Former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik revealed that he broached the idea of setting up Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) after seeing that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was satisfied with a serving of his favourite Kedah-style nasi lemak.
Speaking to a forum on Tunku Abdul Rahman University College’s (TARUC) history on the campus, the UTAR chancellor recounted the meeting with Mahathir during a flight.
“The idea of UTAR was born in the air. I was on the plane with Mahathir. We were inspecting port projects, transport projects. I saw him eating his favourite Kedah-style nasi lemak,” he said.
During Mahathir's first tenure as nation premier, Ling served as transport minister.
Upon seeing that Mahathir was satisfied with his meal, Ling said he felt this was the right time to broach the premier on a subject he had wanted to ask for a long time.
“I said, 'Sir, I have been the chairman of TARC for 18 years. We have been building up from 411 students to 30,000 students.
“More than half the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) graduates in this country are from TARUC, as well as a number of engineers and architects...
“I asked, 'Sir, can I be rude now to ask for permission to run a university?'”
According to Ling, Mahathir (photo) did not respond to his request but merely took out his notebook and started jotting notes.
Ling viewed such gesture as having “struck gold” as Mahathir has a habit to take good points in his notebook and refer to it during cabinet meetings every Wednesday.
A week after the trip, then deputy education minister Hon Choon Kim appeared in Ling's house.
“He came to my house, put down his bag and in that bag is a fine-looking envelope, and in that envelope, there was a letter: Requesting MCA to form UTAR.
“You don't apply to form a university, you know? If they think you are qualified, they invite you to form the university. Basically, we are qualified and invited. So, the idea of UTAR was born on the air, not in the sea or in the bed. It was on the plane.”
The fundraising process
After getting the official invitation to run a university, Ling started the fundraising by first flying to Hong Kong to appeal for donations from tycoon Robert Kuok.
Ling recalled he ordered his then political secretary Ong Ka Ting to book flight tickets for the trip.
“Ong asked why. I said I am giving you an order. I am not requesting you to buy but I am ordering you to buy. Two tickets: One for you, one for me.
"So, we flew to Hong Kong. We went straight to the office of Robert Kuok.
“I told Robert: 'Sir, I got the letter requesting us to form UTAR, the university. So, Ling Liong Sik needs a lot of money'. He started by giving me RM20 million.”
“Although this ‘banana’ (referring to himself) didn't study Mandarin, I know these words,” he added.
After Hong Kong trip, Ling and his wife went to Genting Highlands to attend the namesake resort’s founder Lim Goh Tong's open house event.
“We went up to Genting, Lim was there to welcome guests. He saw me and took me to a room,” Ling recalled, adding Lim spoke in Hokkien as he was not fluent in Bahasa Malaysia, English, or Mandarin.
At first, Lim agreed to donate RM10 million but called the next day to double the amount, Ling said.
Ling joked that he could raise RM40 million over a weekend.
Later, Ling said he garnered another RM10 million from tycoon Ananda Krishnan and RM50 million from federal government approved by Mahathir.
With a nationwide donation drive together, with a hawker association, Ling said he managed to obtain nearly RM200 million donation for UTAR seed fund.
The university was ultimately established in 2002. - Mkini
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