A university professor has schooled Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh on the meaning of the word “apartheid” after the latter took exception to a Malaysiakini columnist describing Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) as an “apartheid academy”.

Citing the Cambridge Dictionary, Tajuddin Rasdi pointed out that while the word “apartheid” originated from the Afrikaans word for South Africa’s system of institutionalised racism, the word is also used in the English language to refer to discriminatory policies more generally.