The Fifth Estate – A Space for the Academia?

Bismillaahir rahmaanir rahiim
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh, Salam Sejahtera dan Salam 1Malaysia.

Dr. Hamidin Abdul Hamid
Chief Executive Officer
Razak School of Government

Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commisioners

Y.Bhg. Dato’ Sri-Dato’ Sri, Datuk-Dato’, Datin-Datin

Ladies and Gentlemen

First and foremost I want to thank the Razak School of Government for inviting me to share my thoughts with you this afternoon.

2. My objective today is to fire a conversation, a debate even, on the role of academia in influencing opinion, shaping thinking, growing minds. And if the social media is increasingly popular and impacting the lives of our young, is there a place for academia in this space? And if there is that space, can it be considered the Fifth Estate?

3. But before I take you there, it would good to bring us all on to the same page. Let’s take a step back and appreciate the First, Second, Third and Fourth Estates. There is general acceptance as to these four estates, namely the clergy, First Estate, the nobility, Second Estate, the proletariat, Third Estate, and the print media, Fourth Estate. The first three estates have their roots in feudal society, some put it down to French feudal society, some to the British estates of Parliament: the Lords Spiritual, the Lords temporal and the Commons. But whatever the definition of the three estates, the point to note is that this was a system of classifying the political reality of the time, a time well before democracy existed as a fundamental system of political belief. Recall the French Revolution, the uprising of the oppressed, which then gave rise eventually to the Fourth Estate.

4. The Fourth Estate is in large part a response to the need to provide the checks and balance to the other three estates. This Fourth Estate, the print media, has today evolved into the mainstream media. It was first conceived as the conscience of the people, giving voice to the marginalised. Today the influence of the Fourth Estate has waned in the face of the rise of the Digital Media.

5. Whereas in years past the print media provided the outlet for the masses, today, people especially the young, find empowerment in the digital realm of Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and other forms of social media. So is this the Fifth Estate?

6. What is the Fifth Estate? There is no one definition for this. However, there is growing consensus that the alternative media, the folks who blog, who are on Facebook and Twitter comprise the Fifth Estate. Is our PM then part of the Fifth Estate? He has Facebook and he twits. Many of us do that too. Can civil servants be part of the Fifth Estate?

7. The Fifth Estate’s role is essentially to provide another avenue for the voices to be heard, to provide another point of view. It is not so much about the “social media” per se but about the fact that people are using and accessing this medium to be heard and to hear the views of others. They want to be able to tell you things that the Fourth Estate supposedly won’t report. They want to be able to share information that they claim they cannot push through in the Fourth Estate. Some see the Fifth Estate as a reflection of the “failure” of the Fourth Estate in representing the marginalised.

8. Inevitably, the active participants in the digital media are the young, your Generation Y folks, and perhaps those who claim to have become disillusioned with the other Estates. This is a form of expression that has morphed into something phenomenal and has proven to the world that it has the power to effect change. Social media and the digital network have the ability to catalyse another revolution of sorts, one that has gone down in the idiom as the Arab Spring. This is the power of the digital revolution, pun intended!

9. This Fifth Estate is driven by technology. As such those who are au fait with this medium can easily access hundreds, thousands, if not millions just with their key-strokes. They have the power to influence, to shape how people think, how they learn and how they glean knowledge. And the digital network can wield as much good as harm. I am sure each of us can call up examples of situations gone viral, whether or not the originator intended it to be so. The Wikileaks incidents are excellent examples of this kind of power. What was thought to be private exchanges have been accessed and made public, in the name of freedom of information, with little regard for the impact on the lives of individuals. Clearly, this power must come with responsibility and accountability. My question is: who’s watching whom?

10. So where does this leave the academia? Can we regard academia as the Fifth Estate? Or are members of the academia a part of the Fifth Estate? I do not think the Academia can claim that they are THE Fifth Estate. Yes, they are part of the Fifth Estate if one agrees that their role goes beyond providing checks and balances. Yes, if their role involves shaping thought and character. And, focusing on the greater good.

11. Let me enumerate some points that are prerequisites for the academic fraternity to claim the status of a Fifth Estate:

12. First: you must believe that yours is a noble profession and that you are in it out of conviction and choice, and not out of circumstance. This is basic. You must be an academic because you have the skills, knowledge and expertise. You are in this field because you are convinced that you can make a difference in the lives of the people you teach; that you want to be involved. Make yours the profession of choice! Recall that Individuals such as Hugh Trevor Roper, Eric Hobsbawn and A.J.P Taylor in the UK; Jacques Barzun, Lionel Trilling, J.K. Galbraith and Henry Kissinger in the US; Jurgen Habermas in Germany were deeply involved in both public education and public discussion of the social, political and economic issues facing society at large.

13. These scholars, and those like them, understood that they have a responsibility and duty to ensure that they were active participants in the discussions of the major issues of public concern.

14. Second: you must believe that yours is a profession of immense power and influence. You have the power to shape minds, thought and character. You believe that education shapes and empowers the human intellect and spirit. Yes, yours is the challenge of meeting differing expectations. One group demands that universities and institutions of higher learning must produce graduates who are work-place ready. They want to ensure that public funds that are channeled to these institutions are used to produce a skilled and highly qualified workforce.

15. Then there is the other group that feels that the university is the place for exploring new knowledge, for research and experiments in ideas and thoughts. A university education is distinct from a vocational or technical institution. It serves to provide the students with broader education, that you teach them to think, think critically, think strategically. Get this right, and employability will follow. This brings to mind the movie, “Dead Poets Society”, starring Robin Williams as teacher John Keating. He inspires his students at Welton Academy to overcome their reluctance to make changes in their lives. He taught them to think, “When you read, don’t just consider what the author thinks, consider what you think.”

16. Universities are not just places where someone goes to get a degree. Universities are also more than just places where people are engaged in ‘research’. Regardless how well our universities perform in international rankings, the more important question should be how well it serves the nation and the citizens’ interests.

17. So to be a force in the Fifth Estate you must reclaim your intellectual leadership. Let me repeat this: Malaysian universities must reclaim your intellectual leadership! This must of course be derived from the quality of scholarship of the leaders of the universities. Recall that in the past the standing of Malaysian universities was in large part due to academic leaders such as Ungku Aziz, Hamzah Sendut and others who were so visible in the public eye. More than just competent administrators and managers, these individuals were, above all, recognised for their intellectual leadership. They assumed a critical role in ensuring that Malaysian universities – and by extension their faculties – were held in high public regard. We must attempt to recover the trust and esteem of the public again.

18. Use your expertise, and influence the discourse in whichever or whatever sphere. Be brave and challenge the status quo! The Fifth Estate presents you with new and exciting challenge and opportunity to prove your intellectual prowess.

19. Third: you must believe that in the course of your work you can give voice to the marginalised. In this space you re-assert that all-important relationship between the university and society. In this you must be willing to take up the cause of the marginalised. Your research should guide the conversations on topics that concern society and the minorities who have no one to speak for them. You shade light on their predicament, explaining their condition, communicating it to the relevant folks. More important than that is your ability to propose solutions, credible solutions because they would be borne out of your research and experience. This will make meaning of the work you do. The message is that your work contributes to the larger good. Use the technology available to you to convince, influence and expand your reach.

20. Fourth: You must use your expertise to differentiate yourself from the citizen journalists that operate in the blogosphere. Many bloggers advocate the same things we dislike in the Fourth Estate. They are often biased and tend to take extreme positions, regardless of the facts. Academics on the other hand are accused of being quite detached from the real world; that you live in your ivory tower. While the bloggers are said to politicise the issues, the academics are accused of being theoretical.

21. The citizen journalists are truly your arm-chair critics, mainly operating on conjecture and often their limited world-view. Their perspectives are often shaped by a narrow agenda. And unfortunately, they have successfully mined it for all its worth to influence their readers and followers.

22. The strength of the academic fraternity is in the ability to report based on research. You have the training to enable you to be objective. You have the intellectual tools to scan the environment and provide different perspectives so essential for making informed decisions. And more importantly, you have the ability to impart that expertise to your charges, and start a virtuous cycle of intellectual discourse that contributes ideas for the betterment of society!

23. Fifth: focus on the people, not on the technology. This is what sets you apart from the other folks who claim the Fifth Estate. For them it is Facebook, Twitter and their blogs. More often than not these netizens just want to get their point of view out there without much thought about the consequences, about the impact on the lives of others. But you have the advantage of knowing how to build relationships. You are trained to analyse, to teach, to communicate. This is about extending your reach beyond your classroom. What power you have at your fingertips! Use it well.

24. Yes there is a place for academia in the Fifth Estate. As much as a place for government and government officials. Like many of us here. For in the final analysis, what the Fifth Estate has to do is to influence people, and for the right reasons; in what is right, what is true and what is good. For is it not said somewhere that the voice of the people is the voice of God!

Thank you.
Wabillahittaufik walhidayah
Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh.