Ivory Tower Reform: A Vision for Higher Education in Malaysia is a bold and urgent exploration of Malaysia’s academic landscape, chronicling decades of critique, resistance and calls for university reform. Drawing from hundreds of media statements, seminar reports and public interventions over more than three decades, this book highlights the painstaking work of The Malaysian Academic Movement (Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia) or Gerak.
Ivory Tower Reform dissects the structural decay, political entanglements, and ideological conflicts that have shaped Malaysian universities since independence. With clarity and conviction, the authors unpack the tensions between academic freedom and state control, exposing how global pressures, neoliberal metrics, and internal political dynamics have undermined the integrity of higher education in Malaysia. More than just a critique, the book offers a holistic, historically grounded, and deeply human call for educational transformation—one rooted in justice, autonomy, sustainability, and inclusivity.
Accessible yet rigorous, this work is essential for scholars, policymakers, educators and any Malaysian invested in reclaiming the university as a vital space for thought, change and social purpose.
Editors’ Biography
Sharifah Munirah Alatas
Independent Scholar, Author & Researcher
Sharifah Munirah Alatas is the former Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow at the Allianz Centre for Governance, University Malaya. She was previously a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Indonesian International Islamic University (UIII), after retiring as Assistant Professor of Strategic Studies and International Relations, National University of Malaysia (UKM). Munirah’s doctorate and MA degrees are from Columbia University, and her BA is from the University of Oregon. Her scholarly interests and writings focus on decolonial thought, geopolitics, foreign policy, non-Western International Relations theory, and autonomous social science traditions. Munirah also speaks regularly in public forums and writes in her media columns on higher education reform, governance, the future direction of universities, Malaysian politics, and the role of civil society in upholding good governance. She is the immediate past Chair of the Malaysian Academic Movement, Gerak (PerGerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia). Munirah’s latest book, Reform and Nation-Building: Essays on Socio-Political Transformation in Malaysia, was published in early 2024 by the Association for Asian Studies Asia Shorts Series, Columbia University Press. She is currently writing two books, hopefully to be completed by 2027. The first is a critique of how the discipline of International Relations is taught in Malaysian universities. The second book is a more philosophical and personal reflection on higher education governance and knowledge production in Malaysia. Munirah is the Asian Rowing Indoor Champion for her age group, in the 2000m. She hopes to one day move up to the top three in the World Rowing Indoor rankings.
Muhammad Adli Musa
Assistant Professor,
Department of Qur’an and Sunnah Studies,
Kulliyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences,
International Islamic University Malaysia.
Muhammad Adli Musa has a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Electronic and Electrical from University College London. Upon his graduation, he pursued his MA in Quran and Sunnah Studies at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Adli’s PhD thesis focuses on Ethics and Islamic Finance. Evidently, he chooses to explore new areas within the general boundaries of Islamic Studies, rather than focusing on specific disciplines. Currently, Adli is investigating why Muslims are often obsessed with form over substance.
Ngo Sheau Shi
Senior Lecturer,
Film and Broadcasting Section,
School of Communication,
Universiti Sains Malaysia.
NGO Sheau Shi is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. She obtained her Ph.D. in cinema studies from La Trobe University in 2010. Her teaching and research interests span critical media studies, the political economy of media, cultural studies, and feminist film psychoanalysis. Her works focus on how technologically mediated subjectivities are constructed by mainstream media to create gaps in gender, racial, and class identities in contemporary society. She served as an Executive Committee member of Gerak (PerGerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia) from 2017 to 2025. Her commitment is driven by the conviction that Malaysian students, especially those from underserved communities, should have access to a more equitable and high-quality higher education system as the nation navigates the rapidly evolving landscape of the 21st century.
