COMMENT | Can tenureship protect academic freedom in Malaysia?

COMMENT | There are many countries around the world that prize and value academics and academic thought and opinion.

For example, countries like the United States, Canada, Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom value this so much that they practise tenureship among university professors whereby their academic position is protected from being fired or laid off.

The objective of tenureship is to allow for academic freedom to exist. Academics can be free to think and research anything, even if it is against the institution they are serving or the parties funding their research, without the fear of losing their jobs. It is the right to academics with job security.

Tenured academics can conduct unconventional research, teach creatively and make comments based on research and knowledge that they are considered experts in. Basically, it gives them...