UM professor resigns following orders from Education Ministry

(TMI) – Prominent political scientist Professor Datuk Dr Mohamad Redzuan Othman has paid a heavy price for conducting independent surveys and polls on Malaysian politics – he has been directed to quit as director of Universiti Malaya’s Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMcedel) by the Education Ministry.

Sources told The Malaysian Insider that not only was he ordered to leave as director of UMcedel, Redzuan’s tenure as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in the university was also not renewed.

In UM, though deans are elected by the academic staff, it is still subject to endorsement by the university’s management.

Sources said although Redzuan is said to have been given the thumbs up by his colleagues for the dean’s post, political pressure compelled the university not to endorse his election.

“The university has given the excuse that Redzuan will retire next year and that is why his tenure as the dean would not be renewed,” a source told The Malaysian Insider.

Profesor Dr Md Sidin Ishak will take over from Redzuan as the new dean.

However, it is Redzuan’s work at UMcedel which appears to have sealed his fate at the university. It was learnt that over the last few years, UMcedel had irked Putrajaya with its various survey findings on Malaysian politics which had shown the ruling Barisan Nasional in a bad light.

Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/um-professor-resigns-following-orders-from-education-ministry