Friday, June 15, 2007

UM is safe

Safe for now. In its reply to a Bursa query, Guocoland (M) Bhd offered no outright denial to a Business Times report [Guocoland in bid to develop UM land?]. Instead of killing the issue, it played with words:
GuocoLand (Malaysia) Berhad wishes to inform that currently, the Company has not made any bid to relocate University Malaya from Petaling Jaya to Sepang. As part of its normal business activities, GLM is constantly exploring opportunities to enhance shareholder value. Should such opportunities result in definitive agreements, the Company will make the appropriate announcement, where required.
Read its entire reply here and BT's follow-up story here.
Jalan Sudin has her take here.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:02 pm

    UM quality has dropped but that doesn't mean that it needs to be moved. It is the only 'real' University in KL/WP. So if you take it away, does that mean KL will loose its city status?

    Nothing is safe in KL and Msia as a whole. They are taking away green lungs, forest reserves..when will they decide to take your home? And all this with the help of BN govt and their kuncus

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  2. Really, Sdr Rocky?

    Were we not also told that the crooked bridge would be built at all cost?

    Were we not also told no Malaysian company (Pantai Holdings) fell into foreign hands?

    I am not so sure.

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  3. Anonymous1:42 pm

    no worries at the moment. wait till after the election which should be not too far away. see Star's headlines on tax refund by end July. the signs are all there.
    after the election, then you will see what they are going to do. nothing is sacred anymore in this country. the $ sign overrides everything.

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  4. Anonymous2:09 pm

    Dude

    In PR parlance Guocoland's reply is called a non-denial denial.

    They have not made any bid, true, because nothing is formal yet. But I bet they have already done their homework in terms of what they want to do and how to do it. They must also have sounded their plan to whomever in charge, and from what I gather have not received an outright NO.

    In saying that they are constantly on a lookout for new opportunities, which is a catch all standard non-denial denial phrase, they will not be guilty of false disclosure when queried by Bursa Malaysia in the event the rumours are proven to be a fact later.

    It is therefore not an outright denial, just like PM did not outrightly deny his impending marriage earlier, and just said that it was a rumour.

    Since we are on the subject of marriage, Guocoland was merisik, a Malay term for sounding off prospective in-laws about the availability of their daughter, before an official delegation sent to meminang, or ask the hand of their daughter. If it is NO at the merisik level, then there will be no need for an official meminang.

    The media now must press either the PM or whomever for a definite answer. A wishy washy answer would suggest that it will likely happen.

    As a long time alumni - from a time when such a rumour would have seen the student union camping in front of the VC and Minister's office - I would like the give my middle finger salute to whomever that had even considered the idea.

    cheers

    Ps/ there was never a UM song then. What we had sold in the campus bookstore was a book of limericks called, if I am not mistaken and somebody correct me here, titled "In the jamban where I sh*t". But that was zaman jahilliyah dulu-dulu or the dark ages, before enlightenment of hadhari.

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  5. Anonymous2:39 pm

    16/06: ‘Pindah UM tindakan gila, kurang ajar’ – Ungku Aziz

    http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/beritankom.php?itemid=5479

    Oleh Au Yeong How dan Harithisya Shamsuddin

    Utusan Malaysia

    Bekas Naib Canselor Universiti Malaya (UM), Profesor Diraja Ungku Aziz menyifatkan cadangan untuk membeli dan membangunkan tapak UM sebagai suatu yang ‘gila dan kurang ajar’.

    Malah tegasnya, pihak-pihak terbabit langsung tidak mempunyai sifat patriotik kerana sanggup menawarkan harga bagi khazanah negara yang tidak ternilai itu.

    ‘‘Ini suatu cadangan yang gila. Individu tersebut fikir dia boleh beli apa sahaja yang dia mahu kerana ada banyak wang. Saya sendiri tak kenal orang yang cuba berbuat demikian.

    ‘‘Saya tidak fikir mana-mana universiti di luar negara sanggup dibeli oleh mana-mana individu hanya untuk kepentingan peribadi mereka kerana mereka sangat menghargai gedung ilmu,’’ ujarnya.

    Sehubungan itu, Ungku Aziz menyeru semua graduan universiti berkenaan bersatu hati menentang sekeras-kerasnya cadangan tersebut.

    ‘‘Semua pihak perlu bangkit dan memainkan peranan bagi mempertahankan maruah Universiti Malaya.

    ‘‘Saya juga berharap perkara ini juga ditentang oleh pemimpin tertinggi kita. Kita harus bersama-sama mempertahankan maruah negara,’’ tegasnya ketika dihubungi di sini hari ini.

    UM ditubuhkan kira-kira seabad lalu iaitu pada 1905 di Singapura. Universiti yang terletak di Petaling Jaya ketika itu merupakan cawangan UM Singapura di Kuala Lumpur yang ditubuhkan pada 1957.

    Apabila UM berpindah ke Kuala Lumpur dan ditubuhkan pada 1962, bekas tapak universiti berkenaan di Singapura telah diganti oleh National University of Singapore.

    Sementara itu, pakar sejarah dan ahli akademik, Profesor Datuk Dr. Khoo Kay Kim mengingatkan pihak-pihak yang terbabit supaya tidak menjadi terlampau materialistik sehingga mengabaikan warisan negara.

    “Jika tapak kampus dijual kepada pihak luar, seluruh rakyat khususnya bekas graduan UM dan para pelajar universiti ini pastinya berasa kecewa dan mereka akan memprotesnya.

    “Kita menghargai warisan negara ini. Lebih-lebih lagi dasar kerajaan yang mengutamakan warisan negara dan usaha pemuliharaannya,” katanya ketika dihubungi di sini hari ini.

    Menurut ahli sejarah itu lagi: ‘‘UM ialah tempat untuk kita mengutamakan idea baru dan menanam nilai-nilai murni di kalangan mahasiswa dan mahasiswi demi kepentingan negara,” tegasnya.

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  6. Calling all Alumni.

    The Pantai Valley campus is in danger of being exchanged to satisfy the greed of some people. Wake up and voice your objection to such a move.

    MSAbdullah.

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  7. Anonymous10:37 am

    Kalau tak silap saya DPM pun tak mau menolak kebenaran perkara ini. Beliau hanya mengelak mengatakan beliau akan mendapatkan butir lanjut mengenainya. Kenyataan beliau ini tak jauh bezanya dengan projek Pusat Latihan Sukan di Brickendonbury,London, yang giat dipersoalkan sekarang. Apabila heboh di perkatakan beliau juga berjanji untuk mengkaji sedalam-dalamnya sebelum membuat apa-apa commitment. Tau-tau, tak lama selepas itu, projek sudah pun dimulakan, dan berjuta-juta wang telah pun dicurahkan. Sesungguhnya janji itu hanya wayang. Dua tiga bulan sebelum itu saya dah dengar pun suami kepada bekas puteri sukan kita berulang alik ke London mendakwa dengan bongkaknya bahawasanya semuanya "sudah di atur". Soalnya, bolehkah beliau bercakap besar sedemikian rupa kalau projek itu bukan sesuatu yang telah diRANCANGKAN ?

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