Saturday July 22, 2006
Mustapa to meet ethnic relation subject committee
PUTRAJAYA: Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed will meet the panel appointed to evaluate the controversial ethnic relations subject today to fine-tune outstanding issues.
The committee was asked to go through the draft module of the subject due to be published by the Ministry soon.
Upon completion of the evaluation, Mustapa said, the revised draft module would be presented to the Cabinet for approval.
He was unable to confirm when this would be.
The Cabinet decided on Wednesday to withdraw the original module drawn up by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said that sensitive racial issues should not be incorporated in a book used by undergraduates.
Mustapa said the ministry had to step in because of the sensitive nature of the content, and added that this was an exception.
“There is no university in the world that edits all the books a student reads, “ he said at a Memorandum of Agreement signing ceremony between the University of Nottingham and seven public universities for postgraduate programmes.
“You cannot expect me to do that in Malaysia. Universities have their academic freedom to teach and discuss.
“In this case, the (ethnic relations) book is sensitive, so it has to be approved by the ministry.”
On press reports of fake degrees, Higher Education Management Department director-general Prof Datuk Dr Hassan Said, who was also at the function, said that action would be taken as it was damaging to the reputations of both public and private higher education institutions.
“With technology advancing at such a rapid speed and more people obtaining their qualifications online, we need to create awareness and inform the public that this is not the right way to go about it,” he added.
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