Helping TAR UC will heal the nation

Proud tradition: Students celebrating graduation at a Tunku Abdul Rahman University College campus. TAR UC is, says the letter writer, ‘An institution that has provided excellent futures for hundreds of thousands of graduates’.

THE Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) stands today as a testament to an enduring legacy of both the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and MCA: That education must be affordable to all Malay-sians, regardless of race, to help build a nation of tolerant and accepting diverse communities.

The announcement by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government will be denying TAR UC the financial support it enjoyed for 50 years since its inception caught many, including me, by surprise.

In the New Malaysia, the PH government seems to be going all out to fulfil its manifesto pledge of zero political influence on educational institutions. However, I feel that the decision to provide only a fraction of the financial support that TAR UC received previously raises questions about contextual referencing that the minister may not be aware of. Although Lim’s intention is noble, we must look beyond the simplistic principle of political interference to the wider context of nation-building in education.

Firstly, let us explore the concept of a political body building an educational institution for all Malay­sians. Can any political body make such a claim? Is not the setting up of an educational institution for all races within an affordable income bracket an investment in Malay­sia’s future socioeconomic development?

Although I don’t support the idea of a political party based on racial or religious grounds, I find that the MCA has made a great sacrifice for the future of our young and that of the nation. Fast forward 50 years, can everyone afford an education with five times the fees of TAR UC at the many private institutions in the country? Now, even public universities are opening up but their fees are nowhere in comparison to the affordable fees made possible by the efforts of MCA leaders.

I feel that such a legacy, of a simple and unassuming campus with moderate architectural and landscape assets, speaks volumes of the simplicity that the Tunku himself espoused. The Tunku was simple and unassuming in image but rich in kindness, tolerance and compassion for the rakyat of all races and faiths.

Moderate fees for a high quality education is Tunku’s legacy as much as MCA’s commitment to build a multiracial nation with a socio-economic balance that would harmonise the country’s social and spiritual wealth.

I also feel that the MCA has not capitalised on the existence of TAR UC. Is the institution a cash cow for the MCA? Obviously not or else the party would not be asking for financial support. Has the MCA used TAR UC to further its racial rhetoric and canvas for support from the Chinese community at the expense of others? Have the vice chancellors raised Chinese swords in the air proclaiming “ketuanan Cina”? Has the MCA coerced students into attending rallies and ceramah that would shore up its support base in the political arena?

If the MCA ever did that with TAR UC, I don’t remember reading about it in the last 30 years when I began to earnestly follow political developments in Malaysia.

However, I do recall a public university organising a seminar to degrade members of the lesbian, gay and transgender community who are tax-paying Malaysians and sons and daughters of Malays, Chinese and Indians. And another one organising a Christian-bashing seminar that put fear in the hearts of our brother and sister citizens. And I can still remember one institution organising a “Kafir Harbi” seminar to discuss the manner and type of citizen that could be legally killed by Muslims when the Mufti of Pahang proclaimed those who stopped the passing of the RUU 355 Bill to be sworn enemies of Islam.

I still remember the presence of the sole voice of reason against these atrocious suggestions of enmity in the person of one Dr Maszlee Malik, our present Education Minister. His was the only voice of moderate Islam to appease a Muslim crowd that cared nothing about living in harmony and respecting other faiths.

Now, I do not recall TAR UC ever indulging in any activities that would destroy the principles and philosophy of nation-building that our forefathers enshrined in the Constitution. What the Finance Minister should do is take away the money from those three institutions and give it to TAR UC!

When I was looking for a private university for my niece and daughter, I went to Tunku Abdul Rahman College (as TAR UC was known then) 12 years ago. The fees were very reasonable, the admission process simple, and the accommodation was modest but convenient.

My niece went on to become an assistant to former DAP representative Dr Boo Cheng Hau in Skudai, Johor, and my daughter became a BFM Radio journalist and is now a lecturer after completing her a Masters in Mass Communication.

Neither of them reported any racial untowardness on the part of staff and students. Both minority students never felt left out but were well and professionally guided.

When I was a strong supporter of PAS from my days studying in the United States in the 1980s till the 13th General Election in 2013, I met and got to know my friend Sallehudin Ayub. He is now the Agriculture Minister. What struck me was that he was then, and still is, a strong Muslim character of kindness and compassion.

What surprised me was that he was a Tunku Abdul Rahman College Engineering graduate. As for me, I attended a SMJK Hua Lian for five years from 1976 to 1980. Both of us became good Muslims who respect others for who they are.

When PAS turned from an Islam of tolerance and acceptance into an Umno-like racial extremist, we left the party, as it no longer carried the Prophet’s Sunnah, or way of life of Islam. Tunku Abdul Rahman College then did not diminish the idealism of my friend in Islam but made him into a better one today. How many Malays can claim such a tolerant attitude if they came from those three institutions I mentioned? I haven’t met one yet.

For this reason alone, TAR UC maintains the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion and a right to one’s own beliefs without interference from the racist and bigoted educationists I find disturbing in public universities.

The nation-building spirit is sadly lacking in public universities as opposed to the spirit in most private universities in this country. Public universities should consider themselves extremely lucky that I was not appointed Finance Minister. It is very clear to me which financial support I would severely cut.

In closing, I wish to say that (Jaringan Melayu Malaysia president, Datuk) Azwanddin (Hamzah Ariffin Abu Bakar), (Red Shirts leader Datuk Seri) Jamal Yunos, (Muslim preacher) Zamihan (Mat Zin), (Umno’s Pasir Salak MP Datuk Seri) Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, (Umno’s Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri) Bung Mokhtar, (Perkasa chief Datuk) Ibrahim Ali, (former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad) Zahid Hamidi and (former Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib Tun Razak are not alumni of TAR UC. For this reason alone, the Finance Ministry should reconsider its decision to reduce drastically financial support for TAR UC.

An institution that has provided excellent futures for hundreds of thousands of graduates, who went on to become well-rounded citizens possessing a balanced nation-building ethos deserves the respect, support and gratitude of all peace-loving Malaysians.

PROF DR MOHD TAJUDDIN MOHD RASDI

Kuala Lumpur

(The writer is a professor of architecture in a private university.)