Is Education pointless without Free Speech?

Alor Setar, Kedah

January 17, 2011

Free Speech is a Foundational Freedom: We need a new generation of critical, articulate and high performing Malaysians

Is free speech the foundational freedom? Is education worth anything when the education system is stifled by the lack of free speech and academic freedom? Of course technical training, and developing basic skills are useful. But does this constitute an education system? Will it create freedom or just the ability to produce and consume. In reality, should we accept any less than free speech AND excellent education?

This is perhaps one of the core issues that our education system in Malaysia faces, and as a corollary our economy faces. Can we train a generation of critical thinking, intellectually rigorous, high performing students when our institutions of education from elementary to tertiary level are poorly run and our students and professors not free to explore and debate issues openly? Do we need another generation of Malaysians who parrot the same old mantras of the past 30 years, perpetuating racial and ethnic divisions, fear of the outside world, a sense of insecurity?

I encourage you to take the time to watch to this episode of the Doha Debates. It features Tariq Ramadan (Oxford), Dennis Hayes (Derby), Nagla Rizk (American Univerisity of Cairo), Kevin Watkins (UNESCO). Click here to watch. –Din Merican