[Malaysia] Break the Akujanji shackles, govt urged

Break the Akujanji shackles, govt urged

Beh Lih Yi - Sep 29 2005, Malaysiakini

The Akujanji pledge must be abolished immediately as it is obstructing academics from discharging their duties, said the Universiti Malaya Academic Staff Association.

The pledge, added the association, also impeded the government’s efforts to improve the standard of local universities.

The association was responding to the sacking of two Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturers, Dr Azly Abdul Rahman and his wife Mutiara Mohamad.

The couple had refused to ink the controversial pledge.

Since Higher Education Minister Dr Shafie Salleh rejected calls for a review of the pledge two weeks ago, the association is now pinning its hope on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“The prime minister himself should look into this, when the government wants to upgrade local universities, the pledge is certainly a problem,” said its secretary Rosli Omar when contacted yesterday.

He said he was puzzled as to why the higher education minister likened the imposition of the pledge on academics to prayers.

“I don’t know how he can compare that. Academics are supposed to criticise and discuss policies, to improve the policies, but the pledge prevent us from analysing. Without that ability, how are we going to improve the policies?” he asked.

On the stand of academic staff associations in other universities, Rosli said: “It’s near unanimous they also disagree (on the pledge).”

Critical thinking

All civil servants and local university students are required to sign the Akujanji, which critics argue restricts academic freedom as clauses within were vague with wide-ranging powers over lecturers and students.

Under the pledge, lecturers and students can face action when they criticise the government or university affairs.

In a statement released earlier, Rosli said the pledge goes against the academic spirit of free inquiry into an issue in a transparent manner to come to the best possible solution.

“It is a pledge of loyalty without reservation to the government not only to present laws and circulars but also to anything the government deems to impose in the future.

“An academic who questions a government policy is deemed as not loyal to the government,” he added.

He said the pledge was one of the factors why academics are opting for private tertiary institutions.

Different scheme

Even without the Akujanji, Rosli said academicians in local universities are already ‘shackled’ by the Act 605.

“The difference being, Act 605 imposes the rules and regulations of loyalty upon academics whereas the pledge requires us to acknowledge our submissions to the imposition, an imposition that goes against the academic spirit.

“This could be the ultimate insult that turns a potential academic or even an established academic to look for other ways to contribute to society,” he added. Rosli pointed out that Act 605, which was enacted with the civil service in mind, was probably more appropriate to be applied on civil servants as they are entrusted with implementing policies.

He said it is a high time to put academics in a different service scheme from the civil service as there must be a distinction between the two groups due to the different nature of work.

He also expressed concern over the creation of two classes of graduates and academics, those with a critical and those without the critical faculty or thinking, as a result of the pledge.

“Local graduates and academics, hampered by a restrictive environment, lack critical thinking, whereas their counterparts are seen as critically minded and thus more acclaimed,” he said.