Be wary of foreign influence on think tanks, academic institutions

By SAMIRUL ARIFF OTHMAN

25 Apr 2023 09:35pm

What the government must do is ensure that such influence, especially in publicly funded think tanks and publicly funded educational institutions are curtailed.

SHAH ALAM: Think tanks and academic institutions play a crucial role in any country that aims to improve itself by bringing together academics, experts and others who analyse, develop and promote policy solutions.

Considering the huge geopolitical shifts currently unfolding worldwide and great power competition over Southeast Asia, Taiwan and the South China Sea, these think tanks have an ever more crucial role in creating actionable plans and strategies for our policymakers.

There is no denying that China is seeking to use all its tools to establish a dominance on several countries in the region with Cambodia and Laos already being firmly on its side with the accompanying problems this comes with: economic dependency, dubious infrastructure projects, high debts and financial impropriety.

Malaysia is already facing some of the problems above but for the time being it is still able to chart an independent course but remains highly vulnerable to influence with the China Index, a database released by DoubleThink Labs, a Taiwan-based research organisation ranking the country 10 out of 82 most influenced by China.

While mutual understanding can be enhanced through academic exchanges and joint research can help countries better understand each other, these also offer openings for undue foreign influence, in fact we can see this as just another extension of China’s attempts to bend countries in the region.

Even now it seems almost taboo for any serious discussion or criticism over China influence or indeed the negative impact of various megaprojects in the country.

There are valid concerns ranging from a lack of transparency, environmental degradation or even food security as little if any study is being done on large scale illegal fishing by China’s fishing fleets in our exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

It would seem that there is an understanding that engaging in such discussions, studies or preparing reports will draw negative attention or even persecution, but many of our academics engage heavily in China pandering without any shame. Is there something more to this?

What the government must do is ensure that such influence, especially in publicly funded think tanks and publicly funded educational institutions are curtailed.

We can take a leaf from similar efforts by other countries in dealing with these challenges - in 2020 the US Department of Education initiated a broad investigation to determine whether academic institutions had properly reported foreign contracts and gifts.

This was followed by the Department of Justice announcing criminal indictments involving a Harvard department chairman who reportedly lied to authorities about ties to Chinese government entities and his acceptance of Chinese grant funding. Since then other academics have faced prosecution over unreported ties to Beijing.

Just in the same way, allowing the unregulated and widespread use of TikTok poses a national security issue, allowing our academics to come under undue influence and to promote policies and ideas inappropriate for Malaysia will be detrimental to national sovereignty.

Instead of focusing on building economic ties solely with China, our economic experts and policy makers must look towards strengthening and diversifying our economic links with the West and other Asian economic powerhouses like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, with these countries having a proven track record of technology exchanges and the creation of high tech jobs for locals against the resource extraction focus of Malaysia-China trade.

It is not too late to turn things around but we have to take decisive steps as academics just as the government must make sure its own think tanks and educational institutes are not being recruited and repurposed against Malaysian interests.

Vigilance, scrutiny and transparency will help shine a light on these shadowy links which must be cut if we are going to free our minds and move our academic ecosystem forward.

Samirul Ariff Othman is a Political Economic & International Relations analyst. He was previously attached to a leading local think tank. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of Sinar Daily.