Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng halted the government’s matching grant for Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TARUC), which has been a tradition since TARUC’s inception in 1969. He also warned TARUC not to increase its tuition fees, or risk facing retaliation from him.

I find it downright ridiculous for a Finance Minister to make such statements. How can he discriminate against a tertiary education institution with 50 years of history just because it was initiated by MCA?

MCA mooted the idea to start a non-profit institution back in the 60s in view of the lack of tertiary education opportunities for the Chinese community. This proposal was well-received by the government, which promised to back the RM20mil institution on a dollar-to-dollar basis.

On Aug 22, 1972, then Education Minister Tun Hussein Onn informed the Parliament of the government’s decision to provide financial assistance to Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC) on a 50:50 basis. Decades later when TARC attained its university college status in 2012, the Cabinet decided to proceed with its financial assistance for TARUC with a matching grant capped at RM60mil a year. The amount of matching grant and development funds received by the institution since 1969 totalled RM1.353bil.

In a press conference today at Wisma MCA, I shared with reporters various documents and proofs which showed that the establishment of TARUC and government support for TARUC was an agreement between MCA as the initiator and the government. Such agreement, well-documented in newspaper reports, Parliament Hansard and government documents, should be honoured by the current government.

Lim should also understand that matching grant from the government has been instrumental in keeping its tuition fees low. The funds from the government has helped to offset its operating costs, including salaries of teaching staff as well as merit scholarships and bursaries. Any organisation would strive to break even and avoid incurring losses, and in order to do so without government support, it is only normal for TARUC to explore its options.

Over the years, TARUC has remained steadfast in educating young Malaysians regardless of race, class and creed. Statistics showed that 5,522 of its alumni are non-Chinese and currently, there are 39.47% non-Chinese among its teaching and administration staff. Its alumni totalled at 200,000, while its current student population stands at about 28,000. It should be noted that while more than 95% of TARUC’s alumni are Chinese, 95% of the Chinese in Malaysia supported Pakatan Harapan in the last general election. MCA had never prohibited anyone who might have different political ideologies from ours to enrol into TARUC.

TARUC’s contribution to the country is for all to see. Renowned for its accounting programme, TARUC produces 50% of the country’s professional accountants and was awarded by ACCA its highest Platinum status as Approved Learning Partner. TARUC also is the world’s only institution to run the Internally Assessed ACCA Fundamentals Programme since 1987.

I would like to stress that TARUC is wholly owned by TARC Education Foundation and therefore it should not be seen as part of the MCA’s party assets. To say MCA is drawing profits from TARUC is totally untrue. Furthermore, TARUC submits audited accounts to the Education Ministry every year, with capex and opex clearly and duly recorded in the annual financial reports. TARUC has nothing to hide.

Also, from day one, there are representatives from the Finance Ministry and Education Ministry in TARUC’s board of governors. The current set-up includes one officer from the Finance Minister, four professors from local varsities (appointed by Education Ministry), one former president of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, two representatives from TARUC Alumni Association, TARUC president, TARUC dean and four representatives from MCA.

I also have to emphasise here that these individuals, as well as those in the TARUC Board of Trustees, serve on a voluntary basis without drawing any salary. Please do not insult the professionalism of the board as well as its members.

Moving on, TARUC will continue to maintain its quality education for students who walk through its doors. We foresee a bumpy journey ahead, but we will be unwavering in our mission to provide education opportunities and to train human capital for the country.

Lastly, I’d like to thank all the past Finance Ministers who had always kept the best interests of TARUC at heart, including Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tun Hussein Onn, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. History will remember Lim Guan Eng as the very first Finance Minister who terminated the matching grant for TARUC.

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