Many bumi-owned colleges risk closure

(The Star) AN audit on 66 colleges, a majority of which are bumiputra-owned, showed many facing closure due to low student enrolment and financial difficulties, reported Berita Harian.

It quoted Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah advising colleges in dire straits to discontinue their operations and not renew their licences.

To avoid closure, he also suggested they merge as a consortium to pool their resources.

“The colleges concerned cannot count on agencies like Mara and the Public Service Department to sponsor students because they will only choose private institutions as an assurance of quality,” he said.

> Utusan Malaysia quoted Berita Publishing chief editor Datuk A. Kadir Jasin asking the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry to monitor Chinese newspapers that publish news and articles that are chauvinistic in na-ture.

He said the move was paramount given the current lack of monitoring by the Government.

“It is not fair when some parties accuse Utusan Malaysia of being a racist paper for fighting for the rights of the Malays.

“Of course Utusan Malaysia would fight for Malay rights be-cause it is Malay-owned. The question is wouldn’t the Chinese papers do the same thing?” he said, adding that the ministry should take efforts to translate Chinese papers into Malay or English for the public to read.