COMMENT The Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 claims to “develop 21st Century skills such as critical and creative thinking” and further laments that our graduates lack critical thinking and communication skills.

How does this noble intention square with the latest pronouncement by the inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar that he wants to ban a course on Marxism organised by Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)?

Ever since that most catastrophic crisis of world capitalism in 2008, the revival in interest in Marxist analysis has seen the sales of ‘Das Kapital’, Marx’s masterful critique of political economy soar to unprecedented levels. Young people in the West are especially keen to know the source of the capitalist crisis as workers and other taxpayers have bailed out the banks to keep the capitalist system going amidst increasing debt, job insecurity and austerity measures.