KUALA LUMPUR: A DAP lawmaker has called for student activism to be encouraged instead of suppressed, let alone punished.
The way a university responds to such activism was an important measure of its standing, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok said in a statement released today.
“Universiti Malaya’s (UM) disciplinary action against students for activism, would not make the people proud of the university,” she said.
Kok pointed out that student activism and many student-led protests in other parts of the world – for progressive causes – had helped to make the world a better place.
“It’s time that UM adopts a new attitude and approach in treating student activism.
“UM should revoke the punishment meted out to four students for activism,” she said.
She was commenting on students Anis Syafiqah, Mohamad Luqman Nul Haqim and Muhammad Luqman Hakim Fazli being suspended for a semester, fined RM400 each and given a stern warning for taking part in the #TangkapMO1 rally on Aug 27.
Another student, Suhail Wan Azahar, was fined RM400 and issued a stern warning.
“Can the UM explain how the students’ actions were detrimental and prejudicial to the interests and good reputation of the university? How did they threaten public safety?” Kok asked, adding that it was UM’s own act of punishing these four students that has now damaged the university‘s reputation and image.
She believes the punishment meted out to the students was unjust and unfair.
“It shows the university‘s lack of respect for academic freedom and right to peaceful assembly,” she said.
UM’s decision on the four students will also affect the university’s image in the global academic community, she said.
“The university has not learned any lesson from the mistakes in 2014 when UM had become an international laughing stock,” Kok said, referring to the incident where then opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was banned from speaking in the university.
“At the time, UM had also employed the laughable shut down and lockdown tactics,” Kok said, adding that as a result UM suffered a dive in its international image.
Kok chided the UM administration for not caring about their own image and also punishing the four student activists, when “they had merely expressed their concern on public issues”.
UM moved against the students for allegedly acting in a manner detrimental and prejudicial to the interests and good reputation of the university, detrimental to public safety, and in violation of the university’s regulations.