______________
Media Statement (3)    
by Lim Kit Siang  
_________________

(Parliament, Monday) : On Saturday, I had said that Malaysian universities are still in the international backwaters with the country fighting a losing battle to enhance international competitiveness in the quest for academic excellence and university quality – pointing out that Malaysian universities have been omitted in the 2007 Webometrics Ranking (WR) of 3,000 Premier Universities, based on their commitment to Web publication and to the Open Access initiatives.

I said that the National University of Singapore tops the Asian universities in the WR, ranked No. 139 internationally, with the Nanyang Technological University ranked No. 18 among the top Asian universities. Chulalongkorn University of Thailand has again confirmed that it is recognised internationally as in various recent world universities rankings as of superior quality to all the 17 Malaysian universities. Chulalongkorn University is ranked No. 21 among the top Asian universities and No. 505 in the world ranking of 3,000 Premier Universities.

I found that I had made a mistaken when I downloaded the 3,000 universities for more detailed study as there are 10 Malaysian universities in the WR list, but they rank from No. 1193 for Universiti Sains Malaysia to No. 2969 for University Malaysia Sabah.

The Higher Education Ministry and the ten universities ranked in the Webometrics Ranking (WR) of 3,000 Premier Universities cannot be unaware of my mistake, but for 48 hours there had been no attempt by anyone of them at correction or clarification. Why?

Clearly, they are all too shy to point out the mistake, for it will only highlight their lowly ranking in the WR list.

This is because the best Malaysian university ranked in the 2007 Webometrics Ranking (WR) of 3,000 Premier Universities, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)  is not only ranked No. 1193, and  is  ranked behind eight Thai universities and two Indonesian universities – showing how serious had been the drop and decline of Malaysian universities standards for the past three decades even for the region of Southeast Asia.

The Regional and Global Ranking of South East Asian universities are:

Top South-East Asian Universities                                   

The Higher Education Minister, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad  must regard it as a national shame that the best Malaysian university ranked in the 2007 Webometrics Ranking (WR) of 3,000 Premier Universities is ranked behind eight Thai universities and two Indonesian universities, and that generally, Malaysian universities are losing out to the universities in other countries in South East Asia – a grim warning that Malaysia is losing out in the stakes for international competitiveness to ensure our rightful place in the global arena.

Mustapha should present a special report on the latest dismal rankings for Malaysian universities to the Cabinet on Wednesday and report to Parliament in two weeks’ time as to the strategy not only to reform but even to revolutionalise tertiary education in Malaysia if we are not to become a laggard in development in the 21^st century.

(5/3/2007)