The recent exchange between Rafizi Ramli and Professor Tajuddin Rasdi raises a deeper question that Malaysians rarely ask openly: when a professor of architecture speaks about politics, should he be speaking in his capacity as a professor at all?
If you are a professor of engineering, architecture, or chemistry, and someone asks for your opinion about politics, should you give it under the authority of your academic title?
Personally, I think that if you have even a basic sense of intellectual dignity, the answer should be no.
A genuine scholar should understand one very simple truth about knowledge: mastery in one discipline does not make you a master of all disciplines. In fact, the deeper a person’s learning is, the more aware he should be of the limits of his own expertise.
If a person lacks this sense of proportion, then his title may say “professor”, but only a fool would believe that he truly respects truth, integrity or knowledge.
Unfortunately, Malaysia has long had a problem with its professors. That is precisely why the term “Professor Kangkung” became famous in the first place.
The problem with many Malaysian professors is that, like many other positions in the country, their titles are not always earned through rigorous competition but often bestowed through selection.
When a person earns a title through open competition, you usually get individuals of genuine expertise and integrity occupying positions of influence. But when titles are merely conferred through patronage or institutional convenience, what you often end up with are individuals who will say anything to please the people who gave them the title.
And once they have that title, they expect society to listen to them as if their authority is unquestionable.
This is how we end up with academics speaking authoritatively on subjects completely outside their expertise — sometimes even making outrageous historical claims such as Malays teaching the Romans shipbuilding — without any concern for the reputation of the institutions they represent.
Even more embarrassing is another habit that seems uniquely entrenched in our academic culture.
Many academics continue to introduce themselves as “Professor” long after they are no longer teaching.
A professorship, in principle, is not a lifelong aristocratic title. It is a functional academic role tied to the act of teaching and research within a university. It is not unlike ranks in the police or military.
Have you ever seen a retired police officer continuing to introduce himself as Sergeant or Corporal after leaving the force?
Of course not.
Yet in Malaysia, it is strangely common to see individuals who left academia years ago still insisting on being addressed as “Professor”.
What a pathetic state of intellectual culture we have reached when a humble corporal or sergeant shows more dignity about rank than many of our supposed men of knowledge.
To be clear, I am not saying that professors should not express opinions outside their field. They are citizens like anyone else, and they are free to speak.
But if they do so, they should have the intellectual humility not to rely on their academic title as a badge of authority.
If a professor wants to speak authoritatively about politics, then he should earn that authority the same way everyone else does.
He should build a track record.
Make predictions that later prove correct.
Enter the public arena and compete fairly in the marketplace of ideas.
Win the trust and confidence of the public through demonstrated ability.
In other words, earn your stripes.
Simply relying on the word “Professor” to open doors in a field where you have neither training nor a proven track record is not intellectual leadership. It is intellectual opportunism.
This is why the current dispute involving Rafizi Ramli is interesting. Rafizi, who has spent years contesting elections and directing campaigns, essentially reminded Tajuddin that politics is not an academic seminar.
For context, Tajuddin Rasdi had claimed that Rafizi has shifted “from being a Pakatan Harapan (PH) asset to someone who is difficult to cooperate with any party”.
Speaking in the capacity as the National Unity Advisory Council’s (MPPN) member. Tajuddin further wondered what the real role of the former PKR deputy president is by “frequently criticising without proposing practical solutions”.
“Rafizi also doesn’t receive support from the pro-Madani component parties such as Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), UMNO, Amanah and most DAP leaders.
“No party wants to establish close relations with individuals who openly criticise their own party and its president without shame, including when participating in demonstrations," Tajuddin said in a recent statement.
In retaliation, Rafizi also insinuated at ulterior motive the action of Tajuddin who has slammed him as biadap (disrespectful) for belittling PMX ever since their fallout following last year’s PKR central leadership polls.
"I’ve been contesting elections for a long time. I’m also an election director. I want to share with this professor the knowledge of how to win elections.
"If our party doesn’t do anything wrong, no matter how much people criticise, God willing, they will get votes.
"If our party does have weaknesses, even those who don’t criticise will not vote for it.
Whether one agrees with Rafizi or not is beside the point.
The real issue is intellectual discipline.
If I were a professor of architecture myself, I certainly would not write about politics under the authority of my professorial title. Before speaking as a supposed authority, I would first make sure that I had proven myself in that field.
Perhaps by building a credible record of political analysis.
Perhaps by demonstrating accurate predictions about elections.
Or at least by having a trackrecord of showing that my views are followed by a large number of people, and thus my views can be said to represent at least the views of a significant number of people.
If not, I can even enter politics directly and express my views as a politician or political aspirant, rather than as an intellectual.
If I had done none of these things, then yes — I would probably deserve every bit of criticism directed at me.
Because ultimately, one simple principle should guide anyone who claims to be a scholar:
Your responsibility is to elevate your profession through your ability and integrity — not to debase it through shamelessness.
If a person truly understands who they are, and why they were given their honours, position and status, they will instinctively act in ways that protect the dignity of those titles. A person like this recognises that the honour does not belong to him alone. It represents a profession, an institution, and a tradition that existed long before him and will continue long after he is gone. When he conducts himself with this awareness, he becomes an asset to his profession and the institution he represents.
But there is also the opposite type of person.
This is the person who uses his title, position and status primarily as a tool to elevate himself. Instead of protecting the dignity of the honour he carries, he cheapens it through the shameless way he wields it for personal attention, influence or relevance. In doing so, he reduces the very value of the title that he so eagerly displays.
Such a person is not merely misguided. He becomes a disgrace to the profession and institution that granted him that honour in the first place.
The tragic part is that this principle is neither complicated nor controversial. It is an idea so simple and self-evident that any person of integrity should understand it instinctively.
Yet in Malaysia, one cannot help but wonder whether even many of those who proudly parade their intellectual titles truly grasp this most basic notion of honour and responsibility.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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