"RM30m Hostels Offer Still Under Negotiation": UTAR President
J-on
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Tuesday, July 13, 2010
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Kampar, July 13 (J-on) - UTAR President Dato Prof. Chuah Hean Teik in an interview with The Business Station (BFM) yesterday said that the RM30m offer by philanthropist Koon Yew Yin to UTAR for building hostels on its Kampar campus is still being negotiated.
"The council and board of trustees are still negotiating. I think to be fair to the university, i can only make this comment: anybody with reasonable and sound mind will not reject unconditional donation," he said.
Questions about the offer follows an article by Malaysian Mirror December last year where UTAR was reported to have turned down the RM30m offer.
Clearing the air, Chuah explained that the university had not turned down the offer but could not agree on some of Koon's terms.
"The last i heard was that they (board of trustees) had a meeting in March and they have come to a kind of agreement on how the composition of the committee is suppose to be, but there are still many technical issues to sort out as well," he said.
Among Koon's conditions were that he has oversight over how the money is spent by the university's committee and that the proceeds from the hostels should be used for scholarships and construction of new hostels.
When asked by BFM if Koon's terms were unreasonable, Chuah disagreed but stressed that any decision taken must be in line with the university's constitution.
Chuah also denied that the university's reluctance to build hostels is due to vested interest in the lands surrounding UTAR.
"To the best of my knowledge, I must say that MCA does not interfere with the management of the university...and I do not think that anyone on the board of trustees or members of the council own land (around UTAR)," he clarified.
The interview which lasted about 30 minutes touched on a myriad of issues, ranging from UTAR's funding to Chuah's mission for UTAR as its CEO in creating affordable and quality education.
