OPPOSITION CHIDED FOR USING VARSITIES FOR POLITICAL INTERESTS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 (Bernama) -- Rural and Regional Development Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal said Wednesday he was disappointed that the opposition was using institutions of higher learning for their own political interests.

He said the speech by Universiti Selangor (Unisel) chairman Abdul Khalid Ibrahim during a convocation ceremony of the university Wednesday was not apt as the focus should be on education and not politics.

"I fear Unisel's students will not be able to get a good education because the opposition is playing politics. I myself as the vice chancellor of UniKL have never touched on politics when speaking to its students," he told a press conference after attending Unisel's Japanese Associate Degree Programme convocation at the Putra World Trade Centre here.

At the convocation, 84 students received their engineering diplomas and will be furthering their studies to the first degree level at 15 leading universities in Japan later this month under the sponsorship of Yayasan Pelajaran Mara.

In Khalid's speech at the convocation, which was read out by Selangor executive councillor for higher education and human development Dr Halimah Ali, the Selangor Menteri Besar had said that the LDP party lost support after 54 years of governing Japan and that the same could happen in Malaysia.