A forum at MCA-owned Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) involving figures from both sides of the political divide and NGOs has been postponed, but organisers denied it was due to political pressure.

They claimed that the forum, themed 'Youth Power in Elections', which was to be held at the university campus in Petaling Jaya next week coincided with the university's study leave week.

Therefore, they re-scheduled it to a date on which students would be more willing to participate.

"The whole purpose (of the event) is to make the youth, especially our students, understand the development of politics in Malaysia.

“But since the participation is low, it does not serve the purpose any more. Therefore, we plan to postpone it and maybe make it a little bigger," organising co-chairperson Chin Yee Mun told Malaysiakini when contacted.

Chin, who heads the university’s Centre for Media and Creative Communication, said the committee plans to expand the forum into a one-day event on a variety of youth issues in an attempt to draw greater interest from students.

The students, he insisted, are politically disinterested.

The decision to postpone the forum, he added, came solely from the organising committee.

Fellow-organising chairperson Carmen Nge, meanwhile, gave an assurance that the original line-up of speakers would be maintained or even expanded.

However, it is up to the speakers as to whether they would come for the new, as yet undetermined, date, said the dean of the Faculty of Creative Industries.

She said she hopes to hold the forum in March or April.

Among the speakers who have agreed to the Dec 3 forum are human rights lawyer Edmund Bon, PKR parliamentarian Nurul Izzah Anwar, MCA parliamentarian Chua Tee Yong, and assistant registrar Jasmine Ng.

Talk had gone the rounds alleging that “orders from above” had forced Utar to delay the forum, fearing that it would stoke dissent amongst students ahead of the general election, widely tipped to take place early next year.

Rash of forums being called off

This is the third time this week that political forums at universities had been called off.

The first was on Tuesday when Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah’s talk at Universiti Islam Antarabangsa was allegedly “postponed” on orders of its rector, Zaleha Kamaruddin.

Meanwhile, constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari claimed he was barred by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) from presenting his paper at a seminar at the Mais-owned Selangor International Islamic University, scheduled for today.

He was supposed to present a paper titled ‘The Implementation of Syariah Criminal Laws in the Framework of Malaysia’s Constitution’.