I was in MPPJ two days ago to attend the second public hearing of the Parliamentary Select Committee Meeting. While DAP Selangor was the first group to present our verbatim, there was one verbatim which caught my attention.
It was a verbatim, or a testimony, a story of a lecturer experience lecturing in a local public university which touched but my heart the most, if not the rest. If I was not mistaken, her verbatim earned the laudest applaud.
Below is a write-up from Claudia Theophilus from Malaysiakini, who I also met at the same time. I had added some other stories of the lecturer which is not reported in the original article.
Started off by telling the Committee that she did not know that she is required to submit any written memorandum to the Committee and that she purposely applied leave and she was warned by her friends though she insisted to come to the committee.
She informed that she is a lecturer with 25 years service at a local university claims to have been dumped in cold storage for teaching her students to critically evaluate national policies.
“I’m a political scientist. How can I not teach students to critically evaluate national policies? I don’t simply criticise and do highlight the good and bad points,” she said.
As per the Standing Order, those presenting their views are covered by parliamentary immunity. Committee members are prohibited from discussing the proceedings outside.
'Second admissions list'
The lecturer said a pervasive culture of fear in the academia is steadily destroying teaching talent and downgrading the standards and quality of graduates.
“I know of people in different universities, some of them friends, who are very scared to speak their mind or stand up for their rights. In fact, I was told to forget about being heard.
“This led me to believe that my transfer far away from my husband and children at this stage of my career is punishment for standing up for my rights, for the rights of the academia.”
The lecturer believed that she was victimised when she found that she was pusposely transferred to be away from her family as a punishment for being 'too outspoken'.
"When I report to the new work place, I was then only know that the management of the new work place had enrolled two new lecturers. There were no jobs for me."
In order to find her some jobs, the management of her new work place had to allocate her to teach elementary classes which have no relation to her field of interest and research.
"Because I have very little work, which I eventually fail to meet the 18-teaching-hour-a-week quota, I was then asked to travel back to my original campus during weekends without any reimbursements for my travelling costs," she claimed.
No Far Eastern Economic Review and Aliran Monthly
Faculty members were also told to remove Far Eastern Economic Review and Aliran Monthly from the list of reading material for students, she said, citing a briefing.
“In my class, I always refer students to a wide range of sources for reading so that they can argue their way through a policy. Their conclusion is not important.
“In addition to repressive laws, we lecturers have to sign the Akujanji and be subjected to unfair treatment at the hands of the university administration.
“I’ve exhausted all internal and official avenues but it has borne no results. I’m still waiting for a satisfactory explanation about my transfer out of state and the other matters I’ve raised.”
She has written to the university’s top officials, the higher education ministry, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia and the Public Complaints Bureau.
The lack of transparency, she alleged, has extended into university admission procedures in which she claims to have discovered a “second admission list” held by the vice-chancellor himself.
“There’s a lot of sloganeering on quality, accountability and transparency but the reality is the total opposite,” she said, referring to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s policy calls.
“There should be greater monitoring to prevent such abuses of power.”
It was a verbatim, or a testimony, a story of a lecturer experience lecturing in a local public university which touched but my heart the most, if not the rest. If I was not mistaken, her verbatim earned the laudest applaud.
Below is a write-up from Claudia Theophilus from Malaysiakini, who I also met at the same time. I had added some other stories of the lecturer which is not reported in the original article.
Started off by telling the Committee that she did not know that she is required to submit any written memorandum to the Committee and that she purposely applied leave and she was warned by her friends though she insisted to come to the committee.
She informed that she is a lecturer with 25 years service at a local university claims to have been dumped in cold storage for teaching her students to critically evaluate national policies.
“I’m a political scientist. How can I not teach students to critically evaluate national policies? I don’t simply criticise and do highlight the good and bad points,” she said.
As per the Standing Order, those presenting their views are covered by parliamentary immunity. Committee members are prohibited from discussing the proceedings outside.
'Second admissions list'
The lecturer said a pervasive culture of fear in the academia is steadily destroying teaching talent and downgrading the standards and quality of graduates.
“I know of people in different universities, some of them friends, who are very scared to speak their mind or stand up for their rights. In fact, I was told to forget about being heard.
“This led me to believe that my transfer far away from my husband and children at this stage of my career is punishment for standing up for my rights, for the rights of the academia.”
The lecturer believed that she was victimised when she found that she was pusposely transferred to be away from her family as a punishment for being 'too outspoken'.
"When I report to the new work place, I was then only know that the management of the new work place had enrolled two new lecturers. There were no jobs for me."
In order to find her some jobs, the management of her new work place had to allocate her to teach elementary classes which have no relation to her field of interest and research.
"Because I have very little work, which I eventually fail to meet the 18-teaching-hour-a-week quota, I was then asked to travel back to my original campus during weekends without any reimbursements for my travelling costs," she claimed.
No Far Eastern Economic Review and Aliran Monthly
Faculty members were also told to remove Far Eastern Economic Review and Aliran Monthly from the list of reading material for students, she said, citing a briefing.
“In my class, I always refer students to a wide range of sources for reading so that they can argue their way through a policy. Their conclusion is not important.
“In addition to repressive laws, we lecturers have to sign the Akujanji and be subjected to unfair treatment at the hands of the university administration.
“I’ve exhausted all internal and official avenues but it has borne no results. I’m still waiting for a satisfactory explanation about my transfer out of state and the other matters I’ve raised.”
She has written to the university’s top officials, the higher education ministry, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia and the Public Complaints Bureau.
The lack of transparency, she alleged, has extended into university admission procedures in which she claims to have discovered a “second admission list” held by the vice-chancellor himself.
“There’s a lot of sloganeering on quality, accountability and transparency but the reality is the total opposite,” she said, referring to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s policy calls.
“There should be greater monitoring to prevent such abuses of power.”
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