Beware of lecturers with weak faith in our varsities

Who is UUM lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff?

Cocomomo: In criticising Selangor assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh, Universiti Utara Malaysia’s (UUM) lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff has implied he is of weak faith. How a person with such a mindset as his can be a senior lecturer is a wonder.

However, this does not seem surprising as a former Universiti Malaya lecturer (Dr Mahmud Ahmad) seems poised to the leader of Islamic State (IS) in Malaysia, or possibly even Southeast Asia.

How many more lecturers like him do we have? How do these lecturers affect their students?

Fair Play: As a political analyst, if you slant your writing or comment against any one particular community, person or religion, you are no longer a political analyst but is taking a journey of personal vendetta.

That is what Kamarul did when he attacked Hannah Yeoh with such a ludicrous justification that he might be influenced to leave his religion because of her book.

I hope the majority of our Muslim brethren are not like him. The only conclusion I could arrive at is that he wore his emotions on his sleeve instead of trying to convince the well-informed rakyat that he is a political analyst of high calibre.

He is perhaps a sore loser, who is trying to capitalise on the sensitive issue of his religion to advance his academic career.

Anonymous 1371825132: During and after a PhD journey, some will realise this: “The more I know, the more I will realise how little I know”. Unfortunately, many will escape this and contribute greatly to noise pollution.

RR: One can have a PhD but it is does not constitute a qualification for a just and fair character in a multiracial, multireligious society. At PhD level, one should be open to accommodation and digestion of various views in society.

The Council of Professors must vet their membership to avoid extremists within their fold. We don’t want students to be radicalised into fanaticism, otherwise we will suffer the fate of Middle East countries.

Anonymous 2467641495164399: Submitting a thesis and being awarded a doctorate doesn’t make you an expert. It just confirms that you are perhaps better informed than the average “man on the street”.

For someone holding high academic credentials, you broke the cardinal rule of professional respect and that is, while you are pretty good at dishing out criticism, you’re not so good at taking the brickbats.

Better learn how to “agree to disagree”, otherwise you can have all the qualifications you want but you will still be considered ill-mannered.

Xed: There are too many professors in Malaysia. The Peter Principle about people being promoted to the level of their incompetence does not apply in Malaysia.

In Malaysia, people who show early the promise of incompetence are helped along and get promoted beyond the level of their incompetence.

There are people behind the scene who prefer to have in high places the incompetent, especially the ones who are corrupt and therefore can be used and manipulated.

Foreign businesses and governments and some local billionaires who keep their heads down have been using such a method for years.

Did the British colonial authorities really prefer to have clever and independent-thinking non-British local officers?

Ozzie Jo: I think there are people who are educated beyond their intelligence, and I think Kamarul is one of these…

Hannah Yeoh: The accidental politician

David Dass: This is a good review of the biography which sparked a controversy. The controversy – in fairness was many Malaysians reacting to the silly complaint of one Kamarul Zaman Yusoff.

Through the furious reaction of many Malaysians, Kamarul the academic who has apparently published one article and found his 30 seconds of glory.

There is much for us to do that is not entertaining Kamarul, who must have been convinced that he had stumbled onto something sinister – for why else the reaction?

For which we should instruct Kamarul to follow the tweets of one Donald Trump – stupefaction is not validation.

Existential Turd: If Kamarul’s faith in Islam wavered after reading Hannah Yeoh’s book, the problem lies with him, not the book. As an intellect, he should have posed questions to himself, rather than blaming others.

I see the same kind of reasoning in many so-called faithful Muslims/Malay. The problem always lies with others, they lack self-refection.

If someone rape a woman, it is because she dressed provocatively. If a Muslim assaults a non-Muslim, it is because the non-Muslim was disrespectful to Islam and the Muslim was simply exercising his right to defend Islam.

Such twisted logic has seeped deep into the Malay psyche, even university lecturers commit such folly without knowing it.

Anonymous 29051438068738: Men like this UUM academic represent thousands like him who are susceptible to the writings of infidels, their ideas of salvation and their scriptures.

His anxiety is well-founded because he knows how weak his faith is, as is the faith of many others who prey, as he does, on what is often seen as a soft target.

Moreover, he has been programmed to believe that all his problems in this life and the so-called “hereafter” are solely the fault of the ‘kafir’.

That, and Yeoh’s disclosure about what makes her tick, her faith and the success she believes it has brought her, when seen from the pretentious perch of this insecure little man is indeed a threat.

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