The Bawani-Sharifah affair has unearthed what I have suspected for 26 years of being an academic at a public university. I have long believed that Malaysian public universities prefer to train our university students to be workers in offices and not leaders of societies.
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) law student KS Bawani (right) mentions that she thought the session was abrainwashing session where a heavily one-sided anti-Bersih view was propagated. A discourse should have a balance of two opposing views to trigger critical thinking. But as I have found out after more than a quarter of century, the public university is not the place to have critical views on issues of national importance.
In my 26 years passing through the gates of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), I can hardly remember a single critical discourse held in its spacious halls. I used to listen to controversial forums held in auspicious places as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) or Universiti Malaya (UM). But now all public universities are as numb as UTM.
If controversial issues were to be discussed, we would have to go and join a forum at UCSI Universiti (the Ambiga-Khairy debate), Penang Institute or Taylor's University where my daughter tells me that she heard PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar gave a public address. I can vouch for you that these issues or individuals would never cross the gateways of UTM. Why is this the case? Well, I will let you in on my thoughts.
I have always loved the romance of university life. This life gives me ample time to think, to reflect and ponder on the different futures for our country. Early on in my academic life, I had set out my own career KPI (key performance indicators) in my field of Islamic and Malaysian architecture and mapped out all my products and activities.
I have never bothered to this day about UTM's KPI but concentrate on my goals of book publications (I have 33 books published now), newspaper articles on architecture and society (hundreds of them) and the occasional journals and seminars. I made a great effort of giving public lectures to those in the architecture profession as well as the public.
More than just imparting knowledge
My creed was simple. After understanding knowledge, I have to disseminate it to all levels of society. I never seek to be of world-class standing but I wanted to contribute directly first to my own nation before crossing the shores to other countries.
A professor at UTM once told me that in order to be a world renowned scholar, one must be accepted by the world. I told him that I care not for the world to acknowledge me, but I care more about how the public would receive my views about Islamic and Malaysian architecture because ultimately, it is we who have to live in these buildings, drive in these cities and pray at these mosques.
(Recently, out of the blue, an Australian academic invited me as the only architecture academic in Malaysia to contribute to an internationally published encyclopedia about Asian art - not bad for a ‘nation-class' academic such as I).
I tried to impart this creed of academia to my students. But alas, after thousands of graduates I have taught, barely a handful paid heed to the ideas and the ideals. I was more inclined to think that it was my inferior teaching or writing but after 26 years of observing the university life at UTM and also at other public universities, I have come to the simple hypothesis that the university academics and the campus administration are practicing self-censorship in relation to producing students to be critical thinking leaders of the society.
The universities would probably deny this and say they are all for critical thinking, self-discovery and all that jazz and they are serious in producing industry leaders and so forth, but at the end of the day you can just sit down with the graduating students and have a polite conversation about what they care about in Malaysia.
Then you will know that public universities are factories for industry workers, not leaders and certainly, not visionaries. From my chairing many PhD and Master thesis examinations, we are producing research assistants and not real scholars.
Scholars are those with strong and independent mindset and come out blazing with facts and arguments. Our post-graduates come forth with tools and data with no strong direction as to where they would put their mark in society or their own specific fields.
Many would say that I am exaggerating and operating my assumptions with a limited sampling of data. Sorry guys, I am a student of thought, not mindless statistics.
What I offer is direct experience and long reflection. I have no agenda to belittle public universities but I do care about where this country is going and what role the university should play in the intellectual growth of our citizenry. If I am challenged, then I would say, name a few academics that would dare place their reputation on issues such as Lynas, ‘Allah', corruption and many others.
Only three 'worthy' academics
Recently, a journalist asked me to give her the names of academics with a ‘detached' view on city planning, I had to stop the conversation and laughed deliriously. "Are you serious? In Malaysia? An academic with a ‘detached' or independent mind?"
I said to my wife recently that there are only three academics left in public universities that have a free and an independent mind and do not fear to give their viewpoints. There's Associate Prof Dr Azmi Sharom of UM, there's Associate Prof Dr Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin of University Sains Malaysia (USM) and there's... me!
There used to be my all-time favourite, Professor Abdul Aziz Bari (left), but he had a run-inwith the vice-chancellor of UIA and eventually quit. Once upon a time, there was Associate Prof Maznah Mohamad from USM but later I heard she moved to NUS because she probably found it hard to be promoted after all her critical writings on Malaysia's social issues.
I am ashamed and embarrassed to admit that our public universities are no longer filled with academics that can serve as a conscience to the people of Malaysia. When I published the book ‘Why Listen to the Vice Chancellor? University as Conscience of Society', it was a signal and a milestone that our public universities are filled with academics and administrators who care more about their professional positions, promotions and titles than they do about the state of our nation's society.
This was further confirmed when my eldest child was admitted as a lecturer at a public university, nothing at all was said about her responsibility as the conscience of society. All she was asked to do was write papers and more papers so that perhaps the university can be highly ranked. I was devastated.
If this is the way that young academics are ‘inspired', then I'll say all is lost. We have hit rock bottom. Why should an academic bother with issues in the society? Well simply, we are a democratic nation and all the citizens are the real leaders and policy makers. We academics have a moral obligation to educate the citizens on the issues so that the well-informed policy makers will make the right decisions, or at least an informed one.
Who is to educate the citizenry if not us academics? What would happen if all the academics in public universities start protecting their precious titles, contracts and promotion and stay silent? I do not want to listen only to the PAS syura council, nor do I want to listen to such ‘questionable' personality as Johor Islamic Religious Council adviser Nooh Gadut or Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria.
We know ‘where' they are coming from. I want to hear the international and the national academics under those big domes of UIA. I want to hear their pros and cons of both views by impartial academics. But alas, only former Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin has the moral stature to present his views.
Rot starts at varsities
Well, what does all of this have to do with the Bawani-Sharifah affair. Simply put, everything! Although the UUM administration isdistancing itself from this affair, I know that the rot starts there - at the mindsets of the academics and administrators of public universities.
What mindset? Students are just to be office workers to take orders and dream only of cars, houses and smart phones. Nothing more, nothing less. If there ever was a student with vision, tenacity and strong moral upbringing coming out of public universities like Adam Adli and Bawani, believe me, he or she would not the norm, but an ‘accident'.
We Malaysians must look long and hard at the future of our public universities. Nothing but a sweeping reform of the university objective as a conscience of society can ensure that Malaysia will not slide down into the pits of civilisational ignorance that would strain dearly our social, technological, economic and spiritual futures.
We must take the controversial issues into the classrooms and let them spark thoughts and ideas in students assignments, topical studies and graduating thesis. These controversial issues should shine the light for our academics to research, publish and tour the nation to explain, expound and debate. Their professorial merits shall be how much their debates have reached the society and not some numerical values gotten out of some computer designation.
More importantly, we must replace all the leadership of the public universities and replace them with academics who value knowledge as a vehicle of social development and not for silly ranking exercises. We ranked against those who can best serve this nation.
It is only from this top-down attitude of the university as a vehicle of conscience and social development can our children be ensured of developing their fullest potential, and not some robots to be pushed around, bullied and told to "listen, listen, listen".
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) law student KS Bawani (right) mentions that she thought the session was abrainwashing session where a heavily one-sided anti-Bersih view was propagated. A discourse should have a balance of two opposing views to trigger critical thinking. But as I have found out after more than a quarter of century, the public university is not the place to have critical views on issues of national importance.In my 26 years passing through the gates of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), I can hardly remember a single critical discourse held in its spacious halls. I used to listen to controversial forums held in auspicious places as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) or Universiti Malaya (UM). But now all public universities are as numb as UTM.
If controversial issues were to be discussed, we would have to go and join a forum at UCSI Universiti (the Ambiga-Khairy debate), Penang Institute or Taylor's University where my daughter tells me that she heard PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar gave a public address. I can vouch for you that these issues or individuals would never cross the gateways of UTM. Why is this the case? Well, I will let you in on my thoughts.
I have always loved the romance of university life. This life gives me ample time to think, to reflect and ponder on the different futures for our country. Early on in my academic life, I had set out my own career KPI (key performance indicators) in my field of Islamic and Malaysian architecture and mapped out all my products and activities.
I have never bothered to this day about UTM's KPI but concentrate on my goals of book publications (I have 33 books published now), newspaper articles on architecture and society (hundreds of them) and the occasional journals and seminars. I made a great effort of giving public lectures to those in the architecture profession as well as the public.
More than just imparting knowledge
My creed was simple. After understanding knowledge, I have to disseminate it to all levels of society. I never seek to be of world-class standing but I wanted to contribute directly first to my own nation before crossing the shores to other countries.
A professor at UTM once told me that in order to be a world renowned scholar, one must be accepted by the world. I told him that I care not for the world to acknowledge me, but I care more about how the public would receive my views about Islamic and Malaysian architecture because ultimately, it is we who have to live in these buildings, drive in these cities and pray at these mosques.
(Recently, out of the blue, an Australian academic invited me as the only architecture academic in Malaysia to contribute to an internationally published encyclopedia about Asian art - not bad for a ‘nation-class' academic such as I).
I tried to impart this creed of academia to my students. But alas, after thousands of graduates I have taught, barely a handful paid heed to the ideas and the ideals. I was more inclined to think that it was my inferior teaching or writing but after 26 years of observing the university life at UTM and also at other public universities, I have come to the simple hypothesis that the university academics and the campus administration are practicing self-censorship in relation to producing students to be critical thinking leaders of the society.The universities would probably deny this and say they are all for critical thinking, self-discovery and all that jazz and they are serious in producing industry leaders and so forth, but at the end of the day you can just sit down with the graduating students and have a polite conversation about what they care about in Malaysia.
Then you will know that public universities are factories for industry workers, not leaders and certainly, not visionaries. From my chairing many PhD and Master thesis examinations, we are producing research assistants and not real scholars.
Scholars are those with strong and independent mindset and come out blazing with facts and arguments. Our post-graduates come forth with tools and data with no strong direction as to where they would put their mark in society or their own specific fields.
Many would say that I am exaggerating and operating my assumptions with a limited sampling of data. Sorry guys, I am a student of thought, not mindless statistics.
What I offer is direct experience and long reflection. I have no agenda to belittle public universities but I do care about where this country is going and what role the university should play in the intellectual growth of our citizenry. If I am challenged, then I would say, name a few academics that would dare place their reputation on issues such as Lynas, ‘Allah', corruption and many others.
Only three 'worthy' academics
Recently, a journalist asked me to give her the names of academics with a ‘detached' view on city planning, I had to stop the conversation and laughed deliriously. "Are you serious? In Malaysia? An academic with a ‘detached' or independent mind?"
I said to my wife recently that there are only three academics left in public universities that have a free and an independent mind and do not fear to give their viewpoints. There's Associate Prof Dr Azmi Sharom of UM, there's Associate Prof Dr Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin of University Sains Malaysia (USM) and there's... me!
There used to be my all-time favourite, Professor Abdul Aziz Bari (left), but he had a run-inwith the vice-chancellor of UIA and eventually quit. Once upon a time, there was Associate Prof Maznah Mohamad from USM but later I heard she moved to NUS because she probably found it hard to be promoted after all her critical writings on Malaysia's social issues.I am ashamed and embarrassed to admit that our public universities are no longer filled with academics that can serve as a conscience to the people of Malaysia. When I published the book ‘Why Listen to the Vice Chancellor? University as Conscience of Society', it was a signal and a milestone that our public universities are filled with academics and administrators who care more about their professional positions, promotions and titles than they do about the state of our nation's society.
This was further confirmed when my eldest child was admitted as a lecturer at a public university, nothing at all was said about her responsibility as the conscience of society. All she was asked to do was write papers and more papers so that perhaps the university can be highly ranked. I was devastated.
If this is the way that young academics are ‘inspired', then I'll say all is lost. We have hit rock bottom. Why should an academic bother with issues in the society? Well simply, we are a democratic nation and all the citizens are the real leaders and policy makers. We academics have a moral obligation to educate the citizens on the issues so that the well-informed policy makers will make the right decisions, or at least an informed one.
Who is to educate the citizenry if not us academics? What would happen if all the academics in public universities start protecting their precious titles, contracts and promotion and stay silent? I do not want to listen only to the PAS syura council, nor do I want to listen to such ‘questionable' personality as Johor Islamic Religious Council adviser Nooh Gadut or Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria.
We know ‘where' they are coming from. I want to hear the international and the national academics under those big domes of UIA. I want to hear their pros and cons of both views by impartial academics. But alas, only former Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin has the moral stature to present his views.
Rot starts at varsities
Well, what does all of this have to do with the Bawani-Sharifah affair. Simply put, everything! Although the UUM administration isdistancing itself from this affair, I know that the rot starts there - at the mindsets of the academics and administrators of public universities.
What mindset? Students are just to be office workers to take orders and dream only of cars, houses and smart phones. Nothing more, nothing less. If there ever was a student with vision, tenacity and strong moral upbringing coming out of public universities like Adam Adli and Bawani, believe me, he or she would not the norm, but an ‘accident'.We Malaysians must look long and hard at the future of our public universities. Nothing but a sweeping reform of the university objective as a conscience of society can ensure that Malaysia will not slide down into the pits of civilisational ignorance that would strain dearly our social, technological, economic and spiritual futures.
We must take the controversial issues into the classrooms and let them spark thoughts and ideas in students assignments, topical studies and graduating thesis. These controversial issues should shine the light for our academics to research, publish and tour the nation to explain, expound and debate. Their professorial merits shall be how much their debates have reached the society and not some numerical values gotten out of some computer designation.
More importantly, we must replace all the leadership of the public universities and replace them with academics who value knowledge as a vehicle of social development and not for silly ranking exercises. We ranked against those who can best serve this nation.
It is only from this top-down attitude of the university as a vehicle of conscience and social development can our children be ensured of developing their fullest potential, and not some robots to be pushed around, bullied and told to "listen, listen, listen".
MOHAMAD TAJUDDIN MOHAMAD RASDI is professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's School of Architecture. An eloquent writer, he has authored over 30 books, including his latest, ‘Why Listen to the Vice-Chancellor?'
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