opinion
Lately Malaysian public universities have been bombarded with four issues which attracted some concerns among some students, lecturers and politicians. First, it seems that Malay students are not interested in learning and getting better grades in their undergraduate programs.Second, some Malay students are ungrateful, aggressive and militant towards Malay ruling political leaders and the government of Malaysia. Third, some Malay students are supporting opposition parties and fourth, some lecturers are standing behind some students supporting their aggressiveness and militancy.
The first issue has produced some negative psychological effects on some Malay students as well as their lecturers. The students have complained that some Malay lecturers do not want to be called Malays but instead Javanese, Banjaris, Minangkabaus and others since the Malays have been associated with laziness by the British in Malaya and by other quarters with having a low interest and ability in academic areas such as science, mathematics and engineering.
These negative attributes have been associated to Malay students by some Malay politicians and lecturers. The word 'complacency' can be construed to mean lazy and carefree.
The second issue needs some explanation as to why some Malay students are considered ungrateful, aggressive and militant. It is said that the students are under the heavy influence of the opposition political parties even though the opposition politicians are not allowed on campus.
The public universities, however, allow ruling politicians into their campuses for non-political purposes. Another quarter says that the students are aggressive and militant due to militant groups such as Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM). Still another stresses that the students are militant because they consider the present government as 'infidels' and they are very eager to fight and establish an Islamic state in Malaysia.
Right to support
Are they? Isn't militancy a very subjective word? It really depends on times and circumstances. If the case of Dr Mahathir can be used to prove the subjectivity of the word militancy, please accept it. If it cannot be used, please disregard it.
In Malaysian political history especially Umno history, Mahathir himself was considered a militant young man when he criticised the leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman. Mahathir was sacked by Umno because Tunku did not like his ideas and approaches. However, after Tunku was no longer leading Umno, Mahathir was accepted back in.
After which the word 'militancy' was disassociated from Mahathir. Umno members later nominated Mahathir when Tun Hussein Onn resigned.
The third issue cannot be easily understood. The students argue that they have the right to support any political party registered and permitted by Malaysian law. They are above 18 years of age and matured in their choice of political parties which they want to lend their support. They stress that if other students can support ruling political parties, why can't they support legal opposition parties?
In addition, these students stress that Malaysia has decided to adopt and practice a parliamentary democracy political system which allows the formation and registration of political parties which intend to take part in the federal and state elections.
Moreover, many students do not think that their political attitude remains aligned with opposition parties after they graduate from their respective public universities. They point out past examples where the student leaders who were very aggressive in opposing the government but joined ruling parties after graduation.
Certain reasons
This is true. For example, one student leader who was 'aggressive' in the early '70s later joined Umno and became the second most important man in the party before he was sacked and imprisoned by the Malaysian courts.
Why can't the present ruling politicians see in our students some changes after they graduate from their respective universities? Sometimes people become involved in a particular political party for certain reasons and when those reasons are no longer needed or relevant they leave that particular party.
Mohd Asri Muda left PAS which he had led for many years. He then joined Umno. So did Nakhaie Ahmad. People are generally very pragmatic in choosing their political parties. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah led Semangat 46 for few years and then he left that party to join Umno again and Umno accepted both him and his S46 members. Dr Rais Yatim is among the former members of S46; he is now entrusted by the prime minister to hold the post of minister dealing with legal matters.
The fourth issue, lecturers supporting their students' activism, has seen some bad implications. One public university in Malaysia was reported to have sacked one lecturer and taken other forms of disciplinary action against 47 other officials ( New Straits Times , Sept 6). Another public university has begun investigations to prove that 10 lecturers and students were involved in militant activities against the present ruling government.
Any public university which decides to take action against its staff for any alleged breach of duty must make ensure that the staff are given the opportunity to exercise their legal and constitutional rights to avoid any injustice to them.
There are two legal precedents where staff of two public universities who were sacked took their cases to court and won. One was from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UTM) in Kuala Lumpur and another from Universiti Utara Malaysia in Kedah. The one from UTM is presently the PAS president.
ISO necessary?
In addition to the above four issues, public universities in Malaysia also have other issues which do not attract much attention including the ISO regulation, new contracts for lecturers, and standardisation and regulation for academic promotions.
The news has been spread that one public university in Malaysia is working hard to gain the ISO certificate. When I was in Brisbane in May, the ISO question was posed to some professors from Indonesia and Thailand who were there for an international seminar on tertiary education.
They pointed out that universities in Europe, Australia and North America are well-known and eminent not because of their ISO certificates. They do not exist for the ISO certification. Why do universities in Southeast Asia need ISO certificates?
Those professors claimed that ISO certificates are the creation of western businessmen to be imposed on Asian businesses who intend to export their products to the Western countries. The ISO certificates are not cheap in terms of money, effort and time. A certain amount of money must be paid to obtain the certificate which is valid for only a limited time.
Universities which are granted the certificates need to maintain those certificates by intermittently inviting and paying the issuers of the certificates to come and evaluate and re-certify their certification again and again.
Regarding the new contracts for lecturers at public universities, its real aim is still vague to many lecturers. Lecturers argue that they have already been placed under many directives and regulations, and are these not sufficient to make them loyal to their profession and institutions?
Different standards
In my understanding, lecturers who influence their students to go out and demonstrate against the present government have done an injustice to their students. Lecturers should not mislead students into making their future bleak as under present laws, students who are arrested by police for illegally gathering and charged in court cannot continue their studies while awaiting the court's judgement. If the court convicts the students, they are no longer eligible to be students at public universities.
And concerning the standardisation of rules for academic promotions - from lecturers to associate professors and then to professors - some lecturers wonder why certain lecturers from one public university are easily promoted to higher academic ranks when they move to another public university.
Do public universities in Malaysia have different standards or preferences when promoting lecturers to higher academic ranks?
IBRAHIM ABU BAKAR is a senior lecturer and Academic Staff Association head at a local university. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from a Canada's McGill University.
