Events at Singaporean universities should ¡°respect¡­wider social norms and act in line with national interests¡±, its government has said.

Jamus Jerome Lim, a member of the opposition Workers¡¯ Party who represents the Sengkang constituency,?, Chan Chun Sing, if he could confirm ¡°that incidents of disinvitations of speakers and cancellations of events at the autonomous universities [were] not due to advisory or instructions transmitted by the ministry¡±. Alongside his parliamentary seat, Dr Lim is an associate professor of economics at ESSEC Business School.

¡°The autonomous universities [AUs] manage their own events, including deciding which speakers they wish to invite,¡± the ministry said in response. ¡°As common spaces for learning, AUs are aware that they must respect Singapore¡¯s wider social norms and act in line with national interests. Where necessary, the ministry will advise the AUs to uphold these principles.¡±

Sol Iglesias, an academic who alleged last year that she was?disinvited from a panel at the National University of Singapore (NUS) because of her husband¡¯s activism, interpreted the government¡¯s reply as a tacit acknowledgement that they influenced university events.

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¡°My reading of it is that the Ministry of Education has essentially admitted to a practice that is an open secret among those of us who have ever been a student or taught in Singapore, constraining academic freedom in its institutions of higher learning,¡± Dr Iglesias told?Times Higher Education.

An assistant professor of political science at the University of the Philippines, Dr Iglesias was invited to speak on a panel?called ¡°Public Intellectuals, Populism and Power: Perspectives from Southeast Asia¡± at NUS. She was later dropped from the event and believes she was rejected because of her marriage to Thum Ping Tjin, also known as PJ Thum, a Singaporean historian and democracy activist.

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Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor in the department of political science at NUS, told?THE that the parliamentary question meant ¡°the issue of academic freedom is of national-level importance¡±.

¡°I think the answer seemed rather standard, although the part on conformity with ¡®wider social norms¡¯ and acting ¡®in line with national interests¡¯ seems somewhat open to interpretation,¡± Dr Chong said. ¡°Academic research and breakthroughs sometimes involve challenging prevailing norms.¡±

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com