YOURSAY ‘Don't academicians have the right to support or not support the gov’t.’
Minister doubts integrity of Umcedel polls
Anonymous_3faa: It is Malays like former higher education deputy minister Saifuddin Abdullah who represents the moderate majority among his race.
The far-right minority Malays are vigorously and loudly pushing their extremist agenda through organisations like Perkasa, Isma, etc.
And the present Umno leaders are accommodating such extremists either by their compliance through their silence, as manifested by PM Najib Razak, or through blatant abuse of the legal processes.
If the moderate Malays do not come out and make their stand known, Malaysia may follow the fate of Iraq and Syria. This battle here is actually a proxy fight among the Malays.
Which side will dominate will determine the fate of Malaysia in the near future. The non-Malay minorities are but just collateral damage in this monolithic battle in the Malay divide.
Rojak: Asking a professor to leave an academic post is not an affront to academic freedom if the removal is based on an assessment by the professor's academic peers that his or her work is academically suspect. I await the minister's detailed reasoning with interest.
Odin: Well, Housing, Local Government and Urban Well-being Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan, get Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UiTM) to conduct surveys after this.
Better still, get Perkasa and Isma as well to do it. Doubtless their methodology will be superior and the results of their surveys eminently acceptable to you.
TC Chan: On what basis does the minister doubt Umcedel's integrity?
I suspect there will be no doubt if the surveys favoured BN. And they will not be biased too if the surveys favoured BN.
RZC: Don't academicians have the right to support or not support the government of the day? Shouldn’t they have the academic freedom to do so?
Rahman just does not like the poll results if they are negative of BN. We all know that and we all can see he and the powers-that-be are making excuses for themselves and their failures.
The polls don't lie.
Umcedel chief asked to resign, Saifuddin quits
Casey: When the government says to the people: this you may not read; this you must not see; this you are forbidden to know; then the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how noble the underlying objective is.
But obviously, the usurpation of institutes of higher learning bears no resemblance of anything noble. For you can't have a university without allowing free speech, even though at times it can be terribly uncomfortable to the government.
If students are not going to hear controversial ideas on college campuses, they're not going to be prepared for the real society. The language of political discourse is part of the education process.
SSDhaliwal: What's next? Burning of books that promote critical thinking, social injustices and rule of law?
As it is, our students nowadays lack the depth of critical and analytical thinking as they are spoon fed from school right up to universities, and often their results are exaggerated and not in line with their intelligence and true academic performance.
SusahKes: If Universiti Malaya Centre for Democracy and Elections (Umcedel) director Redzuan Othman was 'forced' to resign his position due to reporting survey results that were unfavourable to Umno-BN, I can imagine the rest of the office bearers who may massage statistics so as to stay safe on their jobs.
That is why very few believe some of the statistics being dished out, for example, the inflation rates. It also tells us why many department heads and director-generals avoid going against the grain.
Apa Ini?: Thank you, Redzuan and Saifuddin for being men of principle.
Shame on Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and others in the BN leadership who support him with their silence or otherwise. What a disgraceful, uneducated lot.
Siang Malam: Universiti Malaya (UM) has lost its status as a premier academic centre - now it has lost its independence.
I am not proud anymore as a UM graduate in 1982 - the present set of academics are ‘kaki bodeks’ (apple polishers) and are only appointed to their comfortable seats for their ‘bodeking’.
Fair Play: The recipes that a reigning regime is about to end soon are as follows - they only see what they want to see; only believe what they want to believe; and only hear what they want to hear.
With such an independent mind, Redzuan would be welcomed with open arms by private universities that are true to their role and responsibility for providing a critical education for their graduates.
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