Malaysian university fires professor who claimed Malays could fly; they taught Romans shipbuilding
Solehah Yaacob, a former linguistics professor at the International Islamic University Malaysia, went viral last year because of her strange claims, including one that said Malays could fly and Malays taught the Chinese the art of “flying kung fu”. This was only one of a series of bizarre claims made by her and now the university has distanced itself from her and reportedly fired her.In a statement on Sunday, the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) said Solehah Yaacob, a former linguistics professor, had been terminated from academic service on April 27 and was no longer entitled to claim any affiliation with the institution.The university’s Office for Communication, Advocacy and Promotion said Solehah was now barred from using any official title, position or association with IIUM.“She is no longer a professor nor entitled to claim any association with the university,” it said. “IIUM hopes that this clarification will help avoid any misunderstanding and uphold the integrity and academic standing of the university.”
Solehah says her dismissal was unfair, she was an award-winning teacher
Solehah is challenging her termination before Malaysia’s Industrial Court and has accused the university of unprofessionalism. She told local news outlet Free Malaysia Today that the Higher Education Ministry had awarded her a Malaysia Research Assessment commendation the day before her dismissal.“I was dismissed within 24 hours and was not allowed to appeal,” she was quoted as saying. “IIUM wanted to pay me the equivalent of six months, but I refused.”
Some of Solehah’s viral claims
- Solehah claimed ancient Romans had learned shipbuilding techniques from Malay seafarers.
- Another of her claims was that Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad, had links to the Malay world.
- Kedah’s iron ore wealth may have originated from meteor showers
“She’s clearly gaining significant traction among the Malay community and is now running paid boat-cruise tours that she personally leads. These cruises are specifically designed to demonstrate and validate her research findings by taking passengers to the very locations that support her claims. I’m not joking,” James Chin, a scholar of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania, said.While Solehah went viral last year, the speech for which she went viral was from 2022. She defended what she claimed and said she found these things during her extensive PhD research in 2005. She said earlier that she found academic works and historical newspaper reports from Australia that suggested that Malays were among the first people in human civilization to develop the art of shipbuilding and the Romans learned from them.
