George Yeo resigns from Nalanda University amid top leadership changes
Former foreign minister George Yeo has reportedly resigned from Nalanda University. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Former foreign minister George Yeo has resigned as Chancellor of Nalanda University, following an abrupt leadership change at the recently revived ancient centre of learning in eastern India.
In his resignation letter, Mr Yeo said he was not informed of a decision by the Indian government earlier this week to dissolve Nalanda’s governing board. He criticised the sudden move as one that was “disturbing and possibly harmful to the university’s development”.
“The sudden dissolution of the old Nalanda Board is bound up with Indian domestic politics which I do not wish to be embroiled in. I am not an Indian citizen and prefer not to make further comments,” Mr Yeo wrote in a Facebook post accompanying his resignation letter, which he made public.
The idea to revive the ancient university, which once drew scholars from all over Asia before it was destroyed in 1193, was first mooted in 2005. The project drew widespread international support, including from Singapore which has committed US$5 million (S$7.1 million) to Nalanda’s library. The new university was scheduled to be built in the town of Rajgir, some 10 km from the site of the original university, by 2020.
In recent years, however, Nalanda has been in the news for leadership turmoil at the top. The university’s founding Chancellor, Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, quit in February last year citing political interference by the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Sen wrote in his resignation letter: “I am also sad, at a more general level, that academic governance in India remains so deeply vulnerable to the opinions of the ruling government, when it chooses to make political use of the special provisions.”
Mr Yeo, another key player behind efforts to revive Nalanda, took over Mr Sen as Chancellor in July 2015. Mr Sen stayed on as a member of Nalanda’s governing board.
But the Nobel laureate was ousted alongside seven other existing members on the university’s governing board on Monday, Indian media reports said.
Singapore’s representative on the Nalanda board, Professor Wang Gungwu of the National University of Singapore, also lost his board seat. In an email reply to queries from TODAY, Prof Wang said he shared Mr Yeo’s “feelings” on the issue.
In his resignation letter, Mr Yeo expressed frustrations that he, as the Chancellor, was not informed of the board changes. He added: “When I was invited to take over the responsibility from Amartya Sen last year, I was repeatedly assured that the University would have autonomy. This appears not to be the case now.”
It is unclear whether Mr Yeo and Prof Wang will retain any formal links with Nalanda. Mr Yeo said he “remains completely committed to the original mission of Nalanda”, while Prof Wang said he would “continue to support its development”.
“Nalanda is an idea whose time has come. It is bigger than and will outlast anyone of us,” wrote Mr Yeo.
