Kedudukan 800 universiti teratas di seluruh dunia bagi tahun 2013 yang dilaporkan oleh QS World University Rankings sewajarnya menjadi isu utama negara mutakhir ini, selain dari isu kenaikan harga minyak kerana kedua-duanya mempunyai kesan besar kepada kebajikan rakyat.

Laporan tersebut menunjukkan bahawa enam dari tujuh universiti awam negara yang tersenarai di dalam 800 universiti teratas telah mengalami kemorosotan seperti berikut:

Universiti	Kedudukan 2012	Kedudukan 2013
Universiti Malaya	156	167
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia	261	269=
Universiti Sains Malaysia	326	355=
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia	358	355=
Universiti Putra Malaysia	360	411-420
Universiti Islam Antarabangsa	401-450	501-550
Universiti Teknologi MARA	601+	701+

Hanya UTM yang menokok sedikit kedudukannya daro tangga 358 (2012) kepada 355= (2013).

Kedudukan ini dibuat berdasarkan kriteria-kriteria berikut:

1. Reputasi pencapaian akademik (40%)

2. Kemampuan mendapatkan pekerjaan dan pandangan majikan (10%)

3. Nisbah siswa kepada tenaga pengajar fakulti (20%)

4. Rujukan penyelidikan (citation) mengikut fakulti (20%)

5. Keantarabangsaan pelajar (5%)

6. Keantarabangsaan tenaga pengajar fakulti (5%)

Ramai pimpinan Barisan Nasional yang masih berdolak dalih dan tidak mahu menerima hakikat bahawa persoalan mutu pendidikan tinggi dan kedudukan universiti awam negara adalah isu utama yang membawa kesan besar kepada rakyat.

Kedudukan universiti awam negara yang tidak berdayasaing menyukarkan graduan mendapat kerja yang baik dengan gaji yang berpatutan. Malah, masalah pengangguran di kalangan graduan terutamanya di kalangan graduan Melayu/Bumiputra banyak berpunca dari mutu pendidikan tinggi yang merudum yang saban tahun disahkan oleh kedudukan universiti awam negara.

Oleh sebab itu, hakikat bahawa enam dari tujuh universiti awam negara semakin rendah kedudukannya sewajarnya diambil serius oleh semua pihak dengan penuh keterbukaan.

Apatah lagi apabila universiti terbaik Asia adalah National University of Singapore (NUS) yang menduduki tangga ke-24 menjadikannya univesiti terbaik Asia mengalahkan universiti-universiti Jepun, Korea Selatan dan China.

Ramai yang tidak tahu bahawa NUS mempunyai sejarah yang sama dengan Universiti Malaya kerana kedua-duanya diwujudkan sebagai University of Malaya di Singapura dalam tahun 1949 mengikut saranan Suruhanjaya Carr- Saunders. Pada tahun 1959, University of Malaya mempunyai dua kampus yang berasingan iaitu kampus asal di Singapura dan kampus baru di Kuala Lumpur. Pada tahun 1962, kedua-dua kampus ini berpisah menjadi dua universiti berasingan iaitu Universiti Malaya (di Kuala Lumpur) dan NUS (di Singapura).

Selepas 50 tahun, walaupun bermula dari titik yang sama, Universiti Malaya tidak pun berada di dalam kedudukan 100 teratas di dunia sedangkan NUS menjadi universiti terbaik di Asia.

Ini adalah hakikat yang perlu ditangani secara terbuka tanpa prejudis politik atau perkauman kerana mutu dan kedudukan universiti awam negara mempengaruhi taraf hidup rakyat dan daya saing negara seluruhnya.

Oleh yang demikian, saya menyarankan supaya perkara-perkara demikian dibahaskan secara terbuka dan reformasi pendidikan tinggi dijalankan secara segera seperti berikut:

1. Kembalikan kebebasan akademik kepada universiti-universiti awam dengan memberi kuasa autonomi kepada Senat Universiti tanpa campur tangan kementerian dan kerajaan

2. Pemilihan kepimpinan universiti awam mengikut merit berdasarkan kredibiliti akademik, pengalaman mengurus universiti ternama, integriti peribadi yang bebas dari pandangan partisan dan ciri-ciri lain yang ada pada kepimpinan universiti ternama dunia

3. Kembalikan kebebasan minda yang sepenuhnya kepada siswazah dan gerakan mahasiswa dengan menghentikan serta merta sebarang aktiviti atau program yang mengongkong perkembangan minda bebas siswazah, termasuklah program propaganda politik yang dianjurkan oleh BTN dan badan-badan yang serupa dengannya

4. Menilai semula sistem pemberian biasiswa yang menekankan penghantaran pelajar terbaik ke universiti-universiti luar negara dan beralih kepada sistem biasiswa yang memberi tempat terbaik kepada mereka di universiti-universiti terbaik Malaysia, dan

5. Program khusus memperkasakan kredibiliti akademik fakulti di universiti-universiti awam dengan membawa masuk tenaga pengajar dan penyelidik terbaik dari seluruh dunia

Saya percaya langkah-langkah ini adalah permulaan untuk mengembalikan keunggulan universiti awam negara dengan sasaran Universiti Malaya berada di dalam tangga 100 universiti terbaik dunia dalam tempoh 10 tahun dari sekarang.

Saya juga akan membuat kunjungan hormat ke NUS dalam bulan November 2013 untuk mempelajari sendiri langkah-langkah yang dilaksanakan selama ini untuk menjamin kualiti pendidikan di universiti itu.

RAFIZI RAMLI
Pengarah Strategi

10 SEPTEMBER 2013

I must begin by conveying my gratitude to Dr Lim Theck Ghee and S Thayaparan for their views on the position I took with regards to the implementation of TITAS at private tertiary institutions (IPTS).

While the ensuing exchange of views on the matter had earned me many labels from some of the readers of Malaysiakini (including lumping me as another Umno prototype), I look at it positively. If Malaysia were to progress, we must be able to debate openly and accept criticisms both ways.

I will explain the basis for the position I had taken before I respond to some of the issues brought by both of them.

Will understanding of each other build a better Malaysia for all?

The most important question is the simplest: given the state of the society now, will we benefit from knowing more about each other? Can we reduce the misunderstanding and prejudice against one another if we have a better understanding of the fair representation of Islamic, Malay, Chinese and Indian civilizations since they form the greatest influence on our society?

I believe we do.

In fact, I think it will help a lot if younger Malaysians see each other’s perspectives positively even if they disagree on certain issues because stereotypes and polarization is bad. Lack of understanding and appreciation of the basis for cultural differences in a multiracial society like ours does contribute to stereotyping and polarization.

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.

Much of the fuss about TITAS has revolved around the alleged creeping Islamization that Umno is trying to sneak into IPTS. While there is a basis for the suspicion, yet we have totally overlooked the positive impact that TITAS may have on producing more Malays who understand and appreciate multiculturalism.

I spent my tertiary education and early working life in the United Kingdom.

I did my A-Levels in a Scottish boarding school – that means going to the chapel every morning together with the rest of the school for morning prayers. I did not sing the hymns yet I learnt to appreciate that Christians, like Muslims, also take the position that a strong emphasis on religious and universal values is good for the society. As a member of the school’s orchestra, once a year we performed in the church.

I started my working life in an accounting firm in London with 90% of the partners who were of the Jewish faith. While the issue of Palestine had always been uneasy (so we avoided it), I got a special treatment simply for being a Muslim. There was a small space in the office where we could pray (although there were only 4 of us in the firm who were practicing Muslim) and I had extra holidays for Eidul Fitri and Eidul Adha.

In spite of this experience, I was not converted. If any, I become more grateful of my Islamic identity in a foreign land. It provided me with the strength and sense of solidarity with others. I came out a more sensitive and confident Muslim precisely because I understood Christianity, Judaism and other religions better.

Every now and then, I make sure that my interns come from the different faiths so that we learn 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.

My point is: we should encourage our young people to be open-minded to learn about each other and of each other’s religions and cultures. I would not have been as open on multiculturalism if I had not gone through the process to appreciate the religion and culture of the majority ethnic group when I was a minority in the UK. If my experience as a Muslim minority in a Western (pre-dominantly Judo-Christian) society has been positive, I am confident that if done correctly, it will have a positive impact in our society too.

It is dangerous to send a signal that any move that compels or encourages the cross-learning of religions and cultures among our young people is bad.

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

If the concern is on the alleged unfair representation of other civilisations or disproportionate Islamic content in the syllabus, then we shall focus on fixing the syllabus. Yet we cannot object a subject that intentionally aims to promote greater understanding among the races on the excuse that the syllabus is flawed; it is akin to objecting the use of car because it carries a risk of accident!

If the concern is on the lack of manpower to teach the subject effectively, we should focus on mitigation plan to roll this out to IPTS. And so on.

This is where I might have differed with Dr Lim Theck Ghee and S Thayaparan. While I take this as a major factor in arriving at my position on TITAS, I do not see much discourse from them on the need for cross learning. Much of their opposition to TITAS comes from their suspicion and cynicism of UMNO which they alleged would have authored the syllabus to “reconfigure Malaysian and world history as well as civilizational studies taught in schools to fit in with their “ketuanan Melayu” and “ketuanan Umno” mindset”.

Should the state interfere in syllabus?

Perhaps another aspect of the issue that was almost left out completely from Dr Lim Theck Ghee and S Thayaparan’s pieces is the state interference in deciding syllabus for institutions of higher learning.

I personally feel that the state must be given the instrument to compel certain values to be taught in institutions of higher learning. If the government is responsible for the well being of the society, it must be allowed to use education (including setting syllabus) to shape the society, especially if education has proven to be an effective tool at societal reengineering.

If we are honest about a Malaysia that is free from race bias, we have to be concerned at the level of polarization in our society. We are divided by economic classes and different clusters of people have less interaction with people of other clusters (the clusters maybe economic or racial in nature, or both). Even if the polarization is not considered chronic, we should do our best to remove any form of polarization because it leads to stereotyping in a society.

Against this backdrop, I think it is 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?

As much as Dr Lim Theck Ghee and S Thayaparan were disappointed with my position, I too am disappointed that despite all the criticism and suspicion of TITAS, both of them did not touch at all on the most contentious part of TITAS i.e. the syllabus.

While I am sure both of them had indeed gone through the syllabus before; I am baffled why they did not comment on it.

Most of the readers who call me names had in fact not gone through the 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	NO OF WEEKS ALLOCATED	% WEIGHTAGE
Introduction to civilization – definition, interaction between civilization, growth & fall of civilisations	2	14%
Islamic civilization – definition, development of Islamic civilization, contribution, contemporary issues in Malaysia	2	14%
Malay civilization – definition, Malay civilization as the foundation, contribution, contemporary issues in Malaysia	2	14%
Indian civilization – definition, values and society system, achievements & contributions, contemporary issues in Malaysia	2	14%
Chinese civilization – definition, values and society system, achievements & contributions, contemporary issues in Malaysia	2	14%
Western civilization – emergence, value system, achievement & contributions	1	7%
Contemporary issues of civilisations – concept of knowledge, challenges of globalization, survival of Islamic & Asian civilisations	2	14%
Summary – building civilization past, present and future	1	7%
	14 weeks

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!

While I may be sympathetic to Dr Lim Theck Ghee’s list of suspicions against Umno and its malpractices, it is irresponsible to make a blanket objection on the pretext that everything will be manipulated as Umno’s secret agenda without going through its proper merits if implemented correctly.

My record so far speaks for itself of my opposition to Umno and Barisan Nasional. Yet I did not enter politics to be dogmatic and prejudiced against anything and everything that happens to be initiated while my political opponent is in power. Doing so speaks volume of the respect (or lack of) we accord to the civil service. They may have to answer to an Umno federal government, yet there are enough independent and good souls in our civil service who want to do the right thing.

Crudest political opportunism?

I have tried to stay objective in evaluating the pros and cons of TITAS.

It is Dr Lim Theck Ghee’s right to think that it was political opportunism on my part when I voiced my caution not to fuel the right wing elements of Umno with this issue, especially when I feel his (Dr Lim The Ghee’s) fair suspicion against Umno had clouded his objective assessment of the merits and demerits of TITAS.

Nor will I feel offended by S Thayaparan’s comments, though I wish he had not so easily concluded that my response is “symptomatic of the intellectual poverty of many in the Malay intelligentsia” as if to assert his personal views that Malay intelligentsia is generally not intellectual.

The very language and stereotyping he uses is the very fuel that will be manipulated by irresponsible quarters to feed further the fire of divide in our country.

In the final analysis, I want to remain ideal in my political views. I want to speak for the benefit of Malaysians, not for the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Iban, Kadazans or anyone. I want to be able to voice my opinion on policies that I think will bring greater goods to the majority of Malaysians and assist nation building, even if my views are not popular.

When we speak against NEP to the chagrin of the Malays, we did not do it to please the non-Malays. We were firm because it is fair and it is the right thing.

When I was adamant that Pakatan’s manifesto would not be written along racial lines and no mention of specific programs for a specific ethnic group, I was vilified for weeks by Hindraf. It did not perturb me because the manifesto speaks for all Malaysians.

Thus, my support for TITAS has nothing to do with pleasing the Malay voters. I had benefitted from greater interaction with different people and cross learning of different cultures and I believe each Malaysian will benefit too. Any issues with the implementation should be confined to the discussion on the practical aspect of TITAS not the philosophy of cross learning at our tertiary institutions.

One day, I hope to see a Malaysia made up of younger Malaysians who understand multiculturalism like my young friend Galvin Wong. For that to happen, it makes common sense for them to learn different cultures (even if it is imposed initially).

Masalah pengangguran di kalangan graduan Ijazah Sarjana Muda Perguruan (ISMP) belum diselesaikan walaupun berkali-kali kerajaan Barisan Nasional berjanji untuk memberi penempatan kepada graduan-graduan ini.

Dalam bulan Mac 2012, Timbalan Menteri Pendidikan Dato’ Puad Zakarshi mengesahkan bahawa graduan ISMP seramai 7,000 orang yang belum mendapat pekerjaan akan ditempatkan dan prosesnya sedang berjalan ketika itu.

Pada masa yang sama juga, Kementerian Pendidikan menetapkan bahawa hanya graduan ISMP lulusan IPTA sahaja yang akan dipanggil temuduga, sedangkan masih ramai graduan SMP lulusan IPTS yang turut terbelenggu dengan masalah pengangguran.
Kenyataan Dato’ Puad Zakarshi dan tindakan Kementerian Pendidikan tidak ubah seperti cakap tidak serupa bikin, janji tidak ditepati.

Umno perlu mengambil tanggungjawab terhadap nasib graduan-graduan ini kerana institusi swasta yang paling rancak menawarkan ISMP adalah institusi yang rapat dengan pimpinan Umno seperti Universiti Tun Abdul Razak, atau UniRazak. Pada masa yang sama, Kemnterian Pendidikan Tinggi meluluskan kuota pengambilan yang memberi lesen kepada UniRazak menawarkan ISMP dengan memberi gambaran graduan-graduan ini akan mendapat pekerjaan di dalam perkhidmatan perguruan negara.

UniRazak dimiliki oleh Yayasan Pintar, yang mana Lembaga Pengarahnya turut dianggotai oleh Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak, Dato’ Hishamuddin Hussin, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Dato’ Mustapha Mohamad dan Dato’ Seri Ali Rustam.

Di manakah moral pimpinan-pimpinan ini yang boleh mencuci tangan apabila graduan-graduan UniRazak lulusan ISMP tersadai tanpa peluang pekerjaan, sedangkan universiti yang dikendalikan mereka bersekongkol dengan Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi untuk menawarkan kursus perguruan sedangkan mereka tahu bahawa kekosongan jawatan tidak mengizinkan pengambilan sedemikian rupa.

Saya yang selalu didatangi oleh graduan-graduan ini telah memberi persetujuan untuk membawa isu ini bersama-sama dengan pimpinan muda KEADILAN yang lain.

Mahasiswa KEADILAN Malaysia (MKM) pula akan terus mengumpulkan graduan-graduan ini agar nasib mereka dapat diperjuangkan.

RAFIZI RAMLI
PENGARAH STRATEGI
20 DISEMBER 2012

(My column in The Edge Financial Daily published on  21 September 2010. The actual article in the print could contain some editorial changes)

School years represent the best part of my memory up until now. Once, I used to complain to a teacher who was very close to me (one Miss Liew Lai Chun) that I couldn’t wait to leave school. I didn’t believe her then when she said most people would miss their school days as they grow older, but she was proven right about 10 years later.

The experience at school usually leaves a permanent mark on our worldview because it takes place during our most formative years. Therefore the people we encounter, the lessons we take to our hearts, the memories we keep from our experience in schools play a pivotal role in shaping our outlook.

I suppose many people recognise this, hence the never ending debate on the impact of different types of schools in our education system on national unity. I do not want to dwell on this now (perhaps at a later time), yet most people can agree that schools have a special place in our society when it comes to forging the right understanding and mutual respect among the various communities.

It was with this in mind that my jaw dropped and my eyes bulged when I read news reports on alleged racist behaviours of certain school heads that shocked the nation recently.

No matter what was the background that led to the incidents, there can be no excuse for it. I am fully aware of the warped sympathy that some quarters may extend to the school heads especially when it was viewed from a racial perspective, yet it was an act most condemnable of anyone from a teaching profession.

In my case, the disgust also stems from my experience growing up in a fully residential school for Malay boys in Kuala Kangsar (some said that it is a taboo to fully spell out Malay College Kuala Kangsar, but what the heck). At a first glance, a school like MCKK has all the ingredients to produce bigots and racists in the country if one considers that the students do not have multi-racial encounters with other fellow students.

But that is where sometimes I think the debate on the role of schools in forging national unity get skewed a bit, because too much focus has been given on the need to provide multi-racial encounters among fellow students as a prerequisite to cement trust and mutual understanding. Looking back, perhaps the policy makers should also consider that much of the multi-racial experience encountered in yesteryears in schools was actually provided by the teaching faculty.

I do not have a data to support this, but I feel teachers are more effective and in a better position to inculcate the sense of togetherness, mutual understanding and respect that each student should have for each other. Good teachers always inspire their students and their good deeds will be remembered for many years to come – growing up with a band of teachers from different races who had held our hands in our most formative years, should do more to prepare any Malaysian child to have a non-racist worldview as they enter adulthood; better than the practice of forcing the sharing of sports facilities to encourage encounters among multi-racial students (as tested with Vision School concept). It is certainly better and more effective than any kind of sloganeering that the top public relations firm can conjure up (wink wink).

That is why anyone in their right mind should feel outraged with the alleged incidents and the authorities must have the moral courage to send a clear signal. Teaching profession is noble and teachers are our hope for the future, especially in accomplishing a task as challenging as forging national unity. It is bad enough that perhaps there is no concerted effort to do this at school nowadays (teachers are too busy with paper works and various examinations to conduct!); it is unforgivable when it is the school head who brings racism to school when he/she should be the one cultivating multi-culturalism.

I attribute much of my current worldview to the good multi-racial teachers I have in Kuala Kangsar. At the earlier part of the 90s, the non-Malay teachers formed a significant portion of the faculty. The school headmaster (Datuk Rashdi Ramlan, his last position was Deputy Director for Education) took the conscious effort to make sure that the teaching faculty had the right racial and gender mix.

So it became very normal that our non-Malay teachers treated us for buka puasa or Chinese New Year, or we sent cards to our Indian teachers during festivities. We spent a lot of days and weeks at tournaments with teachers of different backgrounds. For so many decades, the best of the best teachers that Malay College old boys would remember and include in our gatherings are representative of the rich variety in Malaysia – students would remember Dr Esther Danial, or Miss Liew Lai Chun, or Mr Tan Gim Hoe, or Dr Syed Azhan or En Shamsuddin, or Miss Grace Manikam in the same breath without any thought of the different race backgrounds.

Apart from providing a multi-cultural experience that builds the trust of other communities among us, we also learnt of the different work ethics and style from our teachers of the different races. Some were more meticulous than others, some were more casual and some played the facilitator roles all the time – it was this variety in work ethics and style that allowed us to pick the best of best from our teachers and understand that in a multi-cultural society, differences should be celebrated because they complement each other.

For the past few years, I spent time managing MCKK hockey team with my ex-teachers, Mr Thaman Singh and Mr N Jeyapala. It strengthens my conviction that our multi-culturalism is the best asset that we have to survive in this century, because looking at these two 60-year old teachers spending retirement money and time for a bunch of Malay boys whom they never know, is a testimony of how this country back then was built on that foundation of multi-culturalism.

We may have strayed a bit over the last 3 decades, but if we can begin building the trust all over again it will not be long before we get back to our foundation. That process must begin in school and every single teacher and parent has a big role to play to mould the right worldview for our children.

There is no place for racist teachers in our schools, if we ever want to achieve this.