Call for immediate suspension of Hashim Yaacob as Vice Chancellor of University of Malaya as his “I am not worried” and “great happiness” statements over the 80-place plunge of UM to 169^th place are proof that  he is totally  unfit and unqualified to helm the nation’s premier university

________________________________
 

Media Statement

by Lim Kit Siang  
________________________________

(Parliament, Wednesday): The University of Malaya (UM)  and Malaysian public universities are heading for  disaster  when the UM Vice Chancellor Prof. Datuk Dr. Hashim Yaacob can feel “great happiness” at the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University  Ranking 2005  which saw UM fall 80 places from 89^th to 169^th position and can get away with it!

Two days earlier, he had made the infamous statement that  he was “not worried” by UM’s 80-place fall as it is still within the top 200 universities – which must have made all Malaysians concerned about the future of higher education, from the ordinary citizen to the highest policy-making circles including the Prime Minister,  very worried indeed!

There might still be hope for UM under Hashim if the VC  is worried about the 2005  Universities Ranking, which will presage a new strategy to restore UM’s academic quality and standards, but if he is “not worried” at all, and even worse, suffused with “great happiness” at the 80-place fall, losing for the first time to Thailand’s Chulalonkorn University, then UM  is a condemned case under him.

If  Hashim is allowed to get away with such a towering height of indifference, insensitivity and irresponsibility by the Ministry of Higher Education, then it spells disaster not only for UM but also for all public universities in the country.

I call for  the  immediate suspension of Hashim as  UM Vice Chancellor as his “I am not worried” and “great happiness” statements over the 80-place plunge of UM to 169^th place are ample  proof that  he is totally  unfit and unqualified to helm the nation’s premier university particularly at its moment of deepest crisis and despondency over excellence, quality and standards.  Hashim has become a shame  to UM and an international liability  in the quest for world competitiveness especially in facing   the challenge of the globalization of  higher education.

As Higher Education Minister, Datuk Dr. Shafie Salleh must demonstrate leadership at this critical juncture of the University of Malaya and public universities in the country.  Either he dissociates himself from Hashim’s outrageous complacency by suspending him or he must  bear full responsibility for Hashim’s failures  as UM Vice Chancellor and disastrous plunge of  the nation’s premier nation in international rankings.

                
(02/11/2005)