from MALAYSIA UPDATE
PETALING JAYA: Selangor Industrial University’s (Unisel) student council has opposed a proposal by a group within the fraternity to appoint a “non-politician” and renowned history professor Khoo Kay Kim as chancellor.
Barely hours after Unisel’s pro-undergraduates movement issued the call for Khoo to be appointed to replace the Prime Minister’s wife Rosmah Mansor, the council put out a statement decrying the proposal.
Said Unisel Student Representative Council president Azim Md Kasim: “We support the pro-undergraduate movement’s call for a non-politician to be appointed chancellor, but we disagree with their choice of Khoo.
“Khoo has been perceived as non-supportive of the history of the student movement. He opposed proposals to amend the Universities and University Colleges Act and is seen as being against student rights and autonomy on campus,” he said.
Azim said his council also opposed claims by the movement that it represented the voice of undergraduates in Unisel.
“We disagree that the pro-undergraduates movement represents the voice of the 13,000 students in the university. Five hundred signatures do not represent the entire student population,” he added.
Azim said that in view of the current situation, the council has decided to hold a dialogue with all faculty and college leaders before submitting their suggestions to the university’s board of directors.
Baffled Khoo
Meanwhile, Khoo, when contacted, expressed shock that the students had proposed his name.
“I am surprised and curious to hear that a student group in Unisel want me as its chancellor. They are an industrial university whereas I am more on the humanities,” he said.
Khoo, who is on the “verge of accepting” a chancellorship at Kolej Damansara Utama (KDU), said he had not been approached by anyone to head Unisel.
Pro-undergraduates movement leader Muhammad Nasir Abu Bakar, when told of Khoo’s surprise, said the students felt that he was an ideal choice.
“We don’t mind if he turns down the offer… we just don’t want any politicians to be elected as the chancellor,” he said. - FMT
