Building knowledge on campus

DOES Malaysia’s public university architecture contribute to nation-building? Based on my knowledge of architectural theory and criticism, I have to say it generally does not.

My architectural criticism begins with two questions. The first is what is the role of education in society, and the second is who are the most important users of a university campus?

Now, for the first question, I happen to believe in the Islamic perspective on the role of knowledge, which is to bring about changes for the good of society and to inculcate the idea of democratic responsibility in both students and academicians.

If your answer was that knowledge is supposed to land my son or daughter a job, then Malaysian public university campus architecture would get an A-plus because the buildings look like boarding schools and monastic religious retreats not places that would encourage learning for learning’s sake.

Now, for the second question, to me, the two important users of a university campus are students and academicians. If your answer was that a university is for the vice-chancellor and Higher Education Minis-try officials, then again the university campus architecture we have inherited is a success story with flying colours.

Well, why not, most structures look like feudalistic castles only missing a moat and fields of explosive mines. The entrances alone tend to resemble medieval fortress gateways complete with security guards in military-like uniforms. Very welcoming.

My idea of university architecture firstly is to do away with the monumental chancellery that usually looks like a foreboding fortress or grand castle.

The trend of such buildings began with the construction of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia campus in Skudai, Johor, with its Malay Istana Kayangan look on top of a hill. Then came the International Islamic University with its “Islamic” castle. After that, of course, came the imperial architecture of Putrajaya to fulfil then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s vision of a Malay-Muslim architectural identity.

When I first began studying in the United States at the University of Wisconsin’s Green Bay and Milwaukee campuses, and then at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, I couldn’t locate the chancellery or where the offices of the vice-chancellor, provost or secretary to the university were when I first arrived on campus. Once I was invited to meet the secretary to the University of Edinburgh after the sudden death of my PhD supervisor, and I had to ask three times where to go.

On many of the other campuses I visited overseas, the architecture of the chancellery was also not obvious. To me, this shows that the power of knowledge is not conditioned or controlled by the vice-chancellor or rector (academic head of the university) but by the academicians and students.

Thankfully, in many private universities in Malaysia, there is no obvious chancellery architecture making a feudalistic statement of total and absolute control and conditioning.

Next is the fence. All the university campuses in Malaysia I have visited, whether public or private, semua ada pagar (all have fences). What is the message here? No criminals must come in to steal knowledge? No Opposition politicians allowed? No public allowed to bathe in the overspill of knowledge?

I still remember the time, several years before the 14th General Election in 2018, when one university’s administration decided to close the campus gates and switch off the electricity to stop an Opposition leader from entering! So there you are. In our universities, academicians are not free to invite whoever they want onto campus to share knowledge because knowledge is controlled and conditioned to ensure students learn to be workers in offices and not leaders in Parliament and state assemblies.

My third issue is with the student union building. On all the public university campuses in Malaysia I have visited, the architecture of the student union is a sorry sight. In Western universities, student union architecture makes a powerful statement about the presence of the student body as a social, political and economic powerhouse.

At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) student union, there are pubs, bowling alleys, restaurants, bookshops, travel agents and offices for student bodies. As the vice-president of the Malaysian Students’ Association and the Muslim Students’ Group, I had two offices.

I believe campus architecture must make the student union the go to place where students can unwind, be themselves and chill. They should also be allowed to stand up and speak there – courteously and clearly – on any political, social or religious issue without the necessity of any permission. Can you do that at our universities? Tak boleh (Cannot). That’s why our student union is not an obvious statement of architecture in campus planning.

Next, I would take issue with student residences. In public universities, student residences are placed on the outermost perimeter of the campus. Students have to buy motorcycles or bicycles or wait for university buses to get to classes.

Why is this so? Well, I suppose it is so that the splendid looking chancellery and library buildings, the grand mosque and the important faculty buildings can be seen in all their glorious splendour. And perhaps it is also wise to hide the students’ drying laundry from visitors.

I don’t think this is very good planning for students as it causes both safety issues when commuting and adds unnecessary travel costs – not to mention having to rush for that 8am class! In UWM, the student residences are two tall towers smack dab in the middle of the campus where the faculties, library and student union are only a five-minute walk away. Senang saja (Easy).

Finally, I have always wondered why in public universities, the mosque is always so big and obvious. This trend began immediately after the “Islamic Reformation” began with Mahathir trying to outdo PAS in Islamic credibility. My feeling is that mosques do not have to be so grand to please God, they just need to be enough for prayers and students’ political, social and spiritual activities.

I like the campus mosque at Institut Teknologi Bandung in Indonesia. It showcases unpretentious, functional modern architecture and was designed by famed architect Pak Noe’man (Achmad Noe’man 1926-2016). I had the great pleasure to see many usrah and halaqah – knowledge and spiritual circles – formed by students and led by students there without any interference from campus police or administration.

I would also suggest a multi-religious complex where non-Muslim students can have their own spiritual activities. My students have so far designed four such centres. Our public campuses thus far have none. We should be fair to all, not just cater to one religion.

I have always said that the university is the first test of a nation’s progress. If students come out of them just looking for jobs, fearing authority and comfortable only within racially and religiously polarising groups, that’s it lah for Malaysia. And the campus architecture of our public universities will make sure that’s how they will emerge.

Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at UCSI University.

The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.