#IamUiTM – Nicholas Chan

Some might say it’s because of her good looks and young age, some might say it’s because she’s an ethnic Malay in a perceivably Chinese-dominated party or her Umno heritage in the family, but there’s no denying that Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud is a boat-rocking candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election because she is also a Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) graduate.

Being a UiTM graduate has suddenly turned into a political privilege for a DAP candidate. Her opponents could no longer use derogatory terms like kacang lupakan kulit or Mat Salleh celup for she is not your stereotypical overseas educated, Anglicised “liberal” Malay. She is homebred, home-grown and home-educated, and most importantly, she’s a breath of fresh air for Malaysia’s politics that is long dominated by stereotypes and parochial loyalties.

Never have we seen a candidate that prompts both the Pro-counsellor and Vice-counsellor to come out with replies for her statement. A statement about how UiTM was catered for the privilege but not the poor, which was then twisted out of proportions into aberrations that make her seem like an advocate of UiTM’s abolishment. This is of course, after her parry with others from the University by asking why must UiTM graduates be Umno supporters?

A timely, inquisitive and witty reply indeed, what more from a UiTM graduate herself.  The point was smacked right into the heart of the New Economic Policy (NEP) by asking the question is NEP targeted to help the Malays as was officially stated or to help UMNO instead? While people were left to ponder about the existential basis of the NEP and its educational spinoffs, Dyana is busying herself sparring with the likes of Shahrizat, Dr Mahathir and as Liew Chin Tong had put it nicely, the entirety of Umno. This is perplexing seeing that Mah Siew Keong from Gerakan is supposed to be the electoral candidate and not Umno.

The thing about Dyana that made everyone scrambled into action is because she breaks all the molds that one could associate with a public university graduate. Instead of being the insular-thinking, indifferent and timid individual that a competitive job market would gladly reject, she is intelligent, articulate, fluent in writing, critical and has high self-esteem for her identity and heritage.  Impressively, none of these attributes were imported from a foreign education.

Some might say she is destined to challenge the entire foundation of Umno’s “ethnocracy”. I would instead take one step back and said she will and had challenged UiTM’s credentials, both in a good and bad way to the University, subject to perception. Bad in the sense that the university’s leadership had been drawn out to action for their alleged political allegiances by the wits of a young lady while good to the University’s reputation by showing how UiTM is perfectly capable of nurturing refined, independent and critical- thinking individuals, no matter how rare a jewel like that could be.

Having said that, the quality of a University should not be measured by its cultivation of anti-establishment members. However, it is not wrong for the University to be known for a particular school of thought, one that is free to run with or against the tide of governance. For example, the renowned neoclassical economic school of thought, the Chicago school of Economics was named after the University of Chicago, which have constructed and popularised most of its principles.  A university as a place for thinkers and discoverers to gather should in fact be proud of the ideologies they found, subscribe or had contributed to.

To be able to excel as trendsetters, a University needs to have and be able to groom dynamic, inquisitive and fearless individuals like Dyana. But I am sure she’s not the only one of her kind. So let me do a shout-out to all UiTM graduates, don’t let Dyana take all the credit, show yourself to be the progressive, dynamic and intellectual individual UiTM could take pride of. It doesn’t matter if you are a BN supporter or Pakatan supporter. Political inclinations do not diminish one’s good qualities, more often than ever it’s these qualities that dictate inclinations.

Perhaps someone should do a movement to rally the bold and intelligent silent and break the negative generalisations that falsely projects the image of a conventionally unattractive UiTM graduate. The stereotype of a dull and unmarketable local university graduate has to be challenged and torn down. So why not start with a hashtag movement like #IamUiTM? As the politicians would love to say, it’s all about the young people now.

*Nicholas Chan is a socio-political research analyst at Penang Institute and is a Universiti Sains Malaysia graduate.