The likelihood that Malaysia will rebound financially is keeping the possibility of opening a campus in Kuala Lumpur alive despite the recent economic crunch in Asia, administrators say.

In October 1996, SIU President Ted Sanders said he had met with Malaysian officials to discuss building an SIU campus there similar to the campus in Nakajo, Japan.

During the last six months, though, Asian currencies have hit all-time lows against the U.S. dollar, causing markets in many countries to crash.

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Malaysia has been one of the hardest hit; the ringgit has lost 75 percent of its value against the dollar since July.

But Rhonda Vinson, executive assistant to the chancellor for International and Economic Development, said the University has not pulled the plug on plans for a Malaysian campus.

If built, the facility would focus on training aviation students and include an intensive English program.

Vinson said it is likely that within a month the spinning wheels of the Malaysian economy will find some traction.

Jim Osberg, a researcher for International and Economic Development and a member of Gov. Jim Edgar’s export council, says of the Asian countries affected by the market crashes, Malaysia is most likely to quickly pull out of a financial nosedive.

The impact on Malaysia is not nearly as great as countries like Indonesia or South Korea, Osberg said. Malaysia has tremendous oil reserves and much more capital development than the other countries that are affected.

Vinson said her department has sent a letter of intent to Malaysian officials stating Sanders would like to include a stop in Malaysia to further discuss development of a campus there on his trip to Nakajo in April.

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We are still very much in the information-gathering and market testing stage, Vinson said. We are trying to keep the plan viable.