I disagree with Jane Dollah who urges students to excel in studies before engaging in politics ('Students should get their priorities right', July 9). The writer concludes that students should concentrate on their studies, find good jobs, and then decide whether to enter the 'dirty world of politics or not'.

What does it mean to be a student? To be one with the single-minded goal of excelling in exams for the sake of a 'good' high-paying career? A student myself, I believe there is more to tertiary education than examinations.

Study does not just involve knowledge - theories passed down from our teachers - but includes both knowledge and praxis.

Moral or religious studies students, for example, cannot maintain their integrity if they believe what they are taught but do not live according to their beliefs .It is ironic that it is due to this lack of integrity that the world of politics is 'dirty', as Jane herself labels it.

Is our vision of the future one where Vision 2020 is achieved with rakyat who prioritise materialism and personal achievement? I believe that we are ' rakyat ' first before we are students.

We are human beings first before we are scholars. There is not just a need for personal advancement, but societal advancement. In the midst of the individualism and materialism that besieges our tanah air (motherland), there is a need for not just individual transformation, but structural transformation as well.