By Wan Norshira Wan Mohd Ghazali
GOMBAK, 30 August 2018 – The whole business of a university is to bring about change, therefore, “if you are standing still and on status quo, you are not doing your job or responsibility,” the newly appointed IIUM Rector, Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, told the 3rd Al-Liqa Al Jamaie here at ICC on Tuesday (28 August), attended by over 500 academic and administrative staff.
Quoting Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifli said in his speech that “guts or courage is a commodity that is scarce nowadays in the country”. As public intellectuals, he said, when things are wrong, they have to be brave to say it is wrong and provide solution, so as to make a real impact on the society.
He therefore called on the staff to lead or leave. “If you’re blindly following, IIUM is not your place,” he said.
In his speech, Prof. Tan Sri Dzulkifli also expressed his intention to curb political interference in the university. He said, “No politics at the university in the sense that we do not allow political interference, and I am going to ensure this. Besides, we will make sure AUKU (Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti or University and University Colleges Act) is not going to bind on IIUM.” He vowed that this is part of a plan to make IIUM stands out of the rest of the university.
He told the gathering that he witnessed the determination of the people to seeing changes as he recalled the 14th General Election that marked the increase of voter turnout including those who brought back votes from all over the world to Malaysia.
“This was not tsunami, because the transition was so peaceful. We were touched by this move.” He further emphasised.
On this note, he accentuated the need for the staff to go out of the box and create a benchmark instead of following the benchmarks set by other universities.
“Dare to dream, think of something non-existence and create it. Take charge regardless of what people say. Take charge means we will do something that people have not done before,” he told the gathering.
Prof. Tan Sri Dzulkifli further emphasised the uniqueness of IIUM as the ‘Garden of Knowledge and Virtue’ composed of different sets of plants and flowers representing the diversity of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, cultures and many more.
“IIUM is unique in itself, it is an International University and an Islamic University. One might be an International University but not Islamic, and the other might be Islamic but not International. This is something that we need to highlight,” he added.
The Rector ended his speech by noting on the needs for everyone to work as a single unified team.
“The moment we work together, the change will happen,” he summed up and looked forward to work with the IIUM community collaboratively.
Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifli Abdul Razak started his term as IIUM Rector on 1 August 2018 replacing Prof. Dato’ Sri Dr. Zaleha Kamarudin who completed her term on 31 July 2018.
The 3rd Al-Liqa Al Jamaie 2018 also launched the 61st Merdeka Celebrations with Kita Punya Malaysia, Jalur Gemilang, and Tanggal 31 songs.***