The suspension of law and constitutional expert Professor Abdul Aziz Bari, has thrown a spanner in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's reform agenda.

DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang said the issue is a critical test whether Malaysia is headed towards greater democratisation, academic excellence and enhanced international competitiveness or otherwise.

"Abdul Aziz's suspension could not have come at a worse time for Najib's National Transformation Programme whether government, economic or political.

"It has thrown doubts over Najib's political will, commitment and stamina whether his administration is prepared to see through the wide-ranging reforms."

The Ipoh Timur MP said politically, the action against Abdul Aziz is a slap-in-the-face for Najib's recently declared ambition of wanting to turn Malaysia into 'the best democracy in the world''.

lim kit siang in manek urai Lim ( left ) said in Najib is sincere, the restrictions undermining academic freedom and excellence in the Universities and University Colleges Act must be repealed.

"However, instead we have the Aziz Bari persecution. This serves as a reminder that the undemocratic mentality and repression in key institutions in the country is real. This is despite various slogans about democratisation and political transformation.

"Why was Abdul Aziz arbitrarily suspended despite Najib's call for democratisation and government, economic and political transformation? Is he (Najib) being sabotaged from people inside his party and government?," Lim asked.

Lift don's suspension straightaway

Calling on Najib to lift Abdul Aziz's suspension immediately, Lim asked the premier to investigate why his call for democratisation and transformation is being flouted so blatantly by his own subordinates within the party and government.

Expressing concern at the latest development, Lim said Malaysia does not stand a chance of escaping two decades of being overtaken by one country after another most notably Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, and Hong Kong..

Lim said Malaysia cannot expect to achieve the goal of a high-income developed nation unless it nurtures world-class universities that are internationally recognised, not just in the eyes of ministers.

"The failure of any Malaysian university to get into the recently-released Times Higher Education World Top 400 Universities Ranking 2011-2012 is powerful testimony that Malaysia is not doing enough to train, retain and recruit talents to transform the country or restore international competitiveness," he said.

"The suspension and persecution of Abdul Aziz for expressing his views and comments will be a message to the international academic community that Malaysia is not prepared to accept and respect academic freedom resulting in worsening the brain drain of Malaysian talents.

"This will further condemn the Talents Corporation to failure to attract brain gain from the Malaysian diaspora and world intellectual resources."