Putrajaya told to stop political appointments to university boards

 

Malaysian Academic Movement (Move) has demanded Putrajaya to stop political appointments to public university boards.

In a statement today, the academic pressure group told the government to remove these political appointees from the universities.

The group accused Umno-led BN of beginning and sustaining a tradition of political appointments to university boards. This tradition, they said, is now being extended by those in power who share the same "Umno-BN DNA".

"We in Move have always been against this unhealthy practice.

"The practice of political appointments of chairpersons, board of directors, vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors, and other top university management has to stop," Move stressed in its statement.

It said there was a concrete attempt during Pakatan Harapan's federal administration to prevent political appointments by setting up an independent national committee of senior academics and industry leaders.

It appears that the committee no longer exists or is no longer consulted, said Move, which is also known by its Malay name Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (Gerak).

"If it (the committee) was still there doing its job, the recent delays in appointing university vice-chancellors would not have happened.

"We are troubled by related developments in some of our top public universities which all point to external interference and a dismissal of guidelines that are already in place," it said.

Move urged Higher Education Minister Noraini Ahmad to immediately replace political appointees with independent, honest, creative, empathetic, and altruistic leaders, who are selected by university committees comprising of academics with quality and experience.

It also claimed that the contracts for a vice-chancellor and his deputy at an east coast university had reportedly been cut short by the chairperson of the university's board, who is an Umno office bearer.

"Move stands clearly against these sinister pollical maneuverings which we believe play absolutely no constructive part in preparing our public universities for a post-pandemic future," it added.

At least 13 individuals linked to political parties under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government have been appointed either to the board of directors or the board of governors of public universities. This is based on checks on the varsities' websites.

Among them are:

• Wanita Umno vice-chief Norliza Abdul Rahim, appointed to the board of governors of Universiti Sains Malaysia
• Umno supreme council member Abdul Rahman Dahlan, appointed to the board of governors of Universiti Malaysia Sabah
• PAS Youth chief Khairil Nizam Khirudin, appointed to the board of directors of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
• Terengganu PAS commissioner Husain Awang, appointed to the board of directors of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin
• Selayang Umno Youth vice-chief Mohd Sazili Shahibi, appointed as deputy vice-chancellor in charge of student affairs at Universiti Teknologi Mara

Former Selangor state executive councillor in charge of education Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the "level of politicisation" involving these appointments was "deplorable".

The PN administration has received criticism in the past for replacing technocrats in various government agencies and government-linked companies with politicians aligned to the government. - Mkini