Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak has been urged to retract all his statements supporting the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) or face a mass rally on Feb 19 at the state secretariat building in Alor Setar where his office is located.

Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM) said they will mobilise several hundred students, including those from the state-owned Kolej Universiti Insaniah (Kuin), to voice their dissatisfaction over Azizan's persistent backing of the Act.

Kuin, whose chairperson is Azizan, suspended five students under Private Higher Educational Institutions Act (Act 555), deemed as repressive as the UUCA.

NONE "However, it depends on whether Azizan will withdraw his statements after meeting PAS leaders on Feb 12," SMM president Syukri Razab said, referring to the date of the party's central committee meeting in which the menteri besar is expected to be asked to explain the

suspension.

Syukri said should the Kedah PAS commissioner retract his words, he will be seen as a leader supporting academic freedom and student activism.

"We also want the Kedah MB to give an assurance that such a mistake would not be repeated, and that he will protect student activism in the state like the Penang and Selangor governments have done," he said in a statement issued yesterday.

Students want to meet PAS leaders

To highlight their demands to the PAS leaders, SMM also urged the party to involve students at the Feb 12 meeting so that views from both Azizan and the students could be heard.

He cited the failure to submit a memorandum to the party's top leaders last year as what had prompted them to seek a direct meeting with the leaders.

kedah defection ceramah 220510 mb azizan The New Straits Times reported yesterday that Azizan had been given the gag order on the suspension issue after Wednesday's PAS political bureau meeting.

The menteri besar had expressed his readiness to face PAS to explain his stand on the suspension of the student activists, a move which has also sparked outrage among his Pakatan coalition colleagues.

The activists were suspended after they organised a protest against the campus authorities.