Recent events have been illuminating, have they not?

Now things are different. More and more people are openly questioning what’s being done in our names. And yet, whilst as individuals we rejoice in having intelligent children who ask us lots of questions, as a society we seem to think it perfectly acceptable to deny older youngsters from reaching their full potential by learning how to think critically.

Farah Fahmy, The Malaysian Insider

The suspension of Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari last week was disappointing. Universities are supposed to be places where critical thinking is honed. If an academic can be suspended from his post for merely commenting on a matter in which he is an expert, then what hope is there for our students?

I learnt a lot of things at university, but not as much, I think, as some of the Japanese students on my course who were genuinely surprised to learn about Japanese atrocities during World War II. It was at university that I started questioning some of the assumptions that I had held about our country and our society. But, you see, I was lucky. I studied abroad and had teachers whose first duty was to broaden the minds of the students they taught.

In our country, university students have to abide by the Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti (AUKU), which, among other things, forbids students from joining any political parties. Not only that, students are also prohibited from expressing any support or opposition towards any political parties. Strange, isn’t it?

In our country, the brightest young minds are expressly forbidden from taking part in shaping our society and our future. What a pity. I happen to think that society and by extension, a country, cannot stay static in its views.

Once upon a time, our society deferred to those who led us. We didn’t question the judgment of our leaders. Those who did were expelled from the club (remember a certain young doctor in the late 1960s?), cast out, for daring to question the status quo.

Now things are different. More and more people are openly questioning what’s being done in our names. And yet, whilst as individuals we rejoice in having intelligent children who ask us lots of questions, as a society we seem to think it perfectly acceptable to deny older youngsters from reaching their full potential by learning how to think critically.

And now this sorry episode of the suspended academic; and for such a silly reason too. What he said was hardly earth-shattering. Then there’s Jakim going around saying that many Muslims no longer respect the authority of our Sultans. Lest I be accused of committing lese-majesté, may I respectfully remind Jakim that this is hardly surprising, given the antics of certain members of the royal family in Kelantan, Johor and Negri Sembilan in recent years.

Then there’s the furore surrounding Lim Guan Eng’s son. What a foul taste that has left in my mouth. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the situation, have we forgotten that one is innocent until proven guilty, and to paraphrase a famous saying, the doings of the father should not be visited on the son?

This surely is a new low. I thought calling Dr Wan Azizah a “pelacur politik” was bad enough but you could at least argue that as a political figure, she was fair game. Attacking the son of a political opponent? Disgusting. No matter what he did, Lim Guan Eng’s son should not have his picture plastered online, and neither should anyone comment on unproven allegations.

What’s more, the remarks of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin are at best an embarrassment. He admitted that he did not have any information about the claims, but he couldn’t keep his mouth shut, could he? No, he had to weigh in and give his two cents’ worth too.

Dear Tan Sri, you are the deputy prime minister of our country. If you know nothing about the issue, and it has no bearing on any issues pertaining to the country, then why say anything at all? Do you think it’s OK to attack someone’s son, simply because his father is the DAP secretary-general? Still, that’s our DPM for you.

Then there’s Khairy Jamaluddin. Regardless of whether what “BN leaders and their families get from opposition is far worse” or not, Khairy should know better than to stoop down to that level. If you want to be a respected politician, you don’t throw mud at a defenceless youngster. The person you’re hurting is a 16-year-old child. Pick on someone your own size.

So there we see it, the values espoused by our society.

Critical thinking is a bad thing. We cannot have our academics and our students questioning the make-up of our society, or certain assumptions held by our society. Our universities are not where we breed the future thinkers of our country (which leads one to think, what are they there for?). No wonder our universities have slid so low in the various world universities’ indexes.

Gutter politics, however, can be practised. It has always been OK to comment on politicians’ personal lives, to express glee when a political opponent falls due to personal circumstances. And now it’s OK to do the same to the children of politicians too.

Like I said, recent events have been illuminating.