THE WISDOM OF THE EAST Sus,—In his report on the
interchange between Professor Enright and members of the Singapore Government, Mr. Bernard Levin refers (Spectator, December 9, 1960) somewhat disparagingly to a 'curiously oblique resolution' which was passed by the Academic Staff Association of the University of Malaya in Singapore. This resolution confined itself to affirming our 'fullest confidence in Professor Enright as a teacher of the highest integrity and distinction.'
May I explain that the Association found itself faced by two distinct tasks: (i) that of effecting some sort of conciliation between Enright and the Govern- ment, (ii) that of contesting the limits placed by the Government upon academic freedom. Unfortunately it proved difficult to concentrate upon both tasks simultaneously. The resolution which Mr. Levin reports was the outcome of the first phase of the operation when we were still preoccupied with the more delicate problem of mediation. At a later meet- ing, however, we were able to give our undivided attention to the second task and managed to deliver ourselves of the following resolutions :
(a) 'While aware of recent government pro- nouncements on the limits of academic freedom, this Association is of the opinion that all university academic staff arc under a duty to pursue the truth; that when a member of the academic staff has come to a conclusion as to some aspect of the truth as he sees it, he may be under a duty to make his conclusion public; that these duties are not diminished by virtue of the possibility that the conclusion may be wrong, disputedr tactless, inconvenient, or relevant to a matter of current political con- troversy; and that the duties of scholarship can- nqt vary with the citizenship of the scholar.'
(b) 'The Academic Staff Association is also of the opinion (1) that the recent statements of the govern- ment on the subject of academic freedom do not preclude the likelihood that a university teacher who expresses himself effectively on some issue of stated government policy will be held to have transgressed the limits imposed by the government on academic freedom, and thus exposed himself to executive action.
(2) that this state of affairs has already seriously endangered the future of this university. There- fore the Academic Staff Association strongly urges that this limitation upon academic freedom be removed in the interests of university education and the nation as a whole.'
These resoluticins were communicated to , the University Council and Senate; and also released to the press. I should be grateful if you would publish this letter in order to remove a possible misconcep- tion of the Staff Association's stand.—Yours faith- fully, K. W. RANKIN President. Academic Staff Association, University of Malaya in Singapore. c 1 o University of Malaya, Cluny Road, Singapore 10
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