'Fear not, scholar's pen is mightier than sword'
The charging of Universiti Malaya lecturer Azmi Sharom for sedition should not cow academics into silence, said lecturer Dr Farouk Musa.
Instead, the Universiti Sains Malaysia academic said, they should overcome their fear to speak out against “authoritarian” tactics.
The charging of Universiti Malaya (UM) law lecturer Azmi Sharom for sedition should not cow academics into silence, said lecturer Dr Farouk Musa.
Instead, the Monash University academic said, they should overcome their fear to speak out against “authoritarian” tactics.
"The scholar’s pen is mightier than the warrior’s sword," he said during a lecture in UM yesterday.
Comparing Azmi to Renaissance scientist Galileo Galilei, Dr Farouk (left) said that Azmi, too, is being persecuted for going against authoritarianism.
And bowing down to this is against the spirit of academia, he said, as "science is anti-authoritarian in the first place".
Galileo, an Italian scientist often called the father of modern science, was sentenced to life under house arrest for heresy, over his scientific theories.
About 100 attended the lecture held in conjunction with the UM Student Union-sponsored strike in support of Azmi and to call for the repeal of the Sedition Act.
Students skipped class between 1pm to 4.30pm today for the purpose, with about 500 marching in UM during a rally which took place before the lecture.
Meanwhile, Azmi in his lecture said that academics have a role to play in society, beyond the confines of the lecture hall.
"And we can't achieve that by writing in journals only," he said.
Not sedition to point out rulers' mistake
Proving unshaken by his sedition charge, the associate professor who has taught law for more than two decades, said that the law cannot be used selectively.
"When you use it on some people only and don't use it on others, then it is a bad law."
As far as sedition is concerned, he said, the law states that pointing out mistakes of rulers is not an offence under the Sedition Act.
Section 3 of the Act said that it is not seditious to “show that any Ruler has been misled or mistaken in any of his measures".
"If you ignore what that is in the Act itself, then you are making it an even worse law," he said.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom and & Eire Malaysian Law Students’ Union (KPUM) today said that it was time for the Bar Council to organise a walk following the #MansuhAktaHasutan campaign.
"We are fully confident in the Bar’s ability to marshal a peaceful show of support for abolishing the Sedition Act," said the statement signed by KPUM president Pang Jo Fan and KPUM Ad-hoc Committee for #MansuhAktaHasutan Nicholas Wong.
"It is because the Bar walks so rarely that we feel a walk will cause enough impact to spark even more urgency in the campaign."
It hopes that a motion on this will be tabled and passed by the Bar Council in its upcoming extraordinary general meeting.
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