YOURSAY | Going against the 'pak turut' mould

YOURSAY | 'A good education system should cultivate citizens who dare to ask the right questions.'

COMMENT | Why did a student asking about corruption go viral?

Exile: Khoo Ying Hooi’s question deserves serious research - perhaps several PhDs examining corruption, political culture and why a student questioning authority attracts such attention.

Thinkers across political and religious traditions have long examined these underlying problems.

On the left, Frantz Fanon warned in the book titled “The Wretched of the Earth” that independence could leave a national elite pursuing its own enrichment. Politician Antonio Gramsci examined how ruling groups maintain authority through consent as well as coercion.

From the liberal tradition, UK politician Lord Acton warned that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

UK politician Edmund Burke distinguished individual wrongdoing from corruption embedded in the governing system. His argument helps explain why replacing individuals may achieve little when institutional habits remain intact.

Islamic scholarship offers an equally important perspective. In the “Muqaddimah”, Arab Tunisian scholar Ibn Khaldun explained how injustice by those in authority undermines livelihoods and ultimately ruins civilisation.

The Quran condemns bribing authorities to appropriate others’ wealth unjustly (2:188). A hadith recorded in "Sunan Abi Dawud" honours speaking a word of justice before an oppressive ruler.

These traditions offer different explanations, but together they provide rich resources for investigating why corruption persists, why people accommodate it and why someone challenging it becomes a public sensation.

Our emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics should be matched by serious support for the humanities and social sciences.

Technical competence is essential, but so is the capacity to examine history, institutions, morality and power. Universities should give students the intellectual tools and freedom to investigate these questions.

Ummi Umairah Bakhit deserves recognition for asking the question. A healthy education system should cultivate that confidence widely, until asking those in power to account for corruption becomes an ordinary act of citizenship.

Doubtful: Why did it go viral? Because our education system teaches students to be “pak turut” (subservient), with zero critical thinking. Ummi is an exception.

Politically appointed academic leaders are there to make sure no student steps outside their control and strict perimeter.

We must thank the old man (former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad) for stifling generations of academic freedom and student activism by introducing the Universities and University Colleges Act.

FitnessPro: Why the backlash against Ummi over her remarks about corruption?

Because Umno has no answer to such a question. If there are issues and there are no solutions, create a distraction - use Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh or blame DAP.

That has been the tactic all along. Then came a right-thinking Malay youth. She came asking the right question.

Umno is never prepared for such an intellectual challenge, let alone PAS. For any serious discussion requiring intellect, we can leave PAS out of the equation.

EmEmKay: The episode of a student going viral simply for asking about corruption exposes how abnormal our “normal” has become.

On one hand, many Malaysians praise her courage because they recognise how rare it is to see a young person publicly demand accountability.

On the other hand, we have Negeri Sembilan ruler Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir openly expressing disappointment that there are still segments of society who continue to support individuals already convicted of corruption.

The irony is stark. The rakyat admire a student for saying what should be obvious, while a constitutional monarch is forced to remind the public of basic moral standards.

The irony is even more striking when a political party is willing to align itself with dismissed undangs (chieftains) in an effort to undermine or unseat a legitimate ruler.

This reveals that, for some political actors, the pursuit of power outweighs both principle and respect for institutions and due process.

Sealthedeal: Why the backlash, and was it coordinated? If so, by whom? This is a question that needs answering. Can we expect the MCMC to probe it?

On the Other Hand: Some of them were busy having teh tarik with the main, now-convicted culprit, and publicly defending him and 1MDB.

These same individuals appear shameless in their public pontifications on morality while having a very different, chequered past that has been seen by all and sundry.

Fml: Because of her “bravery”, let’s hope this is a fresh awakening to challenge the establishment, especially among students of higher learning.

At least the negative reactions here are only in texts, compared with the violence and physical abuse perpetrated by the left to silence opposing views in so-called freedom-of-speech first-world countries.

Lionking: The chaps who tried to intimidate her are just psychopaths and have no consideration for the country.

They have only self-interest, trying to sow fear so they can rule forever. Treason is the right word for all these corrupt elites. They should be kept in prison for a long time.

Gabbar: She asked a question that all politicians should be asking.

She directed her questions to so-called leaders who should be fighting against corruption but are now doing their best to get the national embarrassment, corrupt leader, out of jail to enjoy a luxurious life after being proven beyond reasonable doubt to have looted the country.

She did not mince her words when she said that donating to a corrupt looter is “stupidity”. And she was right.

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