Promises Are Even Cheaper Than Bribes – Sibu’s ‘University’ Pledges

Yet another election, yet another promise that a university
will be provided for Sibu - but its a sham

For half a century UMNO/BN and Taib have sucked out billions of ringgit from Sarawak’s natural resources.

In return they have given cheap bribes at election time to the impoverished local people, who have seen none of the benefit of this wealth.

But promises are even cheaper than bribes and BN politicians are therefore even more fond of making these at election time than paying hard cash!

CASH FOR HONOURS AT ADELAIDE UNIVERSITY?

Taib and Vice-Chancellor James McWha sample the
'Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak Court'
at Adelaide University in 2008

For some weeks Sarawak Report has been attempting to question Adelaide University about the circumstances surrounding its decision to name a large chunk of its campus after the Sarawak Chief Minister.

The ‘Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak Court’ was designated in honour of the controversial East Malaysian politician in 2008.  It was described at the time as ”a newly landscaped social space” in publicity material, which also provides a photograph of the billionaire politician, strolling through the area with the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor James McWha.

Our requests however, have failed to receive an acknowledgement.  There has been no reply to our emails or to questions made verbally to the University’s press department.  Equally snubbed have been a number of Malaysian graduate alumni of the University, who had previously raised their own concerns about the honouring of Taib Mahmud last December, complaining in a joint letter:

When will all these financial scandals end?

`

Many people are wondering: How could there be so many scandals revealed by the Auditor-General Report every year? The problems do not lie in the shocking degree of the scandals, but why are these similar scandals repeating every year?

How could 16,013 of students allowed to draw RM2,378 in advance even though they did not apply loans from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN)?