YeinJee's Asian Journal

UPM in confrontation with its students again. [Malaysiakini]

Lee Song Yong, a second-year computer science student is in a battle with Universiti Putra Malaysia to get back a notebook that security personnel confiscated on Aug 22.

UPM on the other hand is seeking disciplinary action against Lee for not cooperating with the varsity officers during the confiscation.

This is not the 1st time UPM is involved with similar confrontation; another student had his laptop confiscated in September but his issue is settled sooner with the involvement of some opposition politicians.

I don’t like seeing lawyers and politicians involving in university affairs, but the lack of transparency from UPM in handling these disciplinary issues has left me no choice but to believe that the student is being victimized instead of some political agendas.

The disciplinary proceeding is a really bad joke as Lee’s lawyer mentioned. Do UPM authorities really expect the students to just hand over their expensive belongings when told to do so without questions asked? Besides, do they have enough reasons to do so?

Update Nov 23 – Lee is suspended for one semester for ‘obstructing campus officers from performing their duty’. [MP Lim]

Malaysia universities have completely fallen out of the Top 200 Universities list from THES-QS World University Rankings in 2007. [Full list in PDF].

I never like the THES-QS ranking system which favoured universities with English Language as teaching medium. The top 16 universities are from English speaking countries; only 3 out of the top 25 are from non English speaking countries… and the fact that the top university in Germany (Heidelberg University) only ranks at 60th doesn’t give much credibility to the ranking.

Honestly, I don’t give a damn about how Malaysia universities are positioned in the list. That however doesn’t change the fact that our quality of higher education is in an embarrassing state. We don’t need a ranking to justify that; I graduated from UM 5 years ago, I know how bad we were… and the situation has probably worsen in the last few years.

Make no mistake, Malaysia has excellent talents. We have lots of Malaysians doing well in foreign universities; I have friends that didn’t perform well in SPM or STPM, but exiled in foreign universities… we have great potentials, and we are competitive. Those potentials are however wasted by our local universities… talents are being shaped into mediocre graduates, which is quite a shame.

I have written a post in August regarding the problems in our local universities in response to Badawi’s recent education plan; read it if interested.

Prime Minister and UMNO president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi opened the UMNO General Assembly on Wednesday (Nov 7) at the Putra World Trade Centre. The following is the full text of his opening address [TheStar]…

STRENGTHENING CONFIDENCE – VENTURING INTO A NEW ERA

Alhamdulillah, with God’s will, we are convene for the 58th UMNO General Assembly.

2. Our assembly this year takes place in the glow of the 50th Merdeka celebrations. This is also our first assembly for the next 50 years. Beginning the first national elections, UMNO, as part of the Alliance and subsequently Barisan Nasional, has formed the national government based on the principle of power sharing. It also spearheaded the drive towards independence.

3. The Malayan Government, considered to be lacking in experience, faced myriad challenges. Twelve years after independence, the nation was riven by racial riots that threatened its survival. Thanks to mutual understanding and a strong spirit of cooperation, we overcame this test. That dark time in our history became a valuable lesson that taught us the need to strengthen our unity.

4. In the aftermath of this tragedy, the Government introduced three major measures. First, the Rukun Negara was introduced as a national ideology to ensure national unity and safeguard the integrity of the nation. Second, the New Economic Policy was designed to develop our economy based on fair and equitable growth. Finally, the Barisan Nasional was introduced as an effective and inclusive political vehicle. The implementation of these three measures has brought success, guaranteed our survival and brought us the prosperity that we enjoy to this day.
Read the rest of this post »

University Putra Malaysia security personnel allegedly broke into a student’s room and illegally confiscated a laptop computer and other electrical items and documents. [Malaysiakini]

Friday night, 4 staff members of the student affairs department (HEP) in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, raided the room of Yee Yang Yang, a first-year student in Hostel 13 who is a member of a pro-student grouping.

He was interrogated from 11pm to 1am, and his laptop, handphone, MP4 player, 2 pendrives, leaflets and personal documents were confiscated. [Jeff Ooi]

Read the rest of this post »

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has revealed his “National Higher Education Strategic Plan Beyond 2020″ on Monday (August 27). His main 3 points are…

1. With immediate effect, greater autonomy for universities the chance to upgrade the institutions and source for funds for projects.

2. Introduction of Apex University – to be identified from the existing 23 public universities – would even be allowed to recruit their own faculty and students. Only the best students will be admitted into the apex universities.

3. Audit assessment committees, comprising experts, will be established to evaluate and rate academic achievements in higher institutions of learning.

Read the rest of this post »

Here it goes again… the tudung controversy for International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) female graduates.

It’s nothing new that IIUM female graduates have to wear tudung… I am not sure if the dress code is written in official regulations now, but the dress code has been practiced for years. I just can’t understand why those who are against the dress code have decided to get into IIUM at the first place. [IIUM graduates' dress code]

Don’t get me wrong… I don’t think that forcing non-Muslims to wear a tudung is proper.

You see, the rulers (Agung, Sultans etc) are the head of Islam, but I can’t recall anyone being forced to wear a tudung or songkok when getting into the Palace. [Istana Negara dress code] Shouldn’t IIUM take that as an example to follow instead?

Despite its term as an Islamic university, IIUM is still a public place. If they want to enforce their strict dress code, they shouldn’t be enrolling non-Muslims at all.

The only places that such strict dress code should be enforced is at holy places… unless it’s a mosque or something, nobody should be forced to wear a tudung.