Role of universities in promoting national cohesion and unity

DIALOG Rakyat 3 was held at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia on the theme The Role of Universities in Promoting National Cohesion and Unity.
The half-day forum hosted by UKM drew participants from both public and private universities who were represented by their vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors and academic staff. They came to reaffirm their contributions to nation building, in particular, the promotion of interethnic integration in their institutions.
The theme of the forum is indeed timely or perhaps even a little overdue as the country seems to be witnessing more and more breakups and disarray. Right thinking people are dismayed by the frequent altercations and confrontations that occur in public spaces, some even leading to aggressive and untoward behaviour. It seems as though there is an echo of Shakespeare's famous lamentation by Hamlet "All is not well in the state of Denmark".
To address this concern, seven civil society groups and individuals have pooled their resources to form a conglomerate Dialog Rakyat For National Cohesion And Unity. Its main objective is to inspire a movement of like-minded individuals and organisations to promote codes of ethical conduct at different levels of society. It is hoped that by adopting best practices and interventions, Malaysia and its people will be better positioned to achieve national cohesion and unity.
To achieve TN 50's objectives of training the young to inherit the helm of leadership and drive its various developments further, there must good inter-group relationships and social harmony. Rapid economic development will be meaningless if the rakyat are divided.
Among the questions that need to be answered are:
» What do social and national cohesion mean?
» What is unity and is it attainable?
» How can one describe Malaysia's level of harmony?
Without doubt the country's universities are among the best institutions to research these concepts, meanings and interpretations. Both public and private universities, therefore, have a crucial role to play as educators and mentors of a large segment of the country's population who are graduate, postgraduate, and undergraduate students. They form the fraternity of the country's top academicians and scholars of international repute.
At Dialog Rakyat 3, the universities took pains to explain their vision and mission, among which is the resounding pledge of promoting national cohesion and inter-ethnic integration. Their reports highlighted the various community activities organised for and by students to demonstrate collaborative efforts and team work in CSR-type programmes. Kudos to the students involved in these co-curricular activities which are given credits in their semester assessment.
However, what is absent in the university curriculum is a stand-alone credit course or teaching-learning module focused on topics which are relevant to an understanding of national cohesion and unity. For instance, topics which cover multiculturalism and diversity, ethnic identity and national identity, dimensions of culture, common values etc are important in providing students with a strong knowledge base to fully comprehend what the community-based activities entail. The two components must run sequentially, or at least concurrently, so that they are impactful learning experiences. The knowledge base will be sustainable after the enthusiasm of physically demanding community work wears off.
PCORE's presentation on Managing Identity, Diversity and Inclusion (IDI) attempted to fill the gap with a 12-unit module spanning one semester to be completed before the co-curricular requirement. The units proposed are:
1. Multifarious identities – personal, social and cultural – and their construction in everyday life
2. Ethnic identity and national identity
3. Function of rituals in shaping (i) ethnic identity (ii) national identity
4. Universal cultural and religious values across communities
5. Translating national mechanisms and philosophies
6. Federal Constitution
7. Rukun Negara
8. Good Governance Principles and CECs
9. Civic Nationalism
10. New identities and ethnicities
11. Modern modes of communication
12. Role of media in fostering social/ national cohesion
The range of concepts, principles, theories and interpretations which will be covered through lectures, seminars, library work and experiential learning will equip students with a strong foundation to handle better their hands-on experiences. They will undertake community work and volunteerism with greater understanding and empathy.
Another novel proposal by PCORE is a cross-university Campus Diversity Survey based on the Marywood University model, where students are asked to respond to statements assessing their attitudes and behaviour pertaining to aspects of the university environment. The results of the survey will measure the Cultural Intelligence Quotient of Malaysian university students.
Dialog Rakyat for National Cohesion and Unity will continue to bring together different groups and organisations to share their experiences and to come up with actionable practices to foster integration, cohesion, unity and harmony among the rakyat.
Datuk Halimah Mohd Said
President
Association of Voices of Peace, Conditions and Reason