Malaysiakini's report of the pro-government Students' Representative Council of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has only reinforced the fears among educationists, parents, politicians, and others that many of our local university students are ill-equipped to face the challenges of the new world of globalisation.

What is even scarier is that it appears that the Higher Education Ministry, and also Umno, condone, if not encourage, the training of our future generations in this mould: docile, domesticated, and unabashedly meek. After all, these are the kind of student leaders that they eagerly propped up in the recent students' elections in their attempt to curb and control student activism.

Of what hope does the country have if many of its students share the view espoused by the UPM's students council vice-president Sulhairil Hafiz Sulaiman who said that it was not the role of the students to demand for a review of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA). This piece of legislation has been known to be largely responsible for emasculating academic and intellectual vigour among academics and students.

Worse, Sulhairil even said that he would follow rather blindly what the government leaders have to say: 'If the government leaders think the Act should be reviewed then review it, if not, there is no need to review it. We don't have any suggestions; let the leaders decide.' Are we witnessing the making of cows (which can be pulled in all directions) as opposed to generating truly student leaders?

Is this the mark of our future leaders? They don't seem to have the initiative to think critically, or the capacity to look for solutions. As students, they should be critical of almost everything - the government, the opposition and others. The young mind needs to be constantly challenged so that it can face and overcome the many obstacles in life. Is it any wonder then that many of our local graduates are unemployed and presumably unemployable?

A university ought to be a place where ideas flourish, and are encouraged to flourish. Here, differences of opinions should be of a premium value, not something that the university authorities look upon with utter contempt, especially the Students' Affairs Department.

Critical academics and students should not be marked by the authorities as troublemakers and sidelined (if not punished) as a result. Needless to say, the meeting of differing ideas makes a university an intellectually exciting place. For such things to exist in our local universities, they would require academic autonomy, among other things.

So is Malaysia still thinking of being a centre of academic excellence in the region, with its universities ranked highly in the world's hierarchy of educational institutions? Dream on.