Saifuddin quits as UM fellow in solidarity with dismissed Prof Redzuan

PETALING JAYA: Former deputy education minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah (pic) has announced that he is quitting his position as University Malaya (UM) senior research fellow following the controversial dismissal of a professor at the university.

“On the principal of academic freedom and solidarity, I quit as Senior Research Fellow UM today. This is in relation to Prof Redzuan’s case,” he tweeted on Monday morning.

According to reports, UM’s political science lecturer Professor Datuk Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman was asked to quit his position as director of Universiti Malaya's Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMcedel) by the Education Ministry as the ministry was unhappy with independent surveys and polls on Malaysian politics conducted by the professor.

It was also reported that Professor Dr Redzuan’s position as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences department was not renewed.

The reports claimed that the professor’s termination was due to the dissatisfaction over the results of Professor Dr Redzuan’s surveys and polls, which allegedly showed Barisan Nasional in a bad light.