I have been attacked by a kangkong professor

I have been attacked by a kangkong professor today.

Website MalaysiaNow today carried an article “Is Malaysia really a failed state?” by Mohd Hazmi Mohd Rusli.

I googled and found out that Mohd Hazmi bin Mohd Rusli is a senior lecturer at the Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) and a visiting professor at a number of universities all over the world including the Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia; Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service (VSUES); Xiamen University; University Brawijaya, Indonesia and National University of Timor-Loras’e, Dili, Timor-Leste.

In his article, Hazmi admitted that I had warned that Malaysia might follow Sri Lanka’s footsteps by the year 2057 but the rest of his article was on the basis that Malaysia is today not a failed state.

I never said that Malaysia today is a failed state and I have never been “simplistic” to compare Malaysia situation today with that of Sri Lanka on the verge of a failed state but we owe it to our children and children’s children regardless of race or religion to ensure that Malaysia does not end up as a failed state during Malaysia’s Centennial, whether in 2057 or 2063.

Mohd Hazmi does not understand such a simple distinction.

A professor who could not distinguish between Malaysia in 2057 or 2063 from a Malaysia in 2022 is nothing but a “kangkong professor”, a term coined by my friend, the late Professor Syed Hussein Alatas to refer to professors who are “devoid of knowledge to the core” and whose claim as scholars and thinkers are most undeserved.

According to the first director of the Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM), Tun Dr. Arshad Ayub last year, there are 2,500 “kangkong professors” in Malaysia.

Our immediate task is to raise the standard of education at all level in Malaysia and to ensure that the 2,500 “kangkong professors” graduate to become real scholars and academicians.

This is why I had earlier appealed to GPMS, Mappim and GPMS to withdraw their appeal to the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision on the constitutionality of Chinese and Tamil primary schools, as well as to I-Guru not to appeal the decision on the constitutionality of Chinese and Tamil primary schools made by Kota Bahru High Court on Sunday, but to play a leading role for Malaysia to re-set and to achieve the nation’s capabilities to become a world-class great nation in international competitiveness, good governance, the rule of law, war against corruption and having an efficient and effective government.

The reset of Malaysia includes the raising of educational standards in Malaysia so that Malaysia does not have the most number of “kangkong professors” in the country.