Set up institute to "Umno-ise" university students

Set up institute to "Umno-ise" university students
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz, Malaysiakini
Jul 23, 05

While heads of schools have their Aminudin Baki Institute and civil servants the National Institute of Public Administration (Intan), the government has yet to set up an institute to ensure that university academicians and staff toe the Umno line, a party delegate told the assembly today.

"We are very concerned that the next generations (will graduate) without having been Umno-ised," said Kedah representative Mohd Kamal Saidin. Two public universities, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) and the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), were highlighted by Kamal as opposition strongholds which stood in the way of goals set by the Umno-led government.

"These lecturers' role is to shape the thinking of our students. They must support the government, they must support the policies that it has set and not oppose them," he added.

"If heads of schools have Aminudin Baki Institute and government officials Intan, where can we place our lecturers and professors?" asked Kamal.

He urged the government to set up a National Academy of Higher Education so that "academics can absorb and be reminded of the policies of the government".
Students identified with opposition parties won campus elections last year in UIA and UPSI, together with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

Student factions seen as "pro-establishment" won, however, at Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and Universiti Institut Teknologi Malaysia (UiTM).

Monitoring body

Meanwhile, a Puteri Umno member in her speech called for the establishment of a monitoring body to monitor Malay university students and ensure that they are effectively molded into "glocal" Malays. Puteri representative Azlina Mehtab Mohamed Ishaq said the body should also ensure that these students do not lag behind academically while enabling them to compete at the national and international levels, according to a Bernama report.

"This matter, if ignored, will cause Malay students to continue to lag behind although we are aware that the educational level of each person differs," said Azlina, a Puteri exco member and leader of the wing’s Penang division.

Umno deputy president Najib Abdul Razak had on Tuesday coined the term "glocal" in his opening address to signify the "brave new Malay" who is global in outlook but local in his actions. The monitoring body, Azlina added, should also look into the nurturing of glocal Malays from as early as the kindergarten level when seconding the motion on religion and education.

It should also look into the weaknesses of kindergartens run by the Community Development Department and make a comparative study on how private kindergartens could produce better pupils.A Kedah delegate expresses concern that future generations of Malay students will graduate without being "Umno-ised" and will not support the policies of the government.