Anwar Ibrahim standard modus operandi when meeting with Press

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Making Monsters Out of Our Students - The “Lucifer Effect” on Our Campuses

Making Monsters Out Of Our Students – The “Lucifer Effect” On Our Campuses

M. Bakri Musa

I commend Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for his swift action in reassigning the commandant of the Royal Military College (RMC) over the death of one of its students, Naim Mustaqim, during a ragging incident. Earlier, the college had expelled the alleged abusers. Likewise, I praise Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin in issuing a stern warning of his “zero tolerance” for ragging in our public universities.

Ragging is now entrenched in our universities and residential schools, creating monsters out of these students, the “Lucifer Effect” being operative (more on that later). The ensuing scars and damages are consequential, both physical and psychological. A few like Naim get killed.

Ragging is one of those unsavory “traditions” of the colonial British that Third World natives have picked up with a vengeance. We denigrate everything associated with the colonials but somehow when it comes to ragging, we have no qualms in quickly adopting it. We have bested the Indians and Sri Lankans in the savagery of our hazing rituals.

The only effective way to end this pestilence that has plagued our schools and colleges is to initiate a “shock and awe” intervention that would impress everyone on the evilness of this hitherto foreign ritual. We have to do that now before we have other innocent victims.

Strong Individual and Collective Actions Needed

We need aggressive actions at both the individual and system levels.

At the personal level, we must help the family of Naim Mustaqim launch lawsuits against not only his alleged abusers but also the RMC authorities and personnel, including the reassigned commandant. They have been negligent in failing to provide a safe environment for those under their care. The government must also initiate criminal proceedings; those in supervisory positions including the wardens and teachers should also be prosecuted.

Naim’s family will not get their young son back, but by instituting civil and criminal actions we would make those responsible pay for their culpabilities. We cannot condone criminal behaviors lurking beneath ‘tradition.’

It is reprehensible that those who have been given the awesome responsibility for nurturing our young have neglected their duties, resulting in one promising young man being killed. Naim’s teachers and wardens had been with him for over six months, literally day and night, and yet they failed to notice the signs of his desperate need for help. I wonder how they would feel if their loved ones had been similarly neglected.

The first order of business for RMC’s new commandant must be to impress upon his staff their obligation to look after the safety of those under their charge. His second order of duty would be to punish those who had let this ugly situation occur. Those are his two immediate priorities, and not, as he was quoted, “to safeguard the college’s image and moral of students, staff, parents and the public alike.”

At the systemic level, the responsible ministers should issue directives to the vice-chancellors as well as principals of our universities and residential schools indicating that they would be held responsible for any ragging on their campuses. Were that to happen, they would suffer the same fate, or worse, as the RMC commandant.

I would like them to draw up specific rules and lists of “don’ts,” and the penalties for infringements, be given to student and parent (in the case of residential schools) before these students enroll. They (as well as their parents) would have to sign that document acknowledging their full understanding of the content.

Be strict for a few years and we would effectively get rid of this scourge. When the present generation of students who had been brutalized by ragging graduate (in three or four years), then this odious practice would end. Then our new students could look forward to coming to our campuses for a different experience, one more welcoming and nurturing.

I was privileged to be spared from attending our local university and thus had a vastly different college experience. One of the sweetest and most comforting words that greeted me on my arrival on campus in Canada decades ago was an upperclassman extending his hand and saying, “You must be Bakri, from Malaysia! Hi! I am Ray, your resident advisor!”

Of course during orientation week we still had to wear that silly beanie and were made to steal apples from the nearby orchards, but nothing beyond that. What I remember most was my seniors helping and guiding me. It was to them that I turned to in seeking advice on classes and what was appropriate to wear to campus functions.

That is what orientation week is supposed to be, to help incoming students adjust to their new campus environment.

Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil

While I advocate severe punishment for the abusers of Naim Mustaqim, I am mindful that these kids are not intrinsically evil. On the contrary, what we have learned from the Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo’s famous prison experiment in 1971 is that those students who became torturers (and in Naim’s case, murderers) were normal human beings. Given a different set of circumstances they could very well become heroes.

Zimbardo’s “Lucifer Effect” (after Lucifer, God’s favorite angel who turned evil; the Quranic version is Iblis who, banished by Allah from Paradise to earth for disobeying Him, made it his mission to convert as many mortals to his new evil and Satanic ways) is what made otherwise ordinary soldiers into sadists and murderers in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. Those who have read the accounts of Kassim Ahmad, Syed Hussin Ali, Raja Petra and others incarcerated under the ISA would immediately recognize the local variation of this Lucifer Effect. The difference between Kamunting and Abu Ghraib is merely a matter of degree, not kind.

In his experiment, Zimbardo recruited ordinary college students looking to make a few dollars as subjects in a human psychology experiment simulating the prison experience. What he discovered about human nature from that innocent experiment shocked him, and forced him to prematurely terminate the study.

What Zimbardo discovered was that students who were randomly assigned to be “guards” soon became vicious, senselessly brutalizing and inflicting gratuitous punishments on their “prisoners.” Even though those students were aware that they were being monitored and that it was only an experimental situation, nonetheless they persisted in their brutish ways.

There are other experiments along the same vein where the social situation, in short peer pressure, made the subjects do things they would not otherwise do.

The Lucifer Effect illuminates how otherwise good people can turn evil, given the “right” circumstances. Humans are like pet dogs. In the calm and nurturing environment of a quiet home with a caring master, it is the most docile, playful and obedient pet, indeed almost angelic. It would not bark even if your toddler were to yank its tail. However, let it loose with his canine friends to maraud in the neighborhood as a pack at night, and they would become vicious predators.

We must make sure that the environment in our schools and universities would not turn our promising young students into evil fallen angels. Those in charge, from the ministers down to the teachers and custodians, have an awesome responsibility to make sure that this would not happen. If they fail, then they must be made to pay a stiff price.

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Can the people of M’sia ever forgive Mahathir?

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WRITTEN BY HUSSEIN HAMID

MONDAY, 21 JUNE 2010 14:35

“[Mahathir Mohamad has] ... created a legacy so monumental that no one could have presumed his mantle.” That was what Abdullah Ahmad gushingly said of Mahathir when the ‘great man’ announced his resignation as prime minister. Tan Sri Abdullah was group editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times when he wrote the above on June 26, 2002 following news of Mahathir’s intention. I believe that that came from Abdullah’s heart for you cannot write anything so ‘moving’ if it does not come from the heart. Now let me tell you what comes from my heart when I read that. Who would be foolhardy enough to presume Mahathir mantle? This man used money and power like no other PM of Malaysia has ever done! Like no other leader in most parts of the civilized world has ever done, save for some parts of Africa and some parts of our world where accountability for one’s action is easily dismissed through the barrel of the gun!  Who would dare to presume the monumental mantle of this Mahathir who was instrumental in bringing into our way of life such concepts as Operasi Lalang (ISA and the ends justify the means of preventive detention), nepotism, money politics, greed, privatization, IPPs, and Perwaja; the monumental mantle of this Mahathir that displayed such utter vindictiveness to those who simply do not agree with his point of view? It is a monumental mantle to have left as his legacy – negotiated tenders, a tainted judiciary, Bakun, Renong and its horrendous debts, Khir Toyo, Daim Zainuddin, and the list is endless. The monumental man almost left us a crooked bridge as well. Every government machinery, every high public office appointment, every political decision made during Mahathir’s time was at his pleasure and made to do your biddings. Not Dollah, not anyone …. nobody would be foolhardy enough to try and assume that mantle. All the personal excesses that we now talk about had its beginnings, development and reached its zenith during Mahathir’s time. Samy Velu, Rafidah, VK Lingam, Augustine Paul, Liong Sik, Daim, Vincent Tan, Abdullah Ang, Eric Cheah…the mind boggles at the billions these people made at the expense of the nation! Sir, you need to take responsibility What defines greatness in a man? “It’s not what you take but what you leave behind that defines greatness.” – Edward Gardner.  Mahathir left us with debts measured in billions, not millions!  This man left us with monuments of First World stature but failed miserably to prepare our then third-world mentality to be ready for these iconic structures. If you bring a nation into an era that it is not ready for, you are being irresponsible! If you cut corners and award projects to people who YOU think can do the job and they fail to do that job – you take responsibility!  If you do nothing about a leader that robs his own people blind – like Samy Velu did to the Indians – then you take responsibility. If you take power away from the Sultans and empower Umno with the same power and Umno abuses that power – you take responsibility!  When you remove two of your deputies and in so doing caused: 1) Within Umno, a factionalism that forever weakened the party; 2) and had one of these removed deputies, Anwar, come back 10 years later and inflict upon Umno its biggest defeat, you take responsibility.  When you take a dentist and make him Menteri Besar of Selangor – and this MB then proceeds to enrich himself so excessively that it finally culminated in the loss of Selangor to the opposition – then you take responsibility.  When you take oil royalties away from Terengganu and Kelantan because the people voted for the opposition, you take responsibility for the suffering of the people within that state who are now without the funds for development.  When you use Petronas money to bail out your son’s shipping company to the tune of hundreds of millions, then you take responsibility for abusing the trust the people placed in you as the guardian of public money.  Can he walk down a street unmolested? That a man of your previous stature would require me, a 62-year-old man living in Adelaide, Australia to write this biting and hurtful article about you simply indicates the depth you have allowed yourself to sink to.  Once you told us to look East. We looked East. You told us to buy British last. We bought British last. You told us to buy Proton, we bought Proton – albeit with a little arm-twisting. Possibly all those were relevant at that point in time. So Tun, using that analogy, let me respectfully tell you this: “Tun, you are no longer relevant”. You are no longer relevant in Umno except to serve the selfish purpose of certain factions. “Hear! Hear!” or as (the blogger) Antares said for the benefit of Ibrahim Ali, “Dengar, Dengar!” You are no longer relevant to the Malays. You have done enough damage to us and we see thorough your deceptions. You are no longer relevant to the people in this country. We have all moved on and demand a more open and responsible government. We see through your duplicity and untruths. Tun, you are only relevant to those that still love you for what you are – a grandfather, a father and a husband. Is it not time that you return their love and their need to have you back in their fold? And that you return the love and respect that they give to you for what you are today? An 84-year-old grandfather, father and husband. Sir, you would need all the goodness that is in Mecca, all the forgiveness that Mandela has shown to the very people that imprisoned him, and all the love that the families of Teoh Beng Hock, Kugan and Aminulrasyid have for their loved ones if you are ever to be forgiven by the people of Malaysia.  And I know that even with all that, you would still have a hard time walking down the streets of KL without worrying that someone might spit on you…and that Sir is the whole truth and nothing but the truth…so help me God!  This article was first published as ‘Sir, you need to take responsibility!’ in Hussein Hamid’s blog on June 21 and reproduced here with minor editing by CPI.

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A typical News on Flotilla in Isreal...

Naval Raid 'Heroic fighting.' Ya'alon  Photo: Herzl Yosef   Itzik. 'Ya'alon preparing alibi' Photo: Gil Yohanan     Minister Ya'alon says Navy raid a failure Strategic affairs minister, who served as acting PM during deadly takeover of Gaza-bound vessel, praises commandos, but says 'someone failed to prepare a standard operating procedure.' Senior state official: Ya'alon preparing alibi ahead of investigation. Kadima: Soldiers' senders have no shame Attila Somfalvi Latest Update:  06.09.10, 00:56 / Israel News Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon admitted on Tuesday that last week's deadly commandoraid on a Gaza-bound flotilla was a failure, saying that "in a place where citations should have been given, someone failed to prepare a standard operating procedure." Speaking during a meeting with council heads from the Likud party, Ya'alon said that "the decision was right, but there is room for improvement –and I am not going to elaborate." World Criticism Putin condemns Israeli raid on Gaza ship / Associated Press At news conference with Turkish counterpart, Russian PM says deadly incident which took place in international waters 'unacceptable' Full story Ya'alon, who served as acting prime minister at the time of the operation due to the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on an official visit to Canada, praised the commandos who took over the Gaza-bound flotilla. "The fighting on the deck was heroic and took place under impossible conditions," he said, while adding that "there were some malfunctions during the planning and operational stages." "I warned of this before the incident," the minister said. Operational failures? Soldier beaten during raid (Photo: AFP) 'Ya'alon responsible for SOP' A senior IDF official said in response to the remarks that "since Ya'alon was the acting prime minister at the time of the incident, he is responsible. "If there wasn't a standard operating procedure, why didn't he make sure there was one? Why didn't he hold a consultation several hours after the flotilla incident and send the ministers to give interviews to the press? He was the acting prime minister and it was his responsibility. The official added, "Ya'alon could have ensured what the army had and what it didn't have before the operation, and his remarks are an attempt to shirk responsibility ahead of the commission of inquiry. A senior state official was unsatisfied with the remarks as well, saying that "Ya'alon must have forgotten who was the acting prime minister at the time and who should have dealt with all the details of the operation. He is beginning to prepare the ground for the commission of inquiry and is preparing an alibi for himself ahead of the investigation." During Tuesday's meeting with Ya'alon, Ma'aleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel complained that council heads were not being utilized in Israel's PR efforts. "We are in contact with Jewish organizations all over the world, and we have all the necessary documentation. It's a shame were are not being put to work," he said.    Kadima MK: PM should fire Ya'alon The Kadima opposition party interpreted Ya'alon's remarks as holding the IDF accountable, although others saw them as an attack on Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Knesset Member Yoel Hasson, chairman of the State Control Committee, said in response: "It appears that someone has not been acting according to a standing operating procedure, because those who sent the IDF's soldiers on a mission which was doomed to fail, without any proper decision making procedure, are not ashamed to hold the Navy heroes responsible." Kadima Faction Chairwoman Dalia Itzik said she was considering submitting a no-confidence motion against the government following the minister's remarks. Itzik told Ynet that Ya'alon was "preparing an alibi for the commission of inquiry." MK Ze'ev Boim said, "We would expect Minister Ya'alon, a former chief of staff, to be a bit more modest – especially in light of the IDF's problematic performance in the Second Lebanon war, which illustrated the army's faulty preparedness during his term. Ya'alon should wait patiently for the professional investigations to be completed." MK Majalli Whbee joined the criticism, saying that "Bogie Ya'alon is just the symptom of an arrogant government, which will never admit a mistake and is a champion in rolling the responsibility to its subordinates. "Those who are to blame for the failures are Ya'alon and the members of the seven dwarves' forum, who didn't ask questions, and today are trying to shirk responsibility and accuse the Navy fighters, who did all they could to emerge from the jam Ya'alon and his friends put them in." MK Shlomo Molla said Ya'alon should be dismissed over his remarks. "Minister Ya'alon is trying to avoid a commission of inquiry, and instead of taking responsibility is trying to hold the IDF's soldiers accountable. "The IDF does not outline a policy – it follows orders, and the political echelon must face the accusations and explain without throwing mud at the IDF. I call on the prime minister to fire Minister Ya'alon in order to save the IDF." On Monday IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi ordered a formal, external inquiry into the naval raid. The probe, meant to derive operational conclusions from the deadly events which took place aboard the Marmara – the sail's lead vessel – will be conducted by a panel of experts headed by Maj-Gen (ret.) Giora Eiland. Joining Eiland will be Brigadier-General Aviv Kohavi, who once headed the Operations Directorate, former Chief Intelligence Officer Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yuval Halamish and Colonel (res.) Ben Zion Da'abul, who held senior posts in the Navy and the defense establishment. The panel is expected to submit its findings by July.

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