We’re not subservient to any political entity, says council of professors
It says it will continue to speak out on important national and global issues without fear or favor, in the interests of the country and its people.
PETALING JAYA: The National Council of Professors (MPN) today maintained that it is an independent entity, not subservient to any political party or entity.
It said it is registered as a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM).
It said its main interest was to provide relevant responses and to enlighten the masses on important national and global issues without fear or favor, in the interests of the country and its people.
It was responding to DAP’s P Ramasamy who hit out at MPN for its defence of academic Zainal Kling over his comments at the recent Malay Dignity Congress, saying not much had changed since its reinstatement as a corporate entity.
“MPN might have changed its registration but it is still composed of key academics who held the fort under Barisan Nasional,” Ramasamy, who is Penang deputy chief minister II, had said in a statement.
He said MPN was not expected to throw its “blind support” behind Zainal.
“MPN officials know very well that the nebulous ‘social contract’ was more a figment of Zainal’s imagination than anything else,” he had added.
MPN, in its statement today, said Ramasamy and any other parties may agree or disagree with its stand but “we should cherish and encourage differences as part of democracy and freedom of opinion and speech as stipulated by the law”.
“Let the public judge whether our critical stand and views hold water or otherwise.”
On Zainal Kling’s speech, MPN said it did not blindly support him as accused by Ramasamy.
“Rather, we categorically stated that Zainal is entitled to express his views. In fact, what he had said at the congress was not academically incorrect, as he was referring to the evolution of Malaysia as a country that has been long recognised by the colonial British and historians worldwide – a land which belongs to the Malays before the influx of the immigrant communities in the late 19th century onwards.
“Should Ramasamy disagree with this opinion, that is his choice as he may have his own imagined ‘version’ about the origin of this country and we are not interested to argue with him because we believe there is a significant and scholarly-backed difference between ‘reality’ and ‘imagination’.”
On the issue of the “social contract”, MPN said this constituted a more serious matter. It reiterated its stance that the social contract, or the “Merdeka compromise”, was not something hypothetical or imaginary.
“It did in fact happen and took place during the deliberation of the Reid Commission in 1956 among the elites of multi-ethnic groups within the Alliance party, consisting of Umno, MCA and MIC, in the course of their preparation to submit a memorandum to the Reid Commission to establish the new constitution for Malaya, leading to its independence.
“The memorandum of the Alliance party submitted to the Reid Commission and, more importantly, the content of the final version of the Federal Constitution, in itself, served as a testimony to the existence of the social contract and the compromise agreed upon among the elites of the major ethnic groups within the Alliance party.
“It was the memorandum of the Alliance Party that was given serious attention by the Reid Commission as they had already obtained the mandate of the people through the 1955 first federal general election for Malaya.”
MPN said denying this significant historical fact was tantamount to accusing that all those articles in the constitution, especially the few articles that have always being contentiously questioned by some quarters, including Ramasamy and many leaders from his party, were created without any consultation and consent of the people of Malaya at that time.
“The Reid Commission took more than a year in its long process of consultation with most groups of interest in Malaya, including receiving 131 memorandums from various groups of people and organisations.
“This formed the basis of their drafting of the Federal Constitution that we have inherited.
“We would like to encourage Malaysians who are still doubtful about these unequivocal historical facts to read the complete history of Malaya’s independence a few more times until they fully digest it.”
MPN termed as “baseless” Ramasamy’s accusation that MPN had done nothing significant to uplift the academic standard of academicians since its inception nine years ago.
“Together with the management of the universities, the vice-chancellors, the ministry officials, and within MPN itself, there have been so many things that had been done which have brought about many changes and improvements in our public and private universities.
“Ramasamy may not realise them since he was not a part of the system for so many years.”
It invited Ramasamy to visit several universities to relearn many things “that he had missed” and learn about the many positive changes that have taken place in the past decade in the universities.
MPN also wished Ramasamy all the best in his effort to clear his name in the alleged involvement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
“The country does not need leaders who are linked with any terrorist organisation with dangerous militant tendencies and ideology to be part of the ruling government.
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“We do hope that Ramasamy will not be part of this group and continue to prevail as a clean and respected politician.”