Ramasamy: Plagiarism rampant in M’sian universities

Written by Regina William, The Edge   

The federal government should take a more serious stance on plagiarism, or be prepared for Malaysian universities to rot and sink further into the doldrums.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Professor P Ramasamy, who served 25 years as a lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), said such incidents were rampant.

"This is a serious matter and I know of a lecturer there who plagiarised 10 books but all he got was a slap on the wrist. Only his promotion was frozen and he later joined another university."

"When I was an adviser at the university, even students were doing the same."

"When I questioned them, they said even the lecturers plagiarised the student's work."

"Many students also plagiarised to do their thesis," he said at a press conference after the Malaysia Day celebrations at Komtar.

Ramasamy added the action taken against the perpetrators was not punitive enough.

"Malaysia can forget about enhancing the status of our universities to be world class if these matters are swept under the carpet without serious action being taken."

"Copying has become the norm and there is no ethics and with these happening, 1Malaysia is far from being achieved," he added.