Kuala Lampur, Sept. 26 -- A friend shared with me a New Straits Times report on Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah's remarks about the history of Universiti Malaya (UM), and the headline immediately caught my eye: "UM's intellectual freedom eroded after May 1969, says Sultan Nazrin."

I was glad to see it stated so plainly, because it speaks to a concern that Malaysian higher education has too often been reluctant to confront directly.

Reflecting on UM's development alongside Malaysia's broader political and social transformation, Sultan Nazrin pointed to the effects of the New Economic Policy (NEP) on the student body and language of instruction, the curtailment of political freedom of expression, and the erosion of the vibrant intellectual ...