Food problem!

My colleague who is the Chairman for Education Bureau, Pemuda MCA had raised an issue during our recent Pemuda BN discussion. He informed the meeting that the management of College 12, Universiti Malaya had recently terminated a stall that sold Hainanese Chicken Rice and Economy Rice that mainly catered to the Chinese students. The students it seems, were unhappy of this termination as they had enjoyed good affordable Chinese food all this while and did not want that to be taken away. The stall operator meanwhile felt that he was terminated unfairly.

So today, as the Chairman of the Education Bureau Pemuda UMNO Malaysia and in the spirit of comradeship with MCA, I arranged a meeting with the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Student Affairs), Assoc. Prof Datuk Dr Azarae Hj Idris and his senior staff to get to the bottom of this issue. Of course, my colleagues Chong, Harrison and other MCA friends went with me.

I am happy to learn that the stall operator was not terminated as alleged. UM informed us that the contract for all stalls in College 12 had expired in May and there was a due process of re-tender for all the stalls. In the process, some bidders were eliminated due to low pricing and other technical issues. However, I am most happy to note that the UM management had stipulated in the tender conditions that one stall ( am told Gerai 1 as it is known) is specifically allocated for Chinese food. I am also told that the management of UM, 12th College management, the Chinese students’ representatives had a meeting yesterday with the successful bidder for the stall to discuss on the menu and pricing of the food. The successful bidder had during the meeting agreed to the terms, conditions and requests set out by the students and management.

All is well again at the University front! And I hope the food is good.....

Our team also requested that all universities in Malaysia should provide space for all varieties of food to be sold, be they Malay, Chinese, Indian and what nots – Halal of course! At the same time, in line with the Ministry’s vision to internationalise our universities and attract overseas students to Malaysia, Pemuda BN would also like to urge all universities to provide space for stalls to sell international food in the campuses.

I am sure apart from quality and affordable education, one of the main factors that foreign students consider would be how well they can adapt to the new surroundings. Having food to cater to their tastebuds would definitely go a long way to helping them make the decision. At the same time, our local students can also experience something new and different.

Let’s hope this happens. As for me, I always enjoy trying something new. Whenever I go to a new country, the two things that I must do are to taste the local food and check out the local customs / way of living.