Fake Cambridge: Umno calls for Marzuki to resign

PETALING JAYA: Umno leaders are calling for Datuk Marzuki Yahya to resign after it was alleged that his business administration degree came from a degree mill.

“If he has any dignity, he should resign,” said Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan.

Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki joined the chorus, saying it was not about the Cambridge degree per se but about integrity.

“It is not about whether a degree is required to be a politician but it is about integrity.

“How do you (Marzuki) deceive the people with a fake degree and then claim you are fighting against corruption and propagating good governance and ethics?” said Asyraf.

Both were commenting on reports that Marzuki had obtained his degree in business administration from an alleged degree mill.

Marzuki, who previously said he had a degree from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom via a distance learning programme, admitted on Wednesday (Feb 6) that his degree was actually from Cambridge International University in the United States.

Since that admission, the institution has come under intense scrutiny and increasing suspicion that it is a “diploma mill” that awards degrees with little or no study.

Cambridge International University admits on its website that it is not accredited.

It says it offers 150 programmes offered, but lists only 12 faculty members and 13 adjunct faculty members.

A check by The Star found that pictures of its supposed faculty members include one with the watermark of an online dating site, while others seem to be of fashion models.

Attempts by The Star to email multiple faculty and adjunct faculty members for clarification failed when the mail delivery subsystem noted that these email addresses could not be found or the server was unable to receive mail.

The responses from the remote server read: “550 No Such User Here”.