Encourage robust dialogues, not cage minds By Mariam Mokhtar

Bruce Gilley, how many books has, Mediocre Sheikh Madani written?

Malaysiakini : COMMENT | The authorities fear you more if you are able to present cogent arguments which may convince others that what you say has merit.

Weapons may kill or maim, but words and convincing reasons can influence generations and create change. This is what governments fear most. Instead of wrapping our students in cotton wool and caging their minds with invisible barbed wire to stop alternative thought processes from penetrating their brains, we should be encouraging more robust dialogues.

On April 23, the American academic, Bruce Gilley (above) , upset many Malaysians at a lecture at Universiti Malaya. They did not like his pro-Israeli views, but people tend to forget that being offended does not necessarily mean that they are right.

The professor of political science from Portland State University has since left Malaysia because he feared for his safety. But interestingly, some people disagree with him. Perhaps, they have forgotten the fear felt by Mustafa Akyol, the senior lecturer of Islam, at Boston College.

In September 2017, Akyol was detained, interrogated and intimidated by the authorities at KLIA. A few hours earlier, his modern approach to apostasy in Islam had triggered warning bells in our archaic religious police, and at KLIA, he was detained and interrogated. That was not a one-off incident because in January this year, political scientist Ahmet T Kuru, was accused by our authorities of being a terrorist.

Mustafa Akyol

His book launch had to be cancelled by a local think tank who feared for his safety. At KLIA, Kuru, who is the director of Islamic and Arabic studies at the San Diego State University, claimed that five plainclothes police officers were waiting for him.

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Spratyls888 : In year 2023 PMX go jet setting to : China (3 trips), Australia, Middle East America (3 trips) & Germany On all occasion he was advocating for Hamas & Palesine cause like he is a spokesman of evil Hamas but never for once he condemn Oct 7 astrocities!

He urge for CEASEFIRE but NEVER for once did PMX urge for the release of Israelis hostages! Imagine the foreign dignitiaries have to put up with his cock & bull hearing him spewing pro terror -rist propaganda!

Hamas convenant clearly advocated the “destruction of Israel”, at least as PM, Anwar should point out which part of Professor Gilley’s comment are wrong instead of resorting to name calling & personal attacks. Unbecoming of a PM. Such PM is a indeed a disgrace to our nation.

The herd mentality of this bigot nation have most probably rendered “free speech & expression” a CRIME sooner or later. At this bigot nation no dissenting thoughts or opinion are allowed! Its either the KETUANAN way or Communist way!

Have we reach a point of no returns? PMX Anwar is the only PM that did not get invited to White House despite 3 trips to America, unprecedented! Shamefull…

RainbowHuman1963 : If it is a myth that Islam permits critical thinking then you, Mariam, are a mythical legend. In reality you are a normal thinking person that the establishment may view as a threat, whereas many Malaysians nowadays seem to just let our politicians do the thinking for them.

Apollos: Malaysian Unis prefer echo chambers, robot-like students. You know, the gigo type - garbage-in, garbage-out. If you are a thinking student, you create problems for the uni. That they abhor. Forget about the MUDA acting president. She is a dimwit. Sad.

JWKK : Bravo, Mariam. I couldn't agree with you more. You and Prof Tajuddin Rasdi have the heart of an academic/scholar, unlike many who simply fail to understand the basic DNA of true academic research and presentation, which is, that it invariably will upset some--a lot or a few, depending on the topic and context.

And Mariam is also right to point out that how come, it seems, no one at the speech delivered by Gilley questioned him and offered a counter narrative? An academic forum is also about discussion, debate and exchange of different ideas in an effort to get closer to the truth.

People who are quick to restrict freedom of speech simply are ignorant of this process of healthy exchange of ideas to provoke even agitate in order for different views to see the light of day to make sense of an issue/reality. To those who quip this is so ivory towerish, well, again, you just don't know what being an academic is about.

Don't for a minute dismiss this academic provocation, debate, and exchange as nothing more than a waste of time. For that is the germination of progress. And if this culture were to be a solid part of an institution of higher education, it will seep out of its corridors into the non-academic world.

Think of the wonder and benefits that will be created. Predictably, the ketuanan mentality is about silencing counter narratives with the threat of apologies, sanctions, fines/ jail terms. This approach also taken by PM Anwar is yet another evidence of reformati. He has the right to label Gilley a mediocre scholar.

But,, if Gilley is mediocre, why do you want to silence him from our shores? You or your madani is now afraid of mediocrity? All this is to show that the academic DNA is still far far from the academic world of higher education in Malaysia because Malaysian academic basically is about "yes, sir" in the public sector and "yes, boss" in the private sector.

Any wonder why our academic hardly stand out in the world and that it catches global attention almost always for the wrong reasons like the UPM "academics" fabricating the past to glorify the ketuanan?

MS : Based on his known academic credentials and qualifications, Bruce Gilley is far more qualified than most Malaysian academics and definitely Malaysian politicians.

So he has an opinion which most Madanistanis have a problem with. Instead of debating him like what real academicians and intellectuals would do to disprove his notions, the knee-jerk reaction here is of the Ketuanan Melayu-Ketuanan Islam variety.

"Local sentiments" which is really code for Malay sentiments (because "local" in Malaysia does not obviously include non-Malays) is cited as justification for the reaction and name-calling.

Which is perhaps why "local sentiments" were not hurt in any manner by the provocative rantings of one Zakir Naik who incidentally was given his PR despite being unable to speak in Bahasa Melayu - a point conveniently disregarded by the likes of that other UMNO intellectual... Dr Akmal

Kajang pigeon : Not a single academic in boleh land could stand up and refute or debate his claim. It’s true they panic and censure anyone who doesn’t follow their views , this is seen in countries like North Korea , Iran and other dictatorial nations.

An opinion is a dangerous view… glad you pointed out how. A criminal like zakir is given the red carpet but an academic is shooed away.

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