Malaysian authorities threaten ANU student for sharing stage with opposition politician
(Canberra Times) – “Part of what we learn in Australia is to always be constructively critical about what is happening around us, and this includes Malaysia.”
A Malaysian student at the Australian National University (ANU) has been issued with a show cause notice by Malaysian authorities after sharing a stage with an opposition politician at a public forum in April.
Final semester commerce student, Aslam Abd Jalil, was a panellist during the Race, Religion and Royalty in Malaysia forum held in the Manning Clark Lecture hall on April 22, along with ANU academic John Funston and Malaysian Parliament opposition member Tony Pua.
On June 18, Mr Aslam was issued with a show cause notice by the Malaysian Public Service Department Office in Sydney for breaching clause 5.5 of his scholarship agreement and allegedly “being seditious in a way that may harm Malaysia and the interests of my educational institution”.
The formal letter left the student bewildered given the nature of the public forum, despite his history of involvement with student politics and activism.
“I was invited as a forum panellist by the Canberra organisers, the Malaysian Interest Group and ANU Malaysian Students’ Organisation, to represent the students and young generation,” he said.
“I advocated for everyone to stop racial and religious hatred and discrimination, but I did not promote any specific political party or opposition.”
Mr Aslam said he could see no basis for accusations of sedition, let along giving harm to the ANU, Malaysia or the world.
“In fact, I tried hard to be politically neutral so as not to promote or defame any political party or propagate extremism,” he said.
“I’m just checking, I’m a bit worried if it will be used as evidence for action against me afterwards,” he said.
