UM's bully tactics will not bear fruit

"You should embrace your culture. You should be proud of who you are and your background. And how you worship God is going to be different, and those are things that you should be proud of. But it shouldn’t be a tool to look down on somebody else. It shouldn’t be a reason to discriminate."
– Barack Obama, in speech delivered at Universiti Malaya

I received this email from a young university student asking me to write about the recent suspension of the Chinese Language Society of Universiti Malaysia. I also received an email about the “gag order” from UM prohibiting students and staff from making verbal or written statements that would have “negative implications” on the government or the university, from another student who wanted me to write about this too.

To be honest, I am not into this Chinese language or Indian language or whatever other kinds of cultural societies that always seem to crop up in Malaysia. I get why Malaysians join them, especially in educational establishments where young people are discovering themselves and each other, but I have never been interested in joining cultural groups just because it is assumed that people in such societies are simpatico with one another.

However, this young student really impressed me with the honesty in her rambling email about what it means to be Chinese and Malaysian and how the two were not mutually exclusive, and I was really surprised that this young Malaysian was interested in her country, despite the systemic inequalities she faces because of her ethnicity and gender.

The young student wrote eloquently about what the society meant to her. While she did not elaborate on what dialect she was referring to when she wrote about the society, what she did make clear was how much she learnt about her culture and community and how it enriched her life. She was adamant that the society did not intentionally skirt whatever regulations they were in breach of, and she was extremely upset that the society was suspended.

Meanwhile, the other young student who wrote to me was concerned that his activism off campus would conflict with this gag order – as I was typing this sentence, I actually mistakenly typed “gaga” order – and that his academic pursuits would be jeopardised. This is why both wanted to remain anonymous.

I thought it was somewhat funny actually. Here the university wants to cut down on bad press, but issues orders that invite the very thing it wants to avoid.

I read the reasons why the Chinese Language Society was suspended, and the only reasonable conclusion any rational person could come to is that the university is being unreasonable, petty and engaging in bullying tactics. The same applies to the gag order, which Azmi Sharom (photo) rightly points out is “repulsive and obtuse.”

The reality is that while there is a section of young people who are apathetic about the democratic process, there is a young demographic who are engaged with it, and these young people are studying in public universities.

Now, I am not saying that the UM Chinese Language Society is a political society, but by curtailing its activities for no good reason, the university and the government are just making clear how pernicious they are when it comes to enforcing rules and regulations on young people who are supposed to be acquiring an education, and all that that entails.

What exactly has the Chinese Language Society done which warrants a suspension? Have they made any statements or participated in political activities outside the confines of the university?

Have they engaged in any kind of “anti-establishment” activities? Have they rallied students to engage in the democratic process? Anyone reading this would, of course, ask: so what if they did this? Apparently, here in Malaysia, young people in universities are not allowed to be politically active. Go figure.

Just a bunch of kids exploring their culture

They are just a bunch of kids exploring their culture and language, but what does that get them in an environment where racial and religious politics seep through everything?

Do not blame me or anyone else who thinks that this is a racial issue because Malay university students have defended “Malay-only” institutions as a right, and nothing has happened to them. I am not talking about Malay students who have been victimized because of their political views, but rather, students who have been involved in activities that any rational person would realise would bring disrepute to the university.

Indeed, politicians and activists have joined them in rejecting any kind of egalitarianism that would disrupt Umno norms in this country. So, when I read that the heinous crime they committed was that there was no Malay or English translations on some sign the society put up, I can only laugh and think this is just another way the authorities are sticking it to the non-Malays.

In addition, concerning that gag order. In 2008, University Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students marched to then Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim’s office because he dared moot the idea of opening that particular educational institution to non-Malays.

This is serious “political activism” and it would bring negative implications to the university and government – if the university and government were not conspiring with the students, that is. No wonder public universities are their own little fiefdoms, where behaviour which is anathema in one university is embraced in another.

Azly Rahman, in writing of that fiasco, correctly pointed out that it is the systemic dysfunction that fuels this kind of backward thinking. “But these students are not entirely at fault. It is the ideology and perpetrators of the ideology of undur (retreat) itself that's at fault. It is the leaders implementing the retrogressive ideology that is at fault… It is the systematic indoctrination programme of ketuanan Melayu run over the decades that are advancing this UiTM philosophy of retreat.”

Then, of course, in 2002, there was that whole Akujanji loyalty pledge that faculties all over the country decided was something beneficial to sign because of “economic” implications. Lim Kit Siang (at his best) rightly claimed –“ the Akujanji for civil servants and academicians raises the question on whether the government has lost sight of ‘core’ civil service values with selection and promotion based on merit, political impartiality and giving the best independent advice to government… The pledge is even more inappropriate for public universities as it threatens their freedom to teach, research, publish and to speak extramurally.”

These bullying tactics are not new. It is the same old bull manure, recycled every few years when the regime is in trouble and easy targets are needed to demonstrate that the regime is in control. What have these measures done for the government?

If anything, it has made young people who do vote and who do go to public universities more anti-establishment. They have made academicians cautious about putting forth ideas that would have a negative impact on their economic well-being, which means that the government does not get to hear the ideas that would improve the lives of people because academicians are afraid to unpack the baggage that weighs the government down.

Ultimately, what these bullying tactics do is make Malaysians more divided and distrustful of the establishment. Incidents like these make people more likely to resort to emotional arguments instead of rational ones because the government has demonstrated that it does not behave rationally.

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.- Mkini