PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) has contacted several universities, where the students are allegedly involved in ‘sugar baby’ activities, to obtain information regarding the validity of data that has been published in several media.
MoHE director-general Prof Datuk Dr Husaini Omar said the ministry took seriously the revelations made by The Star Online on the ‘student programme’ website and Facebook reports about the sharp increase in the number of university students involved in these activities.
“In this case, the university explained that there were many doubts about the data submitted,” he said in a statement here yesterday.
He said the Sunway Education Group stated that it was quite impossible that 45 per cent of Sunway University students were involved as ‘sugar babies’, as the number of Sunway University students was only about 7,000 at present.
“Therefore, the report published by the media that a total of 3,105 Sunway University students were involved in sugar baby activities, is not reasonable.
“On Feb 10, Universiti Teknologi Mara also lodged a police report to deny the report by the media,” he said.
Husaini said the MOoHE together with university authorities would address this issue more effectively.
He said the university authorities would conduct detailed internal reviews to ensure that what was reported by the media had been, and would be handled, as best as possible.
“The MoHE would also carry out engagement sessions involving the Ministry of Youth and Sports; Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development; Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission as well as related non-governmental organisations so that a continuous and comprehensive programme could be designed to ensure the personality of students and the image of the institutions of higher learning (IPTs) in Malaysia would be maintained,” he added. — Bernama