A Tale of Two Universities
It appears that Kapar Member of Parliament, S Manikavasagam has really nothing to do except shoot his mouth off or is seeking attention. Is he on a fishing trip? At least on the surface it looks like the Kapar MP is nothing more than a rabble rouser dabbling in blackmailing instead of solving problems quietly.
By KRU
His grumble this time is regarding corruption about a very common thievery in Selangor … that of stealing sand. It seems he has thrown the gauntlet for the MACC officers to take him up to the 14th floor. And this time round they may really have something tangible to torpedo the Selangor government.
The man in the hot seat is again our dear Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. Khalid himself is a jovial, likeable character. Bumbling he may be, but he does seem to have the intellect to handle tricky situations. But consistency, or rather the lack of it, is worrying. It’s Jalan David for Jalan Barat on May Day but a cock and bull excuse is played out the following day. Let’s all hope he really meant want he said when he was contemplating retaking Taman Subang Ria. But a likeable character may not be the right guy to handle the pirates currently contracted to rip Selangor apart. Najib has instinctively engaged a typical Indonesian hit-man for this job – Khir Toyo and the very vacant Noh Omar. Selangor thus far is safe only because they have a very fierce speaker at the Selangor State Legislative Assembly – Teng Chang Khim.
Teng Chang Khim is the same guy who held the opposition forte in Selangor between 1995 till 1999 and between 2004 and 2008 when there was neither PKR nor Pakatan Rakyat. Selangorians remember him well as the one man who stood against the BN juggernaut although he was hopelessly outnumbered when he had to face thugs like Zak Deros and Teh Kim Poh. Teng is a no nonsense 4th term Member of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly since 1995 and stood firm as the Opposition Leader of the Legislative Assembly (1995-1999 and 2004-2008).
Very organized and certainly courageous. You are talking about the same chap who threw the Book of Standing Orders at the Sultan of Pandamaran, Zak Derus and even had the gall to be involved in a fist fight with the pseudo Sultan. But Teng was unfortunately too smart and brave for his own good. Despite raking in the donations and votes for the DAP, no way were the Holy Father and son going to let him grow. This guy has the potential to be big, very big. Nor would the Sultan budge even if Selangor was 100% non-Malay. And so he must eat humble pie and wait by the wings patiently. His time may come. Or it may not. And in this un-Godly country where the colour of your skin is what matters most at the end of the day, Teng may never stand a chance,
And what of Khalid? He has all the credentials. Loyal, committed, status, even debonair and most importantly, he is Malay. He is acceptable to the Sultan. May not be the best, but acceptable. They say, it doesn’t matter if the cat is white or black as long as it can catch mice. So can Khalid deliver? To answer this question, we have to look at how are all of Selangor state’s corporations and companies doing. It’s now been two years and going on to three, no? How are they doing? Especially PKNS and Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad. Are they properly managed with good turnovers and generating profits?
They ought to be doing well. Selangor is after all this country’s richest state, which is why Najib has an eye for the state. If you can’t make money in Selangor, you might just as well jump off the SUK building itself. Najib himself has hinted quite a few times that he wants the state back and going by what happened at Ulu Selangor he plans to do it by crook, and by crook only. No two ways about that strategy there. Or maybe he wants it badly because he has this perverse affliction for the state where all the biggest murders took place. That of Altantunya, Kugan, Teoh Beng Hock and Aminulrasyid.
But back to Khalid and Selangor. Let’s focus on only one of the private corporations Selangor state holds, the state University – University Selangor (UNISEL). Forget about Khalid not acting against scheming district officers or council presidents or even backtracking out of the decision to give the top honcho job at PKNS to its long serving Chinese lady.
If you think the education buisness is recession proof, then you would be decidedly wrong if that University happens to belong to Selangor. There are in total 4 public universities and 20, yes 20, private ones in Selangor itself! The two largest private universities in Shah Alam are UNISEL and MSU (Management & Science University). UNISEL was established on 23rd August 1999 as the first state funded private university in Malaysia and has two campuses. Despite having incredible assets in the form of a 3 acre site in Section 7 Shah Alam and a 1000 acre campus at Bestari Jaya, and backed by the Selangor State Government, it is unable to attract neither quality students nor lecturers and reports indicate that certain departments are actually closing down.
It began operations from a temporary campus in Shah Alam until it’s main campus in the township of Bestari Jaya, approximately 50 km away from the federal capital of Kuala Lumpur, was completed in 2005. UNISEL now operates from both the Shah Alam and Bestari Jaya campuses. There has absolutely been no change in the board of directors since the 2008 elections except for a few faces and the University is run by a poorly qualified, incapable but of course Malay Vice Chancellor who is a Khalid appointee.
Couldn’t Khalid source for a good VC and why hasn’t he changed the deadbeat board of directors? This is a great source of income if you manage it well. Heck, you can even showcase it as a success story of the Pakatan Rakyat. But the key word, management, is noticeably missing here. No drive, initiative and certainly no vision. The qualities reminiscent of the late BN government. Right across town, at Section 13 Shah Alam, the Management and Science University (MSU), long derided as a university meant for dropouts has suddenly risen from humble premises to literally rise from the ashes to its towering campus at its new premises right beside Tesco.
Founded in 2002 by its suave and aggressive President Mohd Shukri Yajid, an ex-banker and let’s not forget, the most crucial criteria, Malay, it now runs innumerable courses and has tie ups with a host of universities throughout the world. It has a rising number of international students from the Middle East, Europe and South East Asia and Exchange Programmes with several universities in Europe, the USA, Australia and South East Asia. Despite its six year history, MSU has close to 20,000 students while UNISEL, which has been in operation for 10 years, has 14,000. Khalid may have been right about asking UiTM to open its doors to at least 10% of its intake to non-Malays to improve competitiveness.
But surely, his own asset like UNISEL could have been turned around to be a shining example of PR’s management, entrepreneurship and economic acumen. Every other University in town appears to be doing well, but a drive to UNISEL’s Section 7 campus at night is creepy with literally no activity. What’s going on? Also waiting for a winding-up situation? Couldn’t Khalid have appointed someone real dynamic? It’s been three years now. Is it going to be Badawi’s half time excuse again? Is he still averse for even a University post being given to a non- Malay in this new Malaysia assuming he couldn’t source for a Malay one? Is all this talk in PR just empty slogans just like Najib’s? Or are all our elected PR reps taking it easy in a state that was taken over through so much, blood, sweat and tears?
I stood in the pouring rain on that cold night at Kampong Raja Uda, watching RPK and Ronnie Liu screaming their voices hoarse against the thundering rainfall to ensure a PR win. If things don’t move fast enough, RPK may be right. This state of Selangor will go the way of Perak. Everyone the previous night prior to the Kg Raja Uda ceramah had their reservations about that creep, Badrol Hisham when he went up on stage in Port Klang about his lack of charisma and undoubtedly slithery mannerisms. That fear has come to pass and gone. Indeed, this guy was one slimy snake. Anyone and everyone was just sick and tired of Zak, Toyo and Teh Kim Poh plundering Selangor then. If Anwar, Khalid and co do not act, Selangor will be lost. And a Selangor lost, will certainly be too difficult a pill to swallow.
