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Can Zahid  Higher Education Study Committee pinpoint causes and propose remedies why University of Malaya has fallen 71 places  behind University of Singapore in academic quality and excellence, ranked No. 89thand 18th respectively in the World’s 200 Best Universities of The Times Higher Education Supplement 2004 when both had a common origin and are  celebrating their centennial anniversary this year? Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Parliament, Thursday): Former education director-general Dr. Wan Mohd Zahid Mohd Noordin, who has been appointed by the Higher Education Minister, Datuk Dr. Shafie Salleh to head a 12-member Committee to Study, Review and Make Recommendations concerning the Development and Directions of Higher Education in Malaysia, said yesterday that his committee is ready to come out with a blueprint to create a world-class tertiary education in the country.  (Malaysiakini) He was optimistic that the committee, which has been given six months by July 17 to complete its report, would be able to fulfill the public’s expectations, declaring: “Let the public judge…we (the committee) hope that we don’t disappoint them (the public).” The Zahid Higher Education Study Committee does not inspire much confidence and expectation for at least five  reasons: Firstly, its existence is not only little-known to the Malaysian public, whether about its composition or terms of reference. In fact, the overwhelming majority of Members of Parliament  are unaware  that it exists, although it is now in the last quarter of its six-month life-span.   Secondly, why are distinguished Malaysian academicians of world standing like Wang Gungwu, Syed Husein Alatas, K.S. Jomo, Dr. Chandra Muzaffar not appointed to the Committee.   Thirdly, is a former education director-general the most suitable candidate to head such a study, when he must bear responsibility for the unchecked decline in university standards, quality, excellence and international ranking in the past three decades? Failing to understand when he was education director-general  that the government’s most important role in higher education is  to create world-class universities by  ensuring  an  enabling environment for intellectual discourse to produce great scholars, intellectuals, Vice Chancellors  and not academic deadwoods, can Zahid now understand the root causes of the prolonged  crisis of higher education in the country?   Fourthly, widespread skepticism and cynicism that the public will be able to “judge” its report when the best international practice of good governance is still so alien in Malaysia where reports of committees or commissions are instantaneously made public the same time they are presented to the commissioning authorities, whether the Yang di Pertuan Agong, Prime Minister or the  Higher Education Minister in the case of the Zahid Higher Education Study Committee.  Can Zahid give an assurance that the report of his committee would be made public when it is completed and presented to Shafie after July 17?   Fifthly, when university scandals like the Dr. Terence Gomez forced resignation from the University of Malaya (UM)  because of the UM rejection of his application for two-year secondment to take up the prestigious research appointment at United Nations Research  Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) highlighting the continuing and worsening crisis of higher education in Malaysia could continue without the Zahid Higher Education Study Committee “batting an eyelid” or showing any concern! This month, both the University of Malaya and University of Singapore will be celebrating in a big way their centennial anniversary, as both Universities share a common origin with the establishment of King Edward VII Medical School in 1905.. Can the Zahid  Higher Education Study Committee pinpoint the causes and propose remedies why the University of Malaya has fallen 71 places behind the University of Singapore in academic quality and excellence, ranked No. 89thand 19th respectively in the global ranking of the World’s 200 Best Universities of The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES)  in November 2004? What is even more shocking is that the University of Malaya administration, led by its Vice Chancellor, is so proud of its THES ranking, although 71 places behind the University of Singapore, that it is unabashedly both in mass media advertisements and in the campus about the UM “restoring its old glory” – which is an insult to the memory of the international recognition of the University of Malaya as a world-class university in the sixties. (02/06/2005)                                                               *  Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, MP for Ipoh Timur & DAP Central Policy and Strategic Planning Commission Chairman