cheriangeorge

1. Everyone expects Hong Kong universities to come under increasing pressure from Beijing. There are already some signs. Professors who have had leading roles in the democracy movement have been penalised. However, Hong Kong is still one of the freest academic settings in Asia. That freedom is expected to gradually decline, but even then it will probably remain very free by Asian standards.
2. I've really not needed to think about moving from Hong Kong, which has been good to me.

The first thing that comes to mind is loosening many of our current free speech laws and regulations. Freedom of expression can be thought of as a foundational right, meaning that many other things depend on it. For example, it's very difficult to push for more social justice, like more policies to address inequality, if people are not free to debate the issue.

I found it difficult to follow a lot of the arguments in this rejoinder. As a fellow academic commented on Facebook, his observation about the critical discourse of artists and activists was especially odd. Yes, it's absolutely true that many artists and activists are pushing the boundaries. But I'm not sure what this has to do with academics, unless he is saying that since artists and activists are doing it, academics don't need to; or if that academics can somehow take credit for all these other goings-on.

To answer your question, was I being too harsh? I don't think so. (I would say that, wouldn't I?) My essay didn't just germinate in splendid isolation in my own head. It's the result of conversations with other (mainly Singaporean) academics who feel the same way, across many disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.

It's not an across-the-board problem. In my original essay, as published in my book, I point out that the problem is less serious in sociology, for example. Geography is another relatively bright spot.

As for history, it may seem from this NTU historian's reply that my essay beat up his department. In fact, I wrote exactly one (accurate) sentence about NTU history in a 2,200-word essay. Perhaps part of the reason why he got so worked up was that he misread what I wrote (or maybe he misread it because he was already worked up): he claimed that I made an unfair comment about NTU historians' publications about Singapore pre-independence history. In fact, I made this (accurate) observation about NUS's history department, not NTU's. THE's editors later deleted this paragraph of his because it was so obviously inaccurate, so you won't find it in that linked article anymore.

I am glad, though, that my essay gave him the opening to advertise the good work being done by his department to engage with the public. While I believe most of our academic departments don't do enough, I also think what they actually do isn't given enough credit or publicity, partly because our broader national culture is somewhat anti-intellectual.

First, we need to press home the point to the political masters that our news media are not at an acceptable standard. To do so effectively, we need to read up all their stock answers to those complaints and have counter-arguments ready. And before that we need to convince ourselves that this actually does matter. Unfortunately, many Singaporeans have decided not to care because they think they can get enough information and ideas elsewhere. Second, we need to look at the press as part of a wider ecosystem. Quality journalism anywhere doesn't exist in isolation. It's supported by a vibrant civil society, an active citizenry, engaged universities and so on. So, yes, it is very difficult. But if you look at where Singapore is in terms of our education levels, our wealth and so on, why should we feel it's beyond our reach? I don't think we should give up.

Ouch! In around 15 years of teaching, there may have been three classes that massacred me in their evaluations. Sometimes, the chemistry is wrong; you say or do something that puts off students, and things decline from there. It's rough when students don't tell you on the spot, and instead save their hostility for their written evaluations, when it's too late to do anything about it.