Tajuddin, a lecturer for over 30 years, said public universities have been reduced to a place where people obtain certificates to enter the working world. He was speaking today at a forum titled, “Malay Clowns and Malay Visionaries”.
“If you study engineering or architecture, it’s okay, but if you want to improve your thinking and view of the world, there is no need to enter university, and that saddens me because a university is the last place to learn something meaningful.”
Tajuddin, a former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia lecturer, said public universities were guilty of instilling a “yes men” mentality in students.
Last year, Tajuddin criticised public universities for wasting funds on research which was not beneficial to the people or had a potential to be stopped halfway.
He also spoke about his experience as an evaluator of PhD students, revealing that some refused to answer his questions because they thought the questions were too “political”.
“I asked the PhD student how they would take their idea and research to the education ministry to be applied in schools. But the answer I got was ‘Sorry, we are not talking about politics’.”
Tajuddin said this was unfortunate as university students with critical thinking abilities were the key to the nation’s development.
In recent times, Tajuddin has slammed the actions of two public universities for suspending and fining student activists Anis Syafiqah and Asheeq Ali over their involvement in the Tangkap Malaysian Official 1 rally last August.
The two were punished for taking part in an illegal rally and embarrassing their universities.
Meanwhile, youth activist Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who was also at the forum, questioned the double standards applied to Malaysian students studying locally and abroad.
“Scholars studying overseas can speak on issues affecting the country but not students studying in Malaysia,” said Syed Saddiq, who is also Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia youth chief.
“This needs to change. If the minds of our youth are restricted, the country cannot produce a generation capable of critical thinking and visionary Malays,” he said.