I refer to Legalised blackmail in academia by Sad.

If this can be established (as I feel sure it can) then the public's suspicion that this practise may be more widespread and has possibility permeated through all public universities needs to be immediately checked. After all, recently there was an allegation that a vice-chancelor himself was involved in the submission of a plagirised seminar paper, but to our great relief this was subsequently reported as a 'technical error'.

On the other hand, one must not forget the highly publicised legal action through some of the most prestigious civil courts in Kuala Lumpur some time ago, where the public were treated to two senior university lecturers, one accusing the other of plagiarism!

Perhaps the minister for higher education may have to take some drastic action in this matter. It is one thing to strive to be assessed as being somewhere near the top 10 on whatever international listing of universities, but quite another, if this means that some academics are "scrapping" the barrel of other persons' work to try to get the university on to the list.

I fully support the recent 'walk-in' recruitment of university academic staff despite its obvious misgivings. With due respect in the scenario mentioned above, the minister may wish to even seriously consider if a suitable recruitment exercise for VCs along similar lines, with of course adequate safeguards, might be instituted at least as a temporary measure.

While I concede this may sound like flying in the face of traditional practices and therefore too farfetched, I am confident at the same time that the minister recognises that these are desperate times calling for equally desperate measures.