RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: Don’s Sacking Fuels Charges of Racism in Academia

By Baradan Kuppusamy Reprint | | Print |

Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR , Aug 8 2005 (IPS) - It took the intervention of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi before Universiti Malaya approved leave for a prominent academic to take up a prestigious United Nations assignment.

Universiti Malaya offered no explanation for the refusal to allow Terence Gomez a two-year leave to lead a UN research project but the economist, who specialises in state-market relationships, was a critic of government policies.

Once a premier university, Universiti Malaya did not quite cover itself with glory through the incident, especially because it occasioned a public outcry, a couple of months ago, at the shoddy treatment meted out to a prominent academic.

Many said such an event could not have happened in any other country – the prime minister having to intervene to get leave for a don – a mundane and routine matter in any university and one that should have been automatically granted.

If there were hints at academia being influenced by racism – a touchy subject in Malaysia’s plural society which is dominated by indigenous ethnic Malays – these only grew louder by the inexplicable sacking of yet another prominent non-Malay academic that soon followed.

Prof. P. Ramasamy at the Centre for History, Political Science and Strategic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia was sacked days after he suggested that Malaysian universities lacked autonomy, were intolerant of dissent and even racist.

Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said it has become a feature of life in Malaysia to sideline, discriminate, punish and, now, sack outspoken academics.

”There is a deep culture of fear, subservience and mediocrity in our public universities,” Lim told IPS. He said the core problem was that since the 1980s university vice-chancellors and even some academics have been political appointees.

Following a now familiar pattern, the university offered no explanation for dispensing with Ramasamy’s services after 25 years of distinguished service.

Ramsamy’s was possibly the last voice of dissent in Malaysian academia after the Terence episode. Earlier professors Wang Gung Wu and K. S. Jomo resigned and left for greener pastures after they found themselves sidelined – Jomo to become assistant secretary-general for economic development at the UN.

Ramasamy, 56, who specialises in the study of national liberation movements and maintains close links with the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and the rebels in Indoensia’s Aceh province, retired in May but received a monthly contract which was expected to last until May 2007, subject to approval by the university and the Department of Higher Education.

The pre-eminent position he held could be gauged by the fact that in 2003 he was appointed to the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers’ Constitutional Affairs Committee to help draft a proposal for an interim administration in Sri Lanka’s northeast.

He also acted as an observer in recent peace talks over Indonesia’s Aceh province but said Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education had cautioned him not to participate again.

”I have been victimised and discriminated against for speaking up against injustices,” said Ramasamy, an ethnic Indian, in an interview to IPS. ”My frequent criticisms of the government could be a reason for the sudden termination”.

”Promotions and job security depends, not on academic excellence, but how well staff cultivate ties with government officials,” Palaniswamy said, adding that he ” refused to walk that path”.

Said Ramasamy : ”I received about two warning letters from the university authorities about my criticisms of the government, but I refuse to be cowed”.

According to a letter he received from the university registrar dated Jul. 27, his services would stand terminated within a month.

Ramasamy, who has published four books and acted as a consultant to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), is demanding to be reinstated. ”I refuse to appeal the sacking,” he said, adding his lawyers were looking at a legal suit.

Opposition leader Lim said academics are ”selected for their loyalty to the party and the government and these individuals expect similar loyalty from students and lecturers.”

Lim is calling for a special meeting of lawmakers this week to discuss Ramasamy’s sacking and the ”deep crisis” in the country’s higher education.

Malaysia’s 17 public universities have been beset for some time now with low academic standards, unemployable graduates and political infighting.

Badawi, who is gradually making changes in the police force and the bloated bureaucracy, is also shaking up government linked-companies that are in deep financial malaise. He created the Higher Education Ministry after assuming power in 2003 to infuse a change in the campuses and the education system.

Although he has urged academics to speak up, there is strong resistance from within the ruling United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) and the politically- protected campus bureaucracy.

Critics are speaking of ”saving” Malaysia’s universities that they say favours quantity (number of graduates) over quality (research work). They say political interference has killed intellectual curiosity. They want basic democracy, human rights and autonomy restored.

Student activity i.e. association, political participation and social discussions were severely curtailed by the Universities and University Colleges Act that was introduced in 1971 following student demonstrations against rural poverty. Under this act, even the possession of a loud hailer requires a permit.

Academics are required to swear loyalty and pledge to follow the rules in a procedure called ‘Aku Janji’ (I Promise). They need government permission to attend regional and international conferences.

The Statutory Bodies Discipline and Surcharge Act prohibit academics from make comments ”outside or within the university premises” on government policies without the permission of the relevant ministers.

A lecturer can be fined, suspended or sacked if guilty of speaking against government policy.

Besides, university vice-chancellors are all political appointees, the critics say.

”A vice chancellor has to be an academic and a world class intellectual leader to lead the university which is the center of intellectual life of a nation,” said Dr Ramasamy. ”Academics should be chosen by an independent board.”

Because of the lack of transparency, universities are under attack for racial discrimination and favoritism that favours native Malays over minority ethnic Chinese and Indians. Such accusations have marred every university recruitment and promotion exercise in recent years.

Of Malaysia’s 18 million people 65 percent is Malay, 20 percent ethnic Chinese and ten percent of Indian stock.

‘Malaysiakini’, an independent news website investigated university performance recently and concluded that a major revamp was urgently needed.

”Promotions appear to be based on personal relationships and political affiliations rather than on professionalism. Leadership positions within universities have become venues to fawn over politicians rather than to educate,” Malaysiakini quoted Bridget Welsh as saying.

Bridget, John Hopkins University assistant professor with extensive connections in Malaysia, opined that standards have dropped as a result of political loyalty being preferred over is preferred over academic performance.

A few rebel academics have called for a Public Commission of Inquiry to investigate and return transparency and accountability to academia.

The universities have churned out thousands of graduates who, industry says, are unemployable. The reason? Graduates may have good grades but can’t even hold intelligent conversation, potential employers say.