raise its fees but the school fees of a private university owned by a government agency are so much higher than that of TAR UC.
“Is this a case of ‘officials are free to burn down houses while commoners are forbidden to light lamps’? Where is the fairness here?” he asked. - FMT
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