Study abroad, but mindset like frog underneath coconut shell

“A frog which lives under a coconut shell will think the shell is its world.  So one who is like the frog will have no knowledge of things, events and places outside his world. He refuses to venture out into the world. He remains ignorant but is happy with it.”

– Meaning of a popular Malay idiom –

It is acceptable if a person chooses to remain ignorant and is happy with his choice, but when that person wants to prevent other people from venturing outside the shell, then that’s out of line.

Last week, five DAP parliamentarians went to visit the Middle East. Their itinerary included dialogue with academic groups, a visit to a refugee camp and a meeting with Malaysian students in Jordan and Egypt. According to Zairil Khir Johari, the MP for Bukit Bendera, “The purpose of the trip was to learn more about the culture and political dynamics in West Asia, especially about the Islamic political movement that is increasingly growing in the region.”

This seemingly ordinary itinerary incurred the wrath of certain quarters. A piece that was published by Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) expressed shock that DAP was allowed to meet and greet Malaysian students in the Middle East “because most of the Malaysians students there are Malay”.

Excuse me, so what if they are Malay or Chinese students? The DAP, or any other political party, is answerable to the people. Malaysian students, regardless of whether they are studying locally or overseas, should be given the space and opportunity to engage our lawmakers and elected representatives. We are the future of this country and we should be allowed to engage with our politicians. We should learn, critique and question our politicians.

According to the writer, who graduated from the prestigious Al-Azhar University, “DAP now ‘owns’ Rara and Dyana Sofya, and surely it also wants to ‘own’ religious teachers who graduated from the Middle East so that they can produce opinions and religious decrees that can confuse the public in order to accomplish their evil agenda...”

I should not have been shocked because even before this, DAP has ‘hypnotised’ and ‘manipulated’ Malay youth who are unprincipled and have lost their identity to join their camp to fight against the Malays and the Muslim camp.”

I don’t care if they are DAP, Umno, or Pas lawmakers. These are public figures that influence the nation’s future.

If Lim Guan Eng comes to your university, you should meet him. If Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang visits a place nearby a university, students should go and meet him. If Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin comes to Ohio, I should meet him (Actually he did, and we took a photo).

If we are going to block off engagement with lawmakers because some quarters are afraid that students might be “hypnotised” and “manipulated”, we are selectively imposing a set of political beliefs upon the students.

The fact that we do not give opportunity and freedom for students to participate and engage shows that we are not confident in the students’ ability to think for themselves.

The writer of the article even had the audacity to say “without any evidence, I assume that the meeting (sic) is arranged by Zahid Naser and his friends in Ikram”.

The President of Ikram Egypt and Zahid Naser himself have come forward to deny Ikram’s involvement. We have not heard of an apology from the writer for slandering an entire organisation.

This piece generated quite a buzz in social media among Malaysian students and youth. Some vilified the DAP and the organiser for “tarnishing” the holy land and that “Malay youth have gone wayward.” Many rightly brushed it off as a non-issue.

I’m surprised too, but for a different reason. Malaysian students in the United States and United Kingdom regularly receive visits by politicians from both sides of the divide.

Students who care about Malaysian politics and current issues will attend a meet and greet session with the politicians. Though sometimes students are discouraged from attending talks by opposition figures, we are by and large free to learn and engage as much as we want.

The anxiety and shock expressed by certain quarters are as if they were never exposed to the difference of beliefs, cultures, and political opinions. It is as if they just got out of the cave yesterday.

To those who still think that students should be “protected” from alien teachings, outside interference and a different way of thinking, I say to them: please do not belittle our intelligence.

Attending a meeting with politicians does not mean we will entirely agree with what they say and become corrupted. If we are that easily brainwashed, that means our education is useless and so it serves us right then to be fooled by politicians.

Worse still if we are talking about Malaysians who are studying overseas, what’s the point of studying overseas if we have a mindset like the “katak di bawah tempurung”?

Remember why we applied to foreign universities in the first place and what we wrote in our application essays?

We wanted to be exposed to different cultures. We wanted to learn from people who are different from us. We wanted to explore knowledge and parts of the world which were alien to us.

If we wanted to stick with like-minded people, we might as well have choosen to stay in a homogeneous society which conforms to a fixed way of life.

Malaysian students and youth do not need protection.

And we definitely do not need any self-anointed, “syiok Sendiri” figure or organisation to protect us. We have brains and we know how to think, evaluate, and choose for ourselves.

If anyone wants to remain the frog that lives under the coconut shell, go ahead. But please do not stop others from becoming something more than the frog you are. – April 18, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.