Rafizi slams critics, shields his viewpoints on TITAS

(The Malaysian Times) – Pandan Member of Parliament Rafizi Ramli, slammed at critics who had attacked him and defended his viewpoints to the implementation of the Islamic and Asian Civilisation Studies (TITAS) at private tertiary institutions (IPTS).

Rafizi who is also the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) strategic director wrote in to one of the online news portal and backed his claims with data. He was responding to two oppositions who in the past has spoken out against the TITAS implementation.

“My support for TITAS stems from this very simple premise: I do not see anything wrong if we compel our youngsters to learn more from each other and about each other,” said Rafizi.

He then provided a table on the breakdown of Titas’s syllabus, showing how its “Islamic content” is equivalent to the other topics on Malay, Chinese and Indian civilisations, with 14 percent weightage of the total course.

Rafizi also recorded gratitude to Dr Lim Teck Ghee and S. Thayaparan for their views on the position he took with regards to the implementation of TITAS at private tertiary institutions (IPTS).

Citing on his own experience on studying and working in foreign countries and various religion, he was not converted. In fact,  he became more grateful of the Islamic identity in a foreign land.

 “I came out a more sensitive and confident Muslim precisely because I understood Christianity, Judaism and other religions better,” said Rafizi.  It also provided him with the strength and sense of solidarity with others.

Every now and then, Rafizi made sure that his interns came from the different faiths so that they learned from each other. “One of my earliest interns (Galvin Wong who is now studying in Australia) taught me more about the Christian community in this country than I had ever learnt from any textbooks,” added Rafizi.

Stressing his point, Rafizi said we should encourage our young people to be open-minded to learn about each other and of each other’s religions and cultures.

Rafizi said  his experience as a Muslim minority in a Western (predominantly Judo-Christian) society has been positive and is confident that if done correctly, it will have a positive impact in our society too.

“If we can agree on this premise, then we can concentrate on the practical problems that often cloud our judgment on TITAS,” added Rafizi.

Touching on the syllabus, Rafizai said if the concern is on the alleged unfair representation of other civilisations or disproportionate Islamic content in the syllabus, then the government should focus on fixing the syllabus.

He added if the concern is on the lack of manpower to teach the subject effectively, then the government e should focus on mitigation plan to roll this out to IPTS.

Against this backdrop, Rafizi believed that it was fair that a government of the day interferes with private tertiary institutions (as they had done with the public institutions in the past) to compel a subject that can promote understanding and greater appreciation among the younger Malaysians.

Whether it should be a universal and uniform syllabus imposed on all or private institutions are allowed to develop their own syllabus that later pass the accreditation process is a subject for further debate.

But the debate is on the practical aspect of the implementation, not on the opposition to a subject that can promote understanding and appreciation of each other.

How Islamic-bias is the TITAS syllabus?

Based on the structure of the courses at the public universities, TITAS is taught over a period of 14 weeks. The breakdown of the time allocated for each component of the subject (hence a degree of emphasis) is as follows:

● Topic: Introduction to civilisation — definition, interaction between civilisation, growth and fall of civilisations; number of weeks allocated (2); weightage (14 per cent);

● Islamic civilisation — definition, development of Islamic civilisation, contribution, contemporary issues in Malaysia; number of weeks allocated (2); weightage (14 per cent)

● Malay civilisation — definition, Malay civilisation as the foundation, contribution, contemporary issues in Malaysia; number of weeks allocated (2); weightage (14 per cent)

● Indian civilisation — definition, values and society system, achievements and contributions, contemporary issues in Malaysia; number of weeks allocated (2); weightage (14 per cent)

● Chinese civilisation — definition, values and society system, achievements and contributions, contemporary issues in Malaysia; number of weeks allocated (2); weightage (14 per cent)

● Western civilisation — emergence, value system, achievement and contributions; number of weeks allocated (1); weightage (7 per cent)

● Contemporary issues of civilisations — concept of knowledge, challenges of globalization, survival of Islamic and Asian civilisations; number of weeks allocated (2); weightage (14 per cent)

● Summary — building civilisation past, present and future; number of weeks allocated (1); weightage (7 per cent)

The Islamic content of the syllabus is equivalent to the respective contents on Malay, Chinese and Indian civilisations. In fact, in a study carried out in 2002 in UUM to establish the effectiveness of TITAS, a majority of respondents surveyed believed the syllabus did not have enough Islamic content and had failed to raise an understanding of Islam!

Rafizi said he would like to see Malaysia made up of younger Malaysians who understand multiculturalism. For that to happen, it made common sense for them to learn different cultures (even if it is imposed initially).

Prior to this, several MCA and DAP leaders have come out opposing the move to make Titas compulsory effective this September, with MCA even invoking the Federal Constitution to state the Chinese-only party’s displeasure.

MCA publicity chief Heng Seai Kie had even argued that the subject could incite religious tension in Malaysia.