special issue column My parents managed to only complete Standard Three of their education poverty and the nature of 'human capital revolution' during the 1950s did not afford them the luxury of being in an ivory tower.

One became a taxi driver and one a factory worker in Singapore assembling microchips for a German multinational corporation. They would leave for work at four in the morning and come home at seven at night. That was the story of their lives I am sure they had the dream of entering a place called "the university".

They spent their time - hard times - that took the toll on their personal lives, raising their children to "enter the university": the "ivory tower".

But they had an intelligent hunch they believed the university will be the place that will make everybody come out smarter and able to think critically, creatively, and altruistically. They did not have the knowledge of political-economy to think that the university is closely linked to the politics of the day.

An "ivory tower" connotes an institution that will make human beings smarter as they pass through the rituals designed by those who own the tower.

I still believe what my parents believed that the university ought to make people come out smarter and able to solve problems in as many ways as they possibly can. The university ought to make them able to articulate ideas, expound ideas, and make the graduates closer to the "masses" and not to the "power elites".

The university ought to make its graduate understand the meaning of human liberation. The university ought to help that human being have all the qualities mentioned and at the same time help him/her have a decent job; one that will evolve into a career and ultimately become a calling.

Like my mother especially, who would say " Belajar lah pandai pandai Ah-Lik, nanti boleh masuk universiti " ('Study hard Ah-Lik, you can then enter the university'). I too believe in this mantra which says that universities must be the place to make one more intelligent.