Responding to Distressed's letter Speechless in UK, too? , the real reason why history Professor Nik Anuar Nik Mahmud was denied giving his speech was because Barisan Nasional has been twisting our history to make them look more heroic to the nation and todeny the roles played by opposition parties and figures.

They are afraid that students will learn the true history of the struggle for independence. Look at the film Leftenan Adnan where they had twisted the role of KMM (Kesatuan Melayu Muda) and painted it as a Japanese tool and what a fool was Malay nationalist Ibrahim Yaacob.

That's one of many examples. The only thing they want the people to learn is the "Umno struggle" for independence...thus by twisting history, they hope that they will still get the support of the people especially during elections.

To students in Malaysian higher learning institutions, they have no problems as they have many channels to restrict the students from getting the real facts about Malaysian history, but for those studying overseas, they cannot control them as what they had done to students studying in Malaysia.

So, the only way is to gag the speakers and threaten the would-be audience whenever they can. This has been happening since Sept 2, 1998, the day of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's arrest.