KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — The public can start bidding online for exclusive vehicle registration numbers starting with the letters “UM” from March 8, Malaysia’s oldest public university Universiti Malaya (UM) said today.
In a brief announcement on the bidding website, the university said it was given approval by the Road Transport Department (RTD) to sell the unique registration numbers with the prefix of “UM” to denote Universiti Malaya.
“The objective of this sale is as one of the initiatives to generate university income to add funds, besides promoting UM’s name as the most premier university in Malaysia and among the best in the world.
“Proceeds from this sale of special vehicle registration numbers will be used for research activities, development and student affairs,” the university said in the statement.
The university said this initiative would also attract more UM alumni to donate to the university and to strengthen the ties between the UM alumni and the university.
The university said the public can start bidding for the exclusive vehicle licence plates beginning with the letters “UM” from March 8 onwards through the website https://hebat.um.edu.my.
The same announcement of the launch of the “UM” registration numbers for bidding from March 8 onwards was also made on the university’s official Facebook page.
In a brief video clip, UM vice-chancellor Datuk Mohd Hamdi Abd Shukor said those who had been a part of the university either as a student, graduate or staff would always carry the UM name with them.
“This name will always be a part of us, being part of this premier university will always be our pride and joy.
“UM is our pride and we will always find ways to manifest this pride, whether through memorabilia or symbols of memories between us and UM and also the tradition of excellence that we hold. All this we display as a manifestation of our relationship with UM,” he said, adding that the exclusive vehicle licence plates will be a way to share the memories of being with UM.
He said the “UM” vehicle numbers will be more than a number plate, but would be a manifestation of someone being a “UM citizen” and would also be a contribution to UM’s development, research and student welfare funds.
“You will become a part of UM’s future development and sustainability. To seek into that memory, that tie, if there’s numbers that can bring back all the memories about UM, numbers that can define you as a UM citizen or any number that can define you, manifest it. Get one now, the UM brand that will be carried with you,” he added.
In the same video clip, various facts and figures relating to UM were shown as an example of the numbers that the public may want to bid for its association to the university, including 1905 which was the year the university was founded.
According to UM’s website, the university was founded on September 28, 1905 in Singapore as the King Edward VII College of Medicine, before taking on its current name of University of Malaya on October 8, 1949 after merging with the Raffles College which was founded in 1928.
