The Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC) education foundation’s board of trustees is insisting that the federal government has not fulfilled its responsibility to the Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC).
This is despite the finance ministry yesterday saying it will allocate RM40 million to it through a third-party trust fund.
Due to TAR UC’s political ties to the MCA, the government last year said it would only provide it with a development fund of RM5.5 million in 2019 and RM1 million in 2020 – a far cry from the RM30 million it received under the previous administration.
In a statement issued yesterday, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the government’s allocation – which was raised to RM40 million – would be transferred to a trust fund operated by the Tunku Abdul Rahman Alumni Association (TAA) by the end of the month.
Wading into the issue, the board today said the money provided to TAA could not be a replacement for TAR UC’s government grant for operational expenses.
It said there existed “a historical and contractual obligation” for the federal government to honour the matching grant, to a maximum of RM60 million per year.
“The obligation by the federal government in so far as TAR UC’s matching grant is concerned is (that it is) still not fulfilled and should be considered as due and outstanding,” said the TARC Education Foundation’s board of trustees in a statement.
TAR UC is owned by the TARC Education Foundation, which is under the purview of the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry, through the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM).
Lim maintains that MCA should surrender control of TAR UC as a condition to receive the government grant. – FMT