Najib Rajab Saddened as MIT to Establish a Campus in Bali

TheIndonesia.id - Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak admits his disappointment that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Tsinghua University will establish a campus in Indonesia.

"Slightly disappointed with the announcement that MIT from the United States and Universiti Tsinghua (from China) have chosen Indonesia, not Malaysia, to establish a joint university campus," Najib said on social media, Thursday, January 20, 2022.

He stated Malaysia is capable of becoming a center for international education with the establishment of well-known overseas universities in Malaysia which will increase students' confidence in the country, he said.

"This was in line with the previous Barisan Nasional government’s intention to make quality education a platform to increase creative, innovative, and highly skilled human capital to increase the country’s competitiveness," said Najib.

According to him, international university campuses' establishment in Malaysia will allow more Malaysians to study at a lower cost. "We can also become a center for other students from the Asian region and the world to come to study here without the need to go to other countries," he said.

He said, 11 international university campuses had been established in Malaysia when he served as minister of education (1995-1999) and prime minister, including Monash University, Australia, at Sunway (1998), University of Nottingham, England, in Selangor. (2000), and Xiamen University, China at Sepang (2015).

"Hundred thousands of Malaysian children have benefited in addition to saving their education costs. But this program has been stalled since the 14th election," he said.

Najib added that his party in 2018 welcomed the plan of the University of Tsukuba in Tokyo, Japan, to establish a campus in Selangor or Kedah. "But it seems there have been no new developments since then," he said.

Najib hopes that the Minister of Education can now make efforts for the university and other world-renowned universities to establish campuses in Malaysia.

Integrated Campus Efforts Indonesia Damai (UID) Bali Campus cooperates with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management and Tsinghua University Southeast Asia Center in education, research, and development of higher education.

"This campus will be a place for various activities to facilitate the birth of innovation and human resource development so that it can help accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the national, regional, and global levels," said Chairman of the UID Foundation, Dr. Suyoto in his written statement in Jakarta.

UID Bali Campus develops the ongoing educational collaboration with MIT Sloan School of Management, namely the IDEAS Asia Pacific executive education program. UID Bali Campus also continues to collaborate with Tsinghua University Southeast Asia Center.

Previously, the collaboration succeeded in organizing professional education, Happy Digital X: System, Product and Service, the first batch, and various other activities. "This campus is expected to be a center for innovation and human resource development that creates a creative community and produces quality intellectual property," he added.

The campus, which is located in Bali, will be inaugurated at the end of 2022 to coincide with the holding of the G-20 conference in Bali. The construction of the UID Bali Campus, he continued, was an effort to bring a better and sustainable future together.

Bali is chosen as the location because of the spirit in preserving the natural beauty, culture nobility, and the real practice of Tri Hita Karana, Balinese wisdom.

Suyoto said the campus will be adjacent to the TechPark, consisting of buildings that symbolize the values of Balinese local wisdom Tri Hita Karana which upholds the harmony of human to human relations, human with the Creator and human with the natural environment. It is expected to become a global prototype of sustainable development.