Selangor Sultan: No go for UPM name change

The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah turned down a proposal for the name change of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

His Highness said the UPM Board of Trustees and himself as Chancellor were not consulted in advance regarding any proposed change of the university’s name.

“Therefore, I do not agree with the proposal,” said the Sultan at the second part of Session One of the 48th UPM Convocation Ceremony at UPM today.

Sultan Sharafuddin in his speech stressed that the UPM’s name should be maintained because he had launched the Putra brand which means “Agriculture for the People.”

He said the name UPM is also in honour of the name of the First Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-haj.

“Therefore, here I would like to remind those who do not understand history to read and examine historical facts before making any statements, especially involving UPM,” he said.

On Thursday, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said a proposal to change UPM’s name back to its original name, Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, would be submitted to the Cabinet for discussion.