KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 — Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching today denied that the funding cut for MCA-backed Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) was due to political reasons.

She was speaking to reporters after officiating the Awards Ceremony for Dengue Patrol 2018 here today.

"We do not deny that the development allocation for Kolej UTAR has been cut by RM24.5 million in Budget 2019 as we have to optimise our limited resources

"This constitutes only 4 per cent of Kolej UTAR’s cash reserve of RM580 million and Kolej UTAR has the largest cash reserve among public universities. It’s unnecessary for Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong to allege that the cut was due to political reasons,” said Teo.

She further added that University of Malaya had its development allocation slashed by RM40 million.

Yesterday, MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said that the budget cut was due to a "vendetta” practised by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government towards MCA.

He further added that Kolej UTAR will have no choice but to raise its fees to offset the budget cut and this would adversely affect its 28,000 students.

He said that the development budget amount for the university college of RM5.5 million was grossly insufficient, and if fees were raised, it would be a burden to the parents of students.

Wee also said that the PH government was "punishing” Kolej UTAR because it was established by MCA.

*A previous version of this story contained errors which have since been corrected.