An Universiti Malaya (UM) academic was allegedly forced to end his newspaper column for criticising the university's handling of the campus elections which was tainted by claims of irregularities.

"The article written by Dr Azmi Sharom on Oct 2 titled ' High jinks in student politics? ' appeared to be his last article in the newspaper," said Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) during the debate on the Budget 2007 in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Azmi, who is an associate professor with UM's law faculty, has been writing for The Star since April.

In his Oct 2 article, he criticised the university's preference for the pro-establishment candidates over the anti-establishment faction.

Although he did not name the university, he cited several issues such as the offer to pro-establishment candidates to stay in a luxury hotel during the run-up to the polls which were clearly in reference to UM.

According to Lim, the academician was hauled up by the university's authority after the article appeared and was 'advised' by vice-chancellor Rafiah Salim not to write on matters related to the university.

The opposition leader questioned the university's stand on academic freedom and tolerating criticisms, especially after the university' slide in the UK-Times Higher Education Supplement ranking from 169 to 192.

'Factual errors'

In his ministerial winding-up, Higher Education Minister Mustapha Mohamed told the House that Azmi was called up after UM found that his article contained two "factual errors".

"The campaign period was not one day as stated in the article, it was six days. The writer also implied that there were irregularities involved at the law faculty's election (as there was a re-election held at the faculty), but this was not true," he said.

"As an academician, he should be objective and write the right facts. The honourable Ipoh Timor (Lim) has been influenced by the inaccurate facts in the column," he added.

Lim interjected and asked why Azmi was not allowed to correct his 'mistakes' instead of the university having to bar him from writing.

Mustapa replied: "We need to have freedom with responsibility. The action that has been taken was merely in the form of an advisory."

He stressed that the ministry was all for academic freedom but this must come with responsibility.

On Oct 6, the UM vice-chancellor told a press conference that the university believed in academic freedom but such freedom would not directly enhance academic excellence.

Asked to comment on whether the university restricts its academicians from writing freely in newspapers, Rafiah however appeared evasive and said writing in newspapers does not help improve academic excellence as newspaper columns would not be cited by academic journals.

In another matter, Mustapa said the ministry will study the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Chinese Language Society's inability to get an official registration .

In replying to Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Mertajam), the minister said it involved a question of policy.