Former Malaysian PM Disappointed MIT and Tsinghua Open Campuses in Indonesia

PUTRAJAYA, KOMPAS.com – Former prime minister Malaysia Najib Razak said he was disappointed after learning that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (WITH) and Tsinghua University will establish a campus in Indonesia, not in his country.

“Slightly disappointed with the announcement that MIT from the United States and Universiti Tsinghua (from China) have chosen Indonesia and not Malaysia to establish a joint university campus,” Najib said on social media, Thursday.

He added that Malaysia was actually able to become a center for international education with the establishment of well-known universities from abroad.

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This establishment, he continued, would increase the confidence of Malaysian students as reported by Antara, Thursday (20/1/2022).

“This is in line with the desire of the previous Barisan Nasional government to make quality education as a platform to increase creative, innovative and highly skilled human resources that will increase the country’s competitiveness,” said Najib.

According to him, the establishment of international university campuses in Malaysia will allow more Malaysians to study at a lower cost.

“We can also become a center for other students from the Asian region and the world to come to study here without having to go to other countries,” he said.

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In line with this desire, continued Najib, 11 international university campuses had been established in Malaysia when he served as minister of education and prime minister.

These include Monash University, Australia at Sunway (1998); University of Nottingham, UK at Selangor (2000); and Xiamen University, China at Sepang (2015).

“Hundreds of thousands of Malaysian children have benefited in addition to saving on their education costs. But this program, as it has been stalled since the 14th election,” he said.

Najib added that in 2018 his party welcomed the plan of Tsukuba University in Tokyo, Japan to establish a campus in Selangor or Kedah.

“But it seems that there have been no new developments since then,” said Najib.

Also read: Najib Razak Becoming More Active, Will There Be A Comeback To Malaysian Politics?

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