Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

230 COLLAGES OF BETTERMENTFourth, the successful developmental policies ofthe Malaysian government might be credited withabsorbing and institutionalizing some progressive forces.Unfortunately, the pro-indigenous race politics, whichin part led to the democratization of the universities,have led to some perverse consequences. One is theincreasing bureaucratization of state universities and therise of an academic class owing much to their politicalmasters. Their reason for being is to legitimize thecurrent order. The nationalist sentiments that animatedthe policy of deepening inclusivity have turned into arear-guard action of defending racial quotas and thepromotion of staff and students on criteria other thanmerit. Neither the Philippines nor Thailand seem toshare a similar history.Fifth, universities in the Philippines and Thailandserved in some measure and to varying degrees as sites ofresistance to dictatorship and repression. While all threecountries had politically volatile decades, by the 1970sthe Malaysian government had been able to stabilize thesituation. There have been several histories on the roleof universities in relation to the Marcos dictatorship,such as Down from the Hill about the Ateneo, whichserve as compelling tributes to the spirit of autonomyand commitment to democracy, though not withouttheir low moments.Sixth, state universities in Malaysia seem to lack a deeppedagogical philosophy and I found reading about thehistory of the Ateneo quite instructive on the needfor tertiary institutions to have such philosophicalfoundations. A diversity of pedagogies is also healthy.While I could not discern this dimension in the Thaisituation, it seemed much more marked in the Filipinocontext with a range from Catholic to secular discourseson the means and ends of education.A modest proposalWhat I see as a real possibility is the creation of anawareness of the intellectual heritage of Southeast Asiain the world, of the contests over the meaning and roleof the intellectual and the university as they engagedwith their newly independent nations. This debateneeds to be made contemporary and our program iswell placed to initiate one, not just for ourselves, butalso for the larger community. By broadening the termintellectual beyond the professional academic and at thesame time recognizing the importance of the “public”character of the university, this dialogue can help theregion to mobilize the cultural resources it will need tomove itself forward.Asian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows