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| RENAME NTU, SAYS PAN SHOU | |||
| The Straits Times, 27 August 1998 | |||
| Editors of this website respect the wishes of late Pan Shou but believe a name change (without a change in substance) means little. We publish the view points expressed by various parties for reference only. 15 September 2000. Veteran Chinese poet and calligrapher Pan Shou, 87, received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the Nanyang Technological University yesterday and called for the university to change its name. He said it should be renamed Nanyang University, after the Chinese-medium institution founded by the late rubber tycoon and community leader Tan Lark Sye more than 40 years ago. But both NTU president Cham Tao Soon and Education Minister Teo Chee Hean, who were at the Kallang theatre ceremony yesterday, felt that there was no need for a name change. Nanyang University -- referred to as Nantah -- merged with the then University of Singapore to become the National University of Singapore in 1980. A technological institute set up on the Nantah campus in Jurong in 1982 was later upgraded to a university, the NTU, in 1991. Mr Pan was honoured yesterday as a calligrapher and poet and for his contributions to Nantah, which he served as its first General Secretary in the early days. Delivering his acceptance speech in Mandarin, he recalled how Nantah was founded to preserve Chinese culture and drew widespread support of the community here. Renaming the NTU now would "quieten the hearts of many", he said, reflecting a desire among Nantah graduates to see the old name brought back. Speaking from a wheelchair, he said: "The term daxue (university) can embrace the concept of ligong (technological), but the term ligong cannot embrace the concept of daxue." Urging that the change be made soon, he said: "If one waits till the next century, it will become an issue of another 100 years." Speaking to reporters later, NTU president Cham said that the university's name was now well-known all over the world, and with 60 per cent of its students in engineering, "technological" described it well. Rear-Admiral (NS) Teo said that he understood the sentiments expressed by Mr Pan and added that while NTU's name derived from the history of Nantah, it also described the university's current strength and focus. He expressed appreciation to the association of Nantah graduates for helping the NTU to become "an excellent university and a strong university". He added: "The spirit of self-help, endeavour and enterprise of Nantah is something which we should preserve and value." Home |