UTAR should adopt open tenders for its entire works as funds were collected from the public

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UTAR should adopt open tenders for its entire works as funds were collected from the public

Press Statement
by Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew

(Petaling Jaya, Friday): Providing tertiary education should be the primarily duty and responsibility of an elected government. But there is an unhealthy trend in the country where ruling parties are scrambling to set up private universities.

While MCA is setting up the UTAR (instead of upgrading the TAR College like what the BN Government has done to the MARA Institute), MIC is setting up the AIMST (Asian Institute of Medicine, Science & Technology). And Gerakan is now talking about setting up a virtual university.

In the Parliament yesterday, the DAP Bagan MP Lim Hock Seng has brought up a pertinent question on the issue of public fundraising by a private company which owns AIMST. Lim has expressed his concern on the possibility of foul play as the fund collected for AIMST is under the names of three individuals.

There is also unhappiness among some MCA members that UTAR is not under the ownership of the party, but under the control of its former party president Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik.

UTAR has been raising funds from the public ever since its inception last year. It has reportedly collected more than RM 150 million.

Since the money actually comes from the public, UTAR should adopt open tenders for its entire works and constructions for greater transparency and accountability, instead of awarding its contracts through closed tenders.

The establishment of UTAR as a private university has also inevitably affected the donation drive for community based independent high schools and colleges, such as the New Era College in Kajang and the Kolej Selatan in
Johor Baru. All these colleges and high schools were surviving all these years through public donations and contributions. MCA should make an effort to convert the status of UTAR to a national university, just like UiTM, UM, USM, UPM and UKM. After all, it is the duty of the Government to provide tertiary education and higher learning opportunities to the people.

As the ruling parties, there is no big deal for the MCA and MIC to build private universities and colleges. They should leave that to the private sectors or public organisations. They should be focusing on setting up more national universities such as University Malaya.

(27/6/2003)

* Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew, DAP national publicity secretary