Monday, June 23, 2008

New UMS VC

Thanks to one of our regular readers for this link. It is a speech from the new VC of the University Malaysia Sabah, Lt. Col. Prof. Datuk Dr. Kamaruzaman Hj. Ampon. A brief read of his bio and a brief search on google scholar shows that he is a legit academic. His appointment was clearly a political appointment as part of a series of moves by Pak Lah aimed at appeasing the politicians in Sabah and to prevent them from leaving the BN. There was no VC select committee convened to authorize this search. But as far as political appointees go, Dr. Kamaruzaman seems like a pretty good candidate on paper. I wish him all the best in his efforts to build up UMS.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you say his CV is "impressive"?

Look at the number, type of research papers produced.
Come on KM, time for you to visit the optometrist and check yr eyesight!

Bentoh said...

Emmm... I won't say impressive... but it's quite ok... you don't need a thousand-paper-publisher or a research top man to lead a school... ;)

Anonymous said...

kok ben...you are brilliant!

Under UNMO everything bolih!

Anonymous said...

While reading the Biodata of the VC of UMS, my reaction was “O dear! O dear!”

If this Biodata were meant to showcase the academic brilliance of the VC of UMS and if this Biodata were the product of the best efforts of UMS, then we cannot complain why our public universities are of low academic standard and are producing unemployable graduates who cannot write and speak English properly.

Dear Lt. Col. Prof. Datuk Dr. (a mouthful) VC, while congratulating you on your appointment, I wish to make some constructive comments to you:

(a) Please get the experts from your English Language Department to edit and polish your 'Biodata'. If no expert available at UMS, pay for professional service lah. It looks like you want to impress the world with your 'Biodata', then please do not be stingy and do it properly.

(b) If you want to present your Biodata, a formal document (not play play type), in English, then please do so. Don't lah have Biokimia, Biologi Molekul, etc. Rojak!

(c) How come your three articles listed under [Book] are not cited in full? Are they chapters in books? Are they chapters in proceedings of conferences? Who are the editors? Names and locations of publishers? Page numbers? Regarding the Bacillus species mentioned in the first article in [Book], is there such Bacillus species?

(d) You listed four articles under [Journal], published between 1980 to 1990. Four papers in 11 years? Yes? Your latest article listed in [Journal] was published in 1990. Er .... 18 years ago! Any paper between 1990 and 2008? Surely a university full professor must have at least one paper in a refereed international journal in 18 years. Please impress readers with your latest publications in refereed international journals. Also, please list the impact factor of each of the journals that publish your papers and the science citation index of each of your publications. Surely these must be included in the Key Performance Indices of academic staff at UMS.

(e) There are glaring errors in the publications listed by you. In the second publication mentioned in [Journal], there is an error in the page numbers. In the third publication mentioned in [Journal], the volume number is not mentioned. Academics can’t be sloppy, correct? Please do the necessary.

Sorry to tell you, Lt. Col. Prof. Datuk Dr. VC, the format that you used to present your publications under [Book] and [Journal] is incomplete and totally unacceptable even at the undergraduate level.

How do you expect your academic staff to penalize their students (who submitted similar bad references in their assignments and theses) when the latter can calmly tell the former: “How dare you say we are wrong? We follow the VC’s way. Don’t believe? Go and see the VC’s Biodata lah!”?

How do you expect UMS to “melahirkan graduan cemerlang dan berkualiti” (Message from the VC) and to achieve academic excellence (one of the nine objectives of UMS)? How to walk the talk with this Biodata?

Also, please polish the English in UMS Objectives (http://www.ums.edu.my/go.php?sect=corpinfo&p=obj).
Where got ‘would results in’ punya in English?
Apa itu ‘stable and dynamics social economic …..’?
Adoi! Macam ini, how to be a ‘premier progressive institution’ (UMS’ 9th objective)?

Next time, no more free advice. Must charge UMS a consultancy fee (very competitive and worth every sen, don’t worry).

Anonymous said...

Lt. Col. Prof. Datuk Dr. VC!
Reminds us of the infamous Captain Dato' Prof. Dr. Hashim Yaacob, the ex-VC of UM with narcissistic personality disorder!

Anonymous said...

G'day,

consultancy fee ahhh.... i feel like want to drop few words for u too BUT with consultancy fee too (maklumlah, sejak minyak naik, living cost pun naik, mau cari extra cikit duit), but 20 cent cukup.... match with ur standard la...and personally i only dare to charge u that amount coz my english also broken english laaa...hehe

I'm not sure what's ur intentions but my guess is u r someone who know UMS very well. From the way u gave ur idea, macam pernah terlibat dgn top management in UMS. ex-?? kah?

aaa....I don't know why, ur Eglish is also not that good oooo... broken English ley.... nevertheless, I really respect u la coz u spend so much time doing ur reseacrh bout UMS new vc and put lots effort to comment oo

Give others a chance la, like giving ur self a chance la...


please give more constructing comments la. ... I'm sure he's trying to build the ethos of tolerance and respect in his integrated university. past 3 years really horrible, terrible, like vegetable campur ooo....if past vc stay, for sure 'jalan mati'. if u ve interest to know, i'll comment again next time. sorry ya...ve to cau dulu, bz. many work to do.

lastly, "earn ur respect, don't ask for respect".

regards,
anakboy

Anonymous said...

Tsk, tsk, tsk ……, anakboy, soooooooo sensitive, sooooooooo offensive and repulsive! Not surprising, as this is a typical knee-jerk reaction expected from selected individuals.

Shoot the messenger rather than face the truth and fact. Belittle the messenger with a bunch of gobbledygook rather than commenting on or criticizing the comments made by the messenger.

It appears that you think heavenly of the VC of UMS and are highly protective of him. You may be his blind mah chai or puppy rotwailler. It’s fine with me. By all means protect the VC of UMS, but don’t you think, if you wish to do so, the best that you can do for him is to ensure that he showcased on the website of UMS error-free and world-class documents? Don’t you think you should assist him to publish error-free and world-class documents on the website of UMS, rather than writing what you wrote above?

I have no axe to grind with UMS or the VC of UMS. I am neither a student nor a staff of UMS. Not ever, heaven forbids! I’m just a simple surfer of the Internet and happened to look at the entries in this particular site. I would have done the same for any other university, except that it so happened that the VC of UMS was featured at that time.

Please grow up, be civil, and criticize the issues/statements rather than the person who wrote them. (This is a piece of free advice. No consultancy fee is charged.)

I wrote a number of comments, with specific factual examples that I noticed when I skimmed over the website of UMS, to remind the VC of UMS to be professional and to upgrade what he put on the website for the entire world to see. They were meant for the betterment of the image of UMS through the Internet. What is it that I wrote you found incorrect?

If UMS and the VC of UMS chose not to change for the better, it’s their loss, not mine. If they found my comments constructive and acted on them to change for the better, then the least I expect from them is a simple ‘Thank you for your constructive comments.’ That’s basic civility and courtesy! And the world would be a better place to live in. Don’t you agree?

Anonymous said...

G'day si-liao,

thank you very much for ur constructive comments.

just wanna get some opinion from u ok ke? Before ex-vc left his post, he award 52 lecturers with senior lecturer and 32 lecturers with ass. prof. if qualify, no problems. but it seem part of them got it just because pandai mengampu. One of them baru 2 tahun jadi lecturer, terus dapat PM oooo. Some says because he manage lobi ex-vc disambung 3 bulan, kalau satu penggal, boleh dapat full professor oooo... need's ur comments la. ur words make sense, thus wanna learn form u. ok ke?

thank you. keep in touch:)

regards,
anakboy

Anonymous said...

G'day si-liao,

aiyaaa...very sorry ve to come back to u again. seem ur commen so constructives, i try to look for ur comments for others topic. couldn't find it la. what's others nick name u use yaa... takkan minat dgn isu post vc ums je. impossible. really need ur help for the benefits of higher education's in Malaysia. share share la.

thank you. keep in touch:)

regards,
anakboy

Anonymous said...

Frankly I'm not here to pass judgement on what the ex-VC of UMS did. I have no idea on what the ex-VC of UMS did or what the current VC of UMS is doing.

Based on what anakboy said about what the ex-VC did before he left, then it looks like there are many unqualified senior lecturers and associate professors at UMS. What a shame!

It looks like anakboy has a personal interest in UMS. Please use your energy wisely to improve the condition at and the academic status of UMS. Start with all the documents within the website of UMS. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

G'day Si-liao,

Who am I to improve the condition and academic in UMS. Watching from far way boleh lah.

Although it's not current VC mistake, i wish to see what he gonna do with it. Hope he take stern action again it. How come you give someone senior lecturer or Ass. Prof first, then you try fullfill the requirement later. Main hantam belakang punya, bagi dulu, syarat2 utk jadi senior or PM lengkapkan kemudian. Bg dulu PM, baru ambil PTK. Publications tak cukup, takpe, bg dulu, nanti u buat ya. If concept like this applied, then all should be given Ass. Prof or paling caukia senior lecturer la. the you give them time to meet the requirement later.

No wonder UMS tu jaguh kampong saja banyak. keluar sana siapa PM tu pun ndak dikenali.

Maklum lah, beras kalau dulu sekapit RM19.00, skrg RM32.00. Kalau dulu satu tangki minyak RM80/-, skrg RM120/-, kalau dulu kopi secawan RM1.20, skrg RM1.50, kalau dulu anak makan mee di sekolah 50 sen, skrg 70 sen, takkan mahu kita bagi tahu anak jgn makan da, mahal skrg, tunggu habis sekolah saja pulang makan. K/l those people's boleh dibagi tanpa memenuhi syaratnya, mengapa yang lain tak boleh dibagi. Takkan tengok bulu bro.

Kita bg VC baru sikit masa ambil tindakan lah. Kalau dia gagal, boleh angkat dia naik, boleh humbang dia turun juga. Sabahan dari Melaka tu pun kita lucutkan perjawatannya. Menteri KPT dan pengarah JPT pun kita lucutkan jawatannya, bagi kat Anwar Ibrahim putuskan. Dulu time dia jadi Menteri Pelajaran tak berlaku berginikan (Kalau terpaksa lah sungguhpun hati kita pada BN).

Anonymous said...

No wonder lah coz I was told in UMS event you fail accomplish your PhD after government spend hundred thousand of ringgit sponsor lecturers further study oversea, you still can get senior lecturer, not surcharge. Maybe JPA should review back their policy cause it's totally wasting people's money. Can't blame government also coz it's not written (no black and white) if lecturers send to further study fail to finish their study, they have to pay back the expense for the study and salary which carried on paid eventhought his/ her duty is to focus on their study. Macam kes beli kereta Mercedes di Terengganu lah. Siapa cakap salah, buka perkeliling, memang ada kereta "pasang di Malaysia". hehehehe.... BUT I wonder juga, why not surcharge, why promotions to senior lecturer or anugerah kepujian, cemerlang, gemilang or terbilang ..... later all hilang .....

Anonymous said...

"A brief read of his bio and ..."
How come the VC's bio link leads to an empty page?
Where's the Biodata of the VC of UMS?
Disappointed lah.

Anonymous said...

Too much complaints. Be an academician first okay, then you know how difficult it is. Dr. Kamaruzaman is a respected figure in the biotechnology field and some missteps in his biodata or whatever you are complaining about do not represent the true value of a man.
I know him personally as a student of his and his staff.
People, be supportive to our academicians and universities. Don't just complaint n complaint.

It's sickening. Where's the love people...

Anonymous said...

let see what happen to the senior lecturer exercise-those with 10 years services (even not productive!! at all) promoted to SENIOR!!!!...heheeh....the standard!!!!