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| Professor Teh Hoon Heng, 5 August
2000 |
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Editor:Dr Lee Chaw Meng was the Vice Chancellor of Nanyang University from 1975 to 1976. Professor Teh Hoon Heng was the Dean of College of Graduate Studies, Nanyang University during that period. In 1975, Dr. Lee Chaw Meng was sent by SM Lee (then Prime Minister of Singapore) to be the Vice Chancellor of Nantah not to close down Nantah but to expand Nantah so that it can head to head compete with Singapore University. Dr. Lee was then the Minister for Education and the Minister for Scinece and Technology holding important posts enough to challenge SingTah's VC Dr.Toh. Two of Dr. Lee expansion plans were to have Nantah Engineering Faculty and Nantah School of Architecture. Because Dr. Lee himself is an engineer, he was especially keen to make Nantah Engineering Faculty better than SingTah Engineering Faculty. His plan was to develop Nantah Engineering Faculty following the model of German Engineering Universities in particular the Berlin Technical University which is problem solving oriented and not purely academic oriented. I knew his plan very well because one year before he took over the control of Nantah, I (as Dean of College of Graduate Studies) was sent to visit the Berlin Technical University under the invitation of the Government of Germany. In virtue of high level arrangement I was able to talk to the Rector(President) of BerlinTechnical University face to face to get his advice if Nantah wants to start a similar Engineering Faculty. After Dr. Lee became the VC of Nantah he actively worked with the German Embassy of Singapore seeking both technical and financial support for the future Nantah Engineering Faculty. Very unfortunately, due to problems outside Nantah, Dr. Lee had to leave Nantah in 1976 and thus his Engineering Faculty plan was dropped. I still remember very well how sad he was when he called me to see him in his office and told me the bad news. He also shown me the sketch of Nantah Engineering Building which was to be sited between the Nantah Library and Nantah Auditorium. After Dr. Lee left Nantah, I knew very well Nantah's best chance had gone. Sooner or later bad thing was going to come. After nearly three years of preparation, the merging of Nantah and SingTah finally took place in 1980. Dr. Tony Tan personally came to Nantah to discuss with the Director General of Nantah Mr.Tan on matters dealing with moving Nantah to the new campus. Mr.Tan specially asked me to be present because I was an old friend of Dr. Tan and also because I always have some positive suggestions to offer. After the meeting, I asked Dr.Tan what would happen with the Nantah campus. Dr. Tan told me that there was already a detailed plan to start a new Engineering University to be called Nanyang Technology Institute first and 10 years later it will become a full university. I was indeed happy with what I was told because I knew in my heart that this new university has its root in Nantah's original expansion plan and I had played a little role in it. When I was told that Dr. Cham Tao Soon, President of NTU was invited to address the 7th Nantah Alumni Reunion Dinner I was very happy. To me, NTU is part of the Greater Nantah and in my vision such a Greater Nantah will be able to play an even more important role to lead and assist the development of three existing colleges in Malaysia which have already captured the imagination of early Nantah. Lee Shi, a scholar and an able official wrote to Shih Huang Ti of Ch'in dynasty of China in about 221 BC: "Tai Shan is not selective on soils, therefore it gains its height. Rivers and seas are not selective on water from minor streams and therefore gain their vastness" Home |