Students, gnōthi seauton!
A recent buka puasa discussion ended with me being branded as too naïve in my argument that tertiary students should be granted the freedom of political speech and participation.
True enough, I don’t exactly like the considered bias in the University and University Colleges act which was amended to allow the Vice Chancellor to decide which political parties the youth are allowed to join and participate in.
Why should one man, or woman, be the deciding factor when it comes to the freedom of association as granted by our Federal Constitution?
What I considered annoying in this particular conversation was the fact that the party involved insisted that the youth in this nation, especially in universities, were prone towards communism and reactionary politics.
Now, considering the reactions to a Facebook note from members of PKR, I tend to agree that perhaps there is some truth to that line of thought.
I find it truly embarrassing that we have political people who would rather propagate illegal protests by university students instead of open public speaking and debates on the matter
We are talking about members in institutes of academia. Shouldn’t students know what they are talking about before marching down Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman?
In this particular argument, it was insisted that such talks have been held for the past 30 years and that the time for talking is over. I strongly disagree with this notion. Tough beans if you’ve been talking about this issue since your Ketua Am’s days in university, he’s not exactly a member of the youth any more, is he?
There are Malaysians turning 21 every single day. You would think that some of the people, particularly in politics, would know that.
I am of the opinion that our student population has enough brains to dictate that they are students, thus intellectual discourse should be the first avenue to voice out their opinions. Obviously, the particular politicians commenting on the note thought otherwise.
While Fahmi Reza challenges the students of UM to take back “student power”, I challenge students to first understand and talk about what they wish to do with that power among firstly their peers, and then their lecturers and administrators in their institutions. As I highlighted before in a previous blog post years ago that was popularised by Nathaniel Tan, other avenues are always open for students to voice their opinions and thoughts.
Fight for little victories. After all, since PKR supporters insist on comparing their party to a newborn baby and that their internal issues are nothing more than “teething problems”, one would think that this is where the student power movement should first proceed.
Rather than ask for street protests, fight for the freedom to campaign online during student council elections in the spirit of transparency.
Rather than demanding the freedom of speech in totality, fight for the freedom of speech in the establishment of a Speaker’s Corner in all tertiary academic institutions throughout the nation.
Rather than fighting for the freedom of joining readily-made political parties, fight for the freedom to establish clubs and associations based on political doctrine to further understand what are the stances of a centrist, socialist, Marxist, communist, liberal, socialist liberal, the Third Way movement, and even perhaps anarchy.
After all, what is the bother with fighting for human rights if you are homophobic.
Why bother with liberalism if you insist on subsidies?
Why bother with social democracy if you are not for higher taxes?
Why bother with an Islamic state if you’re a Muslim who smokes or don’t even bother to contribute or ask for welfare from zakat?
This should be the major purpose of political associations in universities. To encourage students to self reflect on what their stances are and figure out what they wish to support. To gain an interest and debate what it takes to bring the country forward.
To talk about social, national and foreign policy measures that you think could and would benefit the nation should it be implemented.
After all, as Sun Tzu states in his Art of War:
It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
One could argue, in retrospect, that this is where Pakatan Rakyat fails. Thus, if students should wish to be actively participating in politics, the best advice I would give you is this:
Gnōthi seauton. Know thyself first. Do this first before joining politics.
Once you get that done, either join a political force that you can align with or, better yet, start your own.
Hafidz Baharom is a social observer who has rankled more than a few feathers. He has written for a number of publications, and is always looking to stir up discussions on things which need to be said.
True enough, I don’t exactly like the considered bias in the University and University Colleges act which was amended to allow the Vice Chancellor to decide which political parties the youth are allowed to join and participate in.
Why should one man, or woman, be the deciding factor when it comes to the freedom of association as granted by our Federal Constitution?
What I considered annoying in this particular conversation was the fact that the party involved insisted that the youth in this nation, especially in universities, were prone towards communism and reactionary politics.
Now, considering the reactions to a Facebook note from members of PKR, I tend to agree that perhaps there is some truth to that line of thought.
I find it truly embarrassing that we have political people who would rather propagate illegal protests by university students instead of open public speaking and debates on the matter
We are talking about members in institutes of academia. Shouldn’t students know what they are talking about before marching down Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman?
In this particular argument, it was insisted that such talks have been held for the past 30 years and that the time for talking is over. I strongly disagree with this notion. Tough beans if you’ve been talking about this issue since your Ketua Am’s days in university, he’s not exactly a member of the youth any more, is he?
There are Malaysians turning 21 every single day. You would think that some of the people, particularly in politics, would know that.
I am of the opinion that our student population has enough brains to dictate that they are students, thus intellectual discourse should be the first avenue to voice out their opinions. Obviously, the particular politicians commenting on the note thought otherwise.
While Fahmi Reza challenges the students of UM to take back “student power”, I challenge students to first understand and talk about what they wish to do with that power among firstly their peers, and then their lecturers and administrators in their institutions. As I highlighted before in a previous blog post years ago that was popularised by Nathaniel Tan, other avenues are always open for students to voice their opinions and thoughts.
Fight for little victories. After all, since PKR supporters insist on comparing their party to a newborn baby and that their internal issues are nothing more than “teething problems”, one would think that this is where the student power movement should first proceed.
Rather than ask for street protests, fight for the freedom to campaign online during student council elections in the spirit of transparency.
Rather than demanding the freedom of speech in totality, fight for the freedom of speech in the establishment of a Speaker’s Corner in all tertiary academic institutions throughout the nation.
Rather than fighting for the freedom of joining readily-made political parties, fight for the freedom to establish clubs and associations based on political doctrine to further understand what are the stances of a centrist, socialist, Marxist, communist, liberal, socialist liberal, the Third Way movement, and even perhaps anarchy.
After all, what is the bother with fighting for human rights if you are homophobic.
Why bother with liberalism if you insist on subsidies?
Why bother with social democracy if you are not for higher taxes?
Why bother with an Islamic state if you’re a Muslim who smokes or don’t even bother to contribute or ask for welfare from zakat?
This should be the major purpose of political associations in universities. To encourage students to self reflect on what their stances are and figure out what they wish to support. To gain an interest and debate what it takes to bring the country forward.
To talk about social, national and foreign policy measures that you think could and would benefit the nation should it be implemented.
After all, as Sun Tzu states in his Art of War:
It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
One could argue, in retrospect, that this is where Pakatan Rakyat fails. Thus, if students should wish to be actively participating in politics, the best advice I would give you is this:
Gnōthi seauton. Know thyself first. Do this first before joining politics.
Once you get that done, either join a political force that you can align with or, better yet, start your own.
Hafidz Baharom is a social observer who has rankled more than a few feathers. He has written for a number of publications, and is always looking to stir up discussions on things which need to be said.
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