A university should uphold free speech, not curb it, Anwar says
(Malay Mail Online) – Institutions of higher learning should not cave in to state pressure to clamp down on free speech, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.
The PKR adviser said academics are traditionally respected as defenders of free speech, but this was not the case with Universiti Malaya which appeared to have acted on government instruction to penalise two of its students for organising a pro-opposition rally.
“We are well aware that the vice-chancellor was acting on instruction from the powers that be, but as a professor who holds an important position to uphold the image of the university as a knowledge centre… bowing down to pressure to penalise those students… I think it is most unfortunate,” he said at a press conference here.
The former education minister said UM had done a disservice to the institution’s heritage as a prestigious venue for intellectual discourse by punishing students deemed pro-opposition.
“You have tainted the university,” he said.
A group of students have vowed to protest in front of their campus gates until the university lifts its suspension order on two of their peers, who were punished this week for organising the talk by Anwar against the university’s orders.
Wan Nur Syamimi Wan Sajiri who chairs the student group, Sisters in Movement, said tents have already been set up at the university’s KL entrance and some 30 students are ready to kick off the “occupation”.
“We want to show the power of the students and we won’t just keep quiet,” she told Malay Mail Online.
She said they want to show the public how the students have been unfairly penalised.
A UM inquiry panel decided late last night to suspend students Fahmi Zainol and Safwan Shamsuddin over the talk featuring Anwar held on October 27, a day before the Opposition Leader’s Sodomy II case.
The suspension order comes just weeks before the youths’ final examination.
Fahmi, who is Student Council (PMUM) president and the main driver of the talk, was suspended for two months, while Shamsuddin, the Pro-Mahasiswa chairman, was suspended for one month.
Both were also slapped with fines of RM600 and RM300 respectively.
Of the eight students slapped with charges over their involvement in the “40 Years: From University of Malaya to Jail” talk, only one, Abraham Au, walked free from punishment.
Apart from Fahmi and Safwan, four were fined RM150 each, namely PMUM vice-president Haw Yu Hong, secretary-general Nur Syamimi Munirah, Adam Fistival Wilfrid and Khairul Anwar.
Fahmi told Malay Mail Online yesterday that all six students, including the four who were fined RM150 each will appeal their cases with the university in the next few days.
He also threatened to bring his case to the civil courts if the appeals for all six students are not successful.
