KUALA TERENGGANU: Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) students sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad opposing the proposed merger of their alma mater with their next-door neighbour, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA).
UMT students’ council president Muhammad Hasyimi Hasyim Mohd Suddin, 22, gave the memorandum to Dr Mahathir’s Media and Communication advisor Datuk A. Kadir Jasin after the latter delivered a talk at UMT yesterday.
Muhammad Hasyimi said the memorandum is a presentation of their case against the proposed merger and expressed hope that Dr Mahathir would give their views due consideration.
“We are fortunate to have Datuk A. Kadir Jasin here today and (we are) thankful that he is willing to help forward the memorandum to the Prime Minister.
“Hopefully the memorandum will also help sway the final decision of the Education Ministry (MoE) on this matter,” he said.
UMT’s students’ council academic executive Council member Mohamad Zulkarnain Mohd Dali said a series of discussions between UMT students and the MoE’s Higher Education Department have been scheduled but they have doubts about whether their views will be taken into account.
“We’ve been told that the discussions will be about how the merger will be implemented, not about whether it should be carried out or not.
“In a previous meeting with the Higher Education Department, we were told that the merger decision was made in April this year but nobody sought our views then. It is unfair that they only want to discuss with us now if a final decision on the merger had already been taken,” he said.
However, he said, everybody in UMT is hoping that there is still room to reverse the decision.
“We hope to present a strong case against the merger so that it will be reversed after the six months study period mentioned by the MoE ended,” he said.
He said UMT’s students’ council will hold a series of public debates on the issue so those interested can present their case.
“We want to debate all points either for or against the merger. We will also invite UniSZA to the debate but we don’t know if they want to take part,” he said.
“We want to approach this in a mature and transparent manner. We will not resort to rowdy public rallies as that will only sully our reputation and UMT’s name,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kadir refrained from giving his personal views when asked to comment about the merger but urged all parties involved to study the history of how UMT was established.
“To me all universities in Malaysia are useful. If they are not useful, they would not have been established, licensed and accredited in the first place. The problem is that many people, politicians included, do not want to study the history. They are blind and deaf to history.
He said UMT is unique because unlike other universities such as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Malaya, UMT grew in stages.
“UMT progressed from just a Fishery and Marine Centre for Universiti Pertanian Malaysia in 1979 into a faculty of Universiti Putra Malaysia, then a college and later the university that we have now.
It has shown its capabilities that resulted in its organic growth.
Kadir said as we are a democratic nation, all parties involved should be given the opportunity to present their views.
“Here we have two intellectual institutions, let them debate the matter. But the government has the right to veto, they will decide.
"We have two levels (of decisions) here, one the decision of the community and second the decision of the government,” he said.