Will varsity students be made agents of political power play?

 

FMT - https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2024/05/26/will-varsity-students-be-made-agents-of-political-power-play/

Will varsity students be

made agents of political

power play?

Tajuddin Rasdi-26 May 2024, 09:30 AM

Are UiTM students who held the ‘black shirt’ protest working on their own or is there a ‘hidden hand’ strategising for them?

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The Umno leadership and the unity government seem to have been crippled by the UiTM student council’s “protest”. A simple statement, some social media stuff and the wearing of black shirts seem to have brought the government to its knees.

Am I the only one worried about the implications of this “silent but highly effective” protest, one that may have a bigger impact in terms of setting political narratives?

This incident may be a gamechanger in national politics, with potential to be the most dangerous weapon of an opposition trying to win power.

Are the students working on their own or is there a hidden hand strategising for them?

Only the student council of a few hundred was on board and not the whole university, but they have been made to seem to be the representative voice of the tens of thousands of Malay and Bumiputeras.

The protest came after calls for the admission of a few non-Bumiputera candidates to UiTM’s cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme.

First, it is strange that no disciplinary action at all was taken on the students for bringing politics into the campus. For decades, Malaysian campuses have not been known to be the voice of political change since the Universities and University Colleges Act was introduced.

Second, where are the voices of the professors or associate professors in social science, politics, history, medicine or law? Why aren’t they commenting on the students’ interpretation of the historical events behind ITM’s birth and the political contexts of the present time?

Surely history as a discipline is not a frozen subject of inquiry nor is it down to the revelation of God? How do the academics advise the students on their too simplistic stands?

At the point of writing, the UiTM academia is as silent as a tomb.

Am I then to assume that the students are now the spokesmen for the university as well as for the whole academic fraternity?

I find that embarrassing.

As an academic of 37 years, I know the limits of students’ thought, at the level of the first degree, the masters level and the PhD level. My understanding of issues compared to theirs is like bumi dengan langit (the earth and the sky).

This political power play involving students is a most frightening scenario.

I thought the statements of Abdul Hadi Awang were dangerous. I thought the antics of Dr Akmal Saleh were devastating to national harmony. I thought Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam’s threat of a repeat of May 13 and the expulsion of the Chinese from Malaysia during the Jawi incident was the most radical of all.

But now, hey-ho, comes a simple black shirt protest described as an “expression of opinion” by a group of students of one particular racial classification.

We all know that UiTM holds the largest number of students of one particular race. We also know that there are two other “Islamic” universities with great numbers of students of the same race too.

Now, if hidden hands were to round all of them up and hold a “protest”, how would the unity government respond? Expel them all? The government might as well resign after that.

The unity government is fighting on many fronts. The people who were placed in certain positions based on political favours are not doing anything to help deliver a new narrative for Malaysia.

Now there is talk of inviting PAS into the government. PAS, after succeeding in playing the extremist narrative, is now being offered “rewards” in terms of possible positions, titles, appointments and financial grants.

At which point should the unity government draw the line in terms of managing the extremist narrative when students seem able to bring the government down on their own or as agents of hidden hands?

What a wonderful Malaysia.