There's a special kind of ignorance that comes from measuring human intelligence exclusively by income potential. And every few months, someone in Malaysia decides to broadcast that ignorance loudly and then act surprised when the entire country pushes back.
In late March 2026, an influencer identified as DMA Islam went viral for all the wrong reasons. He called mass communication one of the "stupidest courses in Malaysia", questioned why students would take PTPTN loans to pursue it, and went further by mocking theatre and traditional music programmes as even worse. He argued that a degree in the arts was only for people "with money to waste on a certificate." It wasn't the first time either. According to The Sun, he had previously made similar remarks and sparked backlash that he apparently didn't learn enough from to stay quiet this time around.
The response was swift and it came from all directions. Academics pushed back. Artists pushed back. Social media users who studied humanities, communications, literature, and the arts pushed back in numbers that clearly rattled the man enough to issue the kinds of carefully worded non-apologies that are themselves an art form.
But underneath the outrage, there is a serious and genuinely important conversation worth having. Malaysia has long had a structural problem with how it values education. The STEM premium is real and understandable. Engineering, medicine, data science, and technology fields offer clear economic pathways and Malaysia needs those skills. Nobody disputes that.
What we have collectively failed at is understanding that a society cannot run on technical skills alone. Every engineer needs someone who can write clearly. Every startup needs someone who understands human behaviour. Every government communication, every brand campaign, every piece of public policy documentation, every court argument, every piece of journalism that holds power accountable, every film and play and song that makes Malaysians feel seen and understood, all of that comes from people who studied the supposedly "stupid" fields. Malaysia's own tourism economy, which is targeting RM147.1 billion in revenue this year, depends entirely on storytelling, design, culture, and communication. Every ringgit of that is generated by creative fields.
The influencer's mistake wasn't just in being rude. It was in confusing the subjects he couldn't monetize with subjects that have no value. Those are not the same thing. They never were.
Ronny M (ronny76netstuff@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!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
