an academic started off with idealism

in a classroom in a liberal nation

the spirit of the free mind prevails

he is intoxicated perhaps

by the fact that man is born free

and everywhere he is in chains

then he goes back to his culture

he lets society...

and those ignorant of what a free mind means dictates

his thinking

his writing

his scholarship

he then begins to see the beauty

not in leading

but in following

not in liberating the minds of others

but in shackling the minds of the young

- but he is still alone

in his newly-found ignorance

still a safe situation for the nation

he sees no need in opening up minds

he sees the need in toeing the line

then he becomes the leader

he becomes the dean

he is no longer james dean

a rebel with or without a cause

he takes pride

in taking sides

he hears voices from above

from the Ignorance

he thinks god hath spoken

he then sees the need

to plant the seeds

of Authority unquestioned by those he leads

he is now empowered

to dis-empower

the powerless

those young minds

those young academicians

yearning to know the meaning

of thinking freely

so that society will breed mediocrity

and fed like cattle

and be given more grass

so that Man will be happy

and the nation safe and secure

from thinkers espousing anarchy

- then the dean is rewarded

through both his hard work

and his gameplan to rise to the top

by trampling on others

and by acting like a glorified game warden

he plays the game politicians play

he does this in multiple replays

until he gets what he wants

to become the leader of all the leaders

of the dull and ignorant

and then he becomes the leader of all leaders of education

and that is when

there will be trouble

big time - for the nation

because dead and gone is idealism

of the need to help the young think and to help minds remain open

because that is what will happen

when there is no revolution

of even for mental improvement

of critical sensibility and the offering of thinking -- in multiple dimensions

and how will it all end for this nation?

you and i have seen

not only the germinating of the seeds of destruction

but the coming of total chaos

because and only because

the intellectuals are now fighting

not anymore for any noble cause

but for more and more rewards

in service of a Darker Force

whose life knows no limit

for Acquired Ignorance

let alone the Illusion of Wisdom ...

ameen to us all

ameen to us all

ameen

- ar

Drilling this concept into politicians' thick-skulled brains

This not easy - and I still cannot understand why.

I am talking about the freedom of the citizens and academicians to express their opinions on matters dear to their future; so that a better one will be left as legacy.

Fundamental to human nature and natural to our rights, after freedom from hunger and homelessness and torture, is free speech.

That comes become the ‘state’ has agreed to exchange this rights in a social contract that promises individual protection from the state in exchange for ‘votes’ so that the government can assume that it has this ‘general will’ or a mandate of sovereignty, guided authority, and sensibility to exercise power on the dis-empowered. This is the essence of the social contract between the ruler and the ruled.

But why is this simple concept so difficult to understand, especially in the case of the academician criminalised and prosecuted for expressing his/her views? What is the logic of this madness of the intoxication of power of those high on some unknown intoxicant and arrogance allowed to make decision on the lives of sensible and noble citizens whose only crime is expressing what is right to be expressed, namely speaking truth to power?

Where is our understanding of what education, dialogue, and critical sensibility should mean? Did the oppressors not go to school at all and learn the very basic idea of the constitution in regard to freedom of speech?

When they were in school, didn't they have professors and teachers whose life are devoted to speaking truth to power intellectually, encourage them to speak freely, cultivate their critical sensibility - so that they will not become leaders who abuse power at their whims and fancies?

I mean - for these thick-skulled politicians, didn’t they have professors like Azmi Sharom at all?

This - I cannot understand... for a country crying to be known asa  High Income World Class Nation.

DR AZLY RAHMAN, born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York City) doctorate in International Education Development and Masters degrees in four areas: Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 350 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience in Malaysia and the United States spans over a wide range of subjects, from elementary to graduate education. He has edited and authored six books; Multiethnic Malaysia: Past, Present, Future (2009), Thesis on Cyberjaya: Hegemony and Utopianism in a Southeast Asian State (2012), The Allah Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity (2013), Dark Spring: Ideological Roots of Malaysia’s GE13 (2013),

a first Malay publication Kalimah Allah Milik Siapa?: Renungan dan Nukilan Tentang Malaysia di Era Pancaroba (2014), and Controlled Chaos: Essays on Mahathirism, Multimedia Super Corridor and Malaysia's 'New Politics' (forthcoming 2014). He currently resides in the United States where he teaches courses in Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Political Science, and American Studies. Twitter , blog .