Is the intellectual merely devoted to the “life of the mind” or ought she be committed to social progress. And what happens to a society in which intellectual have lost their nerve, refuse to ask difficult questions? This week we speak to the author of “Minda Terwan”, loosely translated as ‘The Capitive Mind’. Whose extended essay ponders the Malaysian intellectuals’ condition. His first published book entitled “Menyarung Jiwa” or “Soulship”, a collection of poems in Malay and English.