Bollocks! What academic freedom?

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jul 19, 2014

So, what now? Are we going to send Kassim Ahmad to jail for exercising his academic freedom? And is this taskforce of PAS going to fight for the charges against Kassim Ahmad to be dropped? Yeah, right, and PAS will also fight for the freedom of Muslims to convert to Christianity.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The news item below is quite interesting. PAS is setting up a taskforce “to address the dangers of political interference in education”.

“We are drafting an action plan soon for us to take appropriate actions to not just to fight for academic freedom but also to create awareness among the public about the dangers of political restraints on our education,” said PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub.

Salahuddin added, “We want our public universities to excel in the future and to be given their freedom. I dream and we all hope that one day there will be an academic here who can win the Nobel Laureate.”

My response to this is, “Bollocks! What academic freedom?” Academic freedom should be just that, academic freedom, meaning absolute academic freedom. Salahuddin’s version of ‘academic freedom’ is a very narrow interpretation of fighting for only the freedom to criticise the government.

First of all, never mind whether you want academic freedom to criticise the government or absolute academic freedom to criticise both the government and the opposition. It still remains that the academic freedom we are talking about here is confined only to politics. Hence it is not academic freedom in the real sense of the word.

If PAS is really serious and sincere about fighting for academic freedom then this freedom should not be confined only to politics. It should be a wider and more absolute form of academic freedom, like what we have here in the UK. There must also be academic freedom to study, research, talk about, write, etc., on all matters. And this must include religion and other matters as well (such as social issues).

Scholars, would-be-scholars, students (graduate and postgraduate), etc., must be allowed to research and write about matters concerning religion. They must be allowed to look at things from the academic perspective and not be ‘locked in’ or shackled by theological beliefs and banned from straying beyond those boundaries.

For example, take the issue of the New Testament. I have read dozens of books written by scholars (mostly with PhD and some staunch Christians as well) who have done research on the New Testament (and some on the Old Testament as well) that dispute or question the authenticity of these so-called ‘Holy Books’. Some have even labelled these books as myths and fantasies.

Why can’t Malaysian scholars be allowed to do the same?

Then we have the Hadith (which can be put into the same category as the Gospels). Why can’t we conduct research on the Hadith and publish our views? If we do we will be arrested and charged in court, just like how Kassim Ahmad was. Why is Kassim Ahmad being treated like a criminal when his only ‘crime’ is to conduct scholarly research, publish this research, and talk about what he had published?

As I said, “Bollocks! What academic freedom?”

PAS should not waste its time with taskforces and fighting for academic freedom unless they are prepared to allow absolute academic freedom. Academic freedom to just criticise the government is not academic freedom. Academic freedom to just talk about politics is also not academic freedom.

Academic freedom is when we are allowed to research, publish and talk about whether God does exist and whether the so-called prophets are merely legends and whether the so-called holy books are the word of God or the fabrication of imposters who were merely spinning a yarn.

That is no-bollocks academic freedom.

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PAS sets up bi-partisan taskforce on academic freedom

(Malay Mail Online) – Advocating academic freedom, PAS formed today a taskforce to address the dangers of political interference in education.

The initiative follows the alleged sacking of a Universiti Malaya dean whose surveys on politics allegedly irked Putrajaya.

He added that the taskforce would invite academics, education experts and leaders from both sides of the political divide, as well as education groups.

Salahuddin, who said he would chair the panel, said his party will contribute at least five other members, including party Research Centre executive director Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

Despite denials from two federal ministers of any “Putrajaya interference”, who claimed the survey reports were not significant enough and did not merit Putrajaya’s attention, Professor Datuk Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman has claimed he was sacked as director of Universiti Malaya’s Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMcedel).

He was allegedly terminated before the expiration of his contract.

Today, Salahuddin also stressed the importance of academic freedom for Malaysian universities to excel globally and contribute “original and fundamental” ideas.

“We want our public universities to excel in the future and to be given their freedom. I dream and we all hope that one day there will be an academic here who can win the Nobel Laureate,” he said.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK