Safeguarding fragile civilisation

AS Vietnam celebrated 50 years since reunification on April 30, I found myself reflecting on how educational narratives evolve alongside historical shifts.

This anniversary coincided with the 100-day mark of US President Donald Trump’s second administration, creating a striking contrast between historical memory and current realities.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, that same month, a controversy that erupted over some university students’ costumes raised questions in my mind about educational substance and cultural awareness.

Vietnam’s transformation from war-torn nation to South-East Asian economic player showcases remarkable post-conflict recovery. Since the 1975 reunification ended a conflict that claimed millions of lives, the country has demonstrated extraordinary resilience and pragmatic adaptation.

In higher education, Viet-nam’s journey offers insights into historical reconciliation. Saigon University (now Ho Chi Minh City University), once a centre of anti-government sentiment where Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation happened, has transformed dramatically. The University of Hanoi (now Vietnam National University) trained many of the intellectuals who later shaped post-war Vietnam’s development, even while during the war it sometimes held classes in remote jungles to avoid bombing raids.

Fifty years on, these institutions have evolved from ideological strongholds into increasingly international centres. Vietnam is now open to global education exchanges, challenging its past simplistic Cold War narratives through a balance of tradition and modernisation.

By contrast, the confrontational stance towards American universities adopted in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term not only signals the country’s waning intellectual hegemony but also still a recognition of their persistent influence. Even when America’s executive administration censures these institutions as bastions of “radical ideology”, they nonetheless still acknowledge the capacity of universities to challenge prevailing power structures – just as they did during those Vietnam War years.

Critics say Trump’s first 100 days back in office reveal a nation still grappling with deep divisions. The American academic community has responded with both alarm and analysis. Universities like Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Texas have recently organised sit-ins and protests about potential impacts on research funding, international enrolment, and diversity, equity and inclusivity (familiarly known as DEI) programmes – though not approaching the scale of Columbia’s anti-Vietnam War protests of 1968 that temporarily closed the university for the first time ever.

In Malaysia, the recently reported “Ku Klux Klan” themed student presentation at a university shows how powerful symbols, divorced from their historical context, can create educational fault lines in our interconnected world. Though less momentous than global historical markers, this controversy reveals significant gaps in cross-cultural understanding.

Beyond the contested details lies a fundamental question: How can our institutions foster the historical literacy and cross-cultural awareness needed to navigate today’s complex landscape?

The common thread between 1975 and 2025 is the position of universities as both barometers and catalysts of social change through the relationship between historical memory, political power, and intellectual responsibility. These anniversaries and controversies remind us what education is truly for: not just teaching facts, but building bridges across deep divides. At its best, academia does more than explain our broken world, it helps heal it.

Educational substance matters more than the “veneer of education”. As academic institutions navigate contentious political landscapes, they must balance intellectual freedom with awareness of impact. How every academic community responds to polarising events like the Trump administration’s policies or Malaysia’s recent controversies will reveal whether intellectual institutions can transcend the very tribalism they study. Vietnam’s path from conflict to cooperation offers a powerful model for this transformation.

Post-2025, universities must embrace Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen’s challenge: to be arenas where we turn remembrance into dialogue, disagreement into understanding, and conflict into a common “irreducibly plural” search for truth. These are truly momentous milestones and flashpoints in education, as the alternative isn’t just academic failure – it’s civilisational fragility.

DR SYED ALWEE ALSAGOFF

Fellow

National Council of Professors