PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Though Tan’s presentation was not specifically titled, his hour-long engagement with the audience focused on how to minimize the risks of cancer and his determined effort in fighting this disease. He suffered from cancer three times over a three-year period and he overcame it on those occasions. Tan’s advice to cancer sufferers is to take supplements, a bit expensive though. But why not when your life is at stake. His recommendation includes IP6, pine bark, CoQ10, I>U Vitamin E and drinking lots of water (purified, filtered or distilled) to flush out toxins. He also appealed to the audience to change their lifestyle and that includes diet. A diet of more vegetables and fish is recommended. Drink green tea instead of coffee. Green tea has anti-cancer properties. Mr Tan really earned his dinner.

I must thank our Club Service Director, PP Rupert Goldman for organizing that evening meeting. We all enjoyed it.

On a different topic for the week, the RCPJ organized two dialogue sessions: one with the Teacher Advisers of the Interact Clubs and the other with the Principals of the six schools. Organized at Armada, the sessions were useful in seeking understanding and co-operation in overseeing our young Interactors. The Rotarians took the teachers and principals through the year’s activities and projects: the ICC Charity Concert, the ICC SuperCamp, Interact Leadership Seminar and the Golden Child Project. Matters related to discipline of the Interactors in project and activities were also discussed. The sharing of ideas was important in letting the teachers and principals know about the ideals of Interact and Rotary as a whole. The dialogues are also a platform in understanding teachers and principals and the school system.

I would like to express my gratitude to Rtn Tony Ong, our New Generations Director for organizing the dialogue sessions. 

Vice-chancellors and deputy vice-chancellors of public universities would no longer be politically appointed. This decision is indeed long overdue. Academics of universities and educationists have always criticized and lamented that those in the corridors of power are not focused in the development of the universities in terms of their twin pillars of responsibility – teaching and research. Academia as a treasure trove of knowledge and research has been eroded as evidenced in their international ranking. These vice-chancellors, sadly to note, are too preoccupied in playing with politics – safeguarding their positions and power.

It is a good move that deans and lecturers have a role to play in electing their vice-chancellors. And I think deans should also be elected by their own academic staff based on research and teaching and leadership roles. This practice is not uncommon. Many universities throughout the world have put in place this system and it has been working well for the universities.

Universities must be autonomous, free from political influence and power. It does not mean that when the government that provides the budget has the justification in controlling them. This has been the argument in Malaysia. Autonomy is so necessary to make independent decisions for the sake of education. If the government has a hand in decision making, this means that the decisions are influenced by political considerations. Let’s hope that changes of this kind will result in better things to come in our Malaysian public universities.