He told FMT that the university’s unique status, where its stakeholders are made up of several Muslim governments, makes Maszlee’s role crucial especially in ensuring funds for the university.
Saying the president of IIUM functions as a “ceremonial head”, he said appointing Maszlee would also save some RM500,000 in allowance annually, as no payment is required to be made to a minister.
Maszlee is the third education minister to hold the post since IIUM was established together with several member-states of the then Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).
Its first president was Hussein Onn, followed by Anwar Ibrahim when he was the education minister in the eighties. After Anwar’s ouster from the government in 1998, he was replaced by Najib Razak, then the education minister.
The aide said the university’s glory days were when the education minister was its president.
“A fact that cannot be denied is that IIU became well known in the eighties and nineties when its presidency was held by education ministers Anwar Ibrahim and Najib Razak,” it said.
Maszlee, 44, a former IIUM student and lecturer, replaces Rais Yatim, the former cultural adviser to the previous government whose contract with the varsity ended last June.
When contacted, Rais questioned Maszlee’s appointment, saying it was not done through proper procedures.
“As the education minister, he acts as the umbrella to all 21 public universities. If he appointed himself to the post, the appointment could be questioned,” Rais told FMT.
He also questioned Maszlee’s recent appointment of new IIUM rector, Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, when the minister was still not the varsity’s president, adding this was a violation of the IIU constitution.
Earlier, a DAP assemblyman said Maszlee helming IIUM was a conflict of interest and against the minister’s pledge not to interfere in the management of tertiary institutions.
Kampung Tunku assemblyman from Selangor, Lim Yi Wei, also urged Maszlee not to accept the appointment.
“To fail to do so would be failing the students who counted on us to restore academic freedom. To fail to do so would be a slap on the face to the student activists blacklisted, harassed or detained under the UUCA,” she said, referring to the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 heavily criticised by Pakatan Harapan.
But the aide told FMT that IIUM is not governed by the UUCA, as it was an incorporated body formed under the Companies Act.
That status allows the university to use English and Arabic in its syllabus, he added.
He said Maszlee was not a politician parachuted into the academic world.
“He is a grassroots educationist. A big part of his life was spent in the academic field and for many years he was involved in discourses on education before he joined politics.”
Meanwhile, IIUM in a statement said its constitutional head, Pahang’s Sultan Ahmad Shah, has consented to Maszlee’s appointment.
It said Maszlee would serve as president until 2021.
“The IIUM management believes Dr Maszlee is the right candidate as he is also a former lecturer of IIUM. He has vast experience about the IIUM environment having once led the IIUM Academic Staff Association to fight for the rights of lecturers,” it added.