The New Straits Times Online.......

Friday, November 21, 2008, 12.17 PM

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EDITORIAL: Less than ideal

It is ideal that the only allegiance that scholars should have is to the "facts and figures", and to base their findings on empirical studies. However, as the continuing debate and points of disagreement about the idea of objective, value-free scholarship suggest, it is a matter of contention whether academics are not influenced by ethical and political concerns when they conduct research. Indeed, with the impact that politics has on our lives, it is difficult to see how academics, like the rest of us, can be completely detached from the politics of the day. Moreover, at the end of the day, even in the freest of societies, it is politics that determines what is studied, and how and when the findings are implemented.

Nevertheless, while there may not be definitive conclusions or final points of agreement about the idea of objective scholarship, there is no question that the royal chancellor has raised one of the fundamental questions facing our universities today. In particular, his point about keeping political partisanship out of the research equation is well taken. While there is nothing wrong with such political affiliations in themselves, a line surely has to be drawn when such ties skew the research methods used, the determination of data and the findings that are made. Political partisanship promotes tunnel vision, stifles creativity and critical thinking and prevents out-of-the-box ideas from being considered. In these hyper-partisan times, it is especially imperative that academics do not lose sight of the big picture, which is to produce a cumulative body of organised knowledge that could be valuable to society.

It is also difficult to see how any high purpose can be served if students are allowed to be used as a cat's paw for party interests and come out in the streets to promote a political party's agenda. As it is, despite the ban on participation in politics, there is a symbiotic relationship between mainstream politics and campus politics. To be sure, a university should be more than just a place where students focus on studies. While there is much to be said about student activism, this should not be measured only in a vocal political stance or the ability to cause a stir. We just have to find different ways for them to express their idealism.