Cash for Honours at Adelaide University?
Sarawak Report
For some weeks Sarawak Report has been attempting to question Adelaide University about the circumstances surrounding its decision to name a large chunk of its campus after the Sarawak Chief Minister.
The ‘Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak Court’ was designated in honour of the controversial East Malaysian politician in 2008. It was described at the time as ”a newly landscaped social space” in publicity material, which also provides a photograph of the billionaire politician, strolling through the area with the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor James McWha.
Our requests however, have failed to receive an acknowledgement. There has been no reply to our emails or to questions made verbally to the University’s press department. Equally snubbed have been a number of Malaysian graduate alumni of the University, who had previously raised their own concerns about the honouring of Taib Mahmud last December, complaining in a joint letter:
“It is a shame for us all that our university is honouring a kleptomaniac and a person who is also a human rights abuser”
The reason for this failure to elicit a civilised response would appear to be that while Taib Mahmud has showered the University with huge amounts of cash, Sarawak Report and the other alumni have not.
Taib’s ‘personal generosity’ bestowed ’numerous ways’!
Earlier days – cash for honours get underway
Taib graduated from Adelaide in law in 1961, but then received a further honorary doctorate in 1994, followed by repeated accolades and statements of support. Announcements by the University have indicated some of his donations over the years, however owing to the current silence, it is hard to calculate the full amount.
Adelaide has acknowledged that Taib’s first donation was made in 1987, six years after he became Chief Minister and started to display a serious level of disposable income. His North American property company, Sakti International, was founded by himself and close family members in the same year and is now worth well over 100 million Australain Dollars. This first donation was used to refurbish the Law School, according to the University.
In 2001 it would appear that another $300,000 was donated by the Chief Minister, some of which was used to establish a new “Malaysian Room, complete with furniture and artifacts from Sarawak”. The University describes the room as:
” a tribute to the generosity of the Chief Minister, who is also one of our most distinguished alumni and long-time benefactor”.
What price an honour?
In the absence of any official response, we can only surmise that a considerably larger sum was expended before the naming of the Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak Court in 2008. Indeed at the time of the designation, the Vice Chancellor, Professor James McWha, thanked Taib for his “significant support and tireless work” and went on to say:
“The Chief Minister’s personal generosity has continued in numerous ways over the years”
Large, key space!
Unfortunately, at no stage during these years of donations rewarded by status and accolades does the University appear to have questioned how a person in Taib’s position could legitimately have come by the means to extend such ‘personal generosity’. As an elected holder of public office Taib’s salary is a matter of public record and (thanks to all his simultaneous positions) it adds up to a perfectly comfortable RM20,000 a month (approximately $10,000 Australian Dollars). This means that the Malaysia Room alone cost more than double his annual salary.
