Muda’s UiTM dialogue fiasco due to email attachment issue - official

 

In another dramatic turn of events, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) has admitted to receiving an application letter from Muda affiliate Ikatan Mahasiswa Demokratik Malaysia to organise a dialogue session on Thursday night at its Shah Alam campus.

However, the institution’s spokesperson told Malaysiakini that the letter - attached in an email - was addressed to the wrong person instead of UiTM vice-chancellor Roziah Mohd Janor. 

“Yes, the organiser sent it to the correct email addresses and the application letter was attached to it“But in the letter, they addressed it to the deputy vice-chancellor of student affairs (Mohd Sazili Shahibi), not to Roziah. 

“That is where they went wrong. Any sort of application must be done through the vice-chancellor,” he said. 

Upon realising the mistake, he explained that the vice-chancellor’s office had attempted to call Ikatan Mahasiswa Demokratik Malaysia’s representative to rectify the letter but to no avail.

“The vice-chancellor’s office also requested to hold a discussion with Mahasiswa Demokratik’s representative on the matter but they did not show up.“When it (the application) is not done through the right channel and procedure, we had to reject it.”

This comes after Roziah reportedly said that UiTM did not receive an application letter from the organiser of the “Interns are not Forced Labour” dialogue. 

In response, Mahasiswa Demokratik took to Twitter to call out Roziah for allegedly lying to the students.

Along with a screenshot of the email sent, it tweeted that a letter was sent via email but it only received a response from the deputy vice-chancellor’s office.

Previously, Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman - who was slated to speak at the event - cried sabotage over the cancellation of the planned dialogue session.

Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman

He claimed the university on March 28 rejected an application to hold the dialogue, purportedly to maintain harmony within the campus.

However, the Muar MP still showed up at the university with his entourage on the night the dialogue was supposed to be held.

In an apparent attempt to prevent them from entering university grounds, the gates were shut.

Syed Saddiq then held several rounds of negotiations with UiTM staffers and later told reporters present that the university had agreed to reschedule the dialogue session to a later date.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin as saying his ministry has never prevented anyone from entering public universities and holding programmes there.

However, he said those wishing to do so should liaise with the university management. - Mkini