Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) has suspended student activist Khalid Mohamed Ismath for a year and a half for disciplinary misconduct related to his anti-PTPTN activities.

NONE He was charged on three separate counts: for missing several classes and examinations, for the Facebook posting he had made against the police, and for his role in the anti-PTPTN protest in Dataran Merdeka in April.

The suspension, handed down by the university's three-member disciplinary panel, takes effect this September and runs until March or April 2014.

Speaking to reporters in Shah Alam afterwards, Khalid said that he accepted the verdict, but criticised it nonetheless.

“I question their charges, but they said it was not just a matter of me embarrassing the university - it was also a matter of behaviour,” he said.

Plenty of pro-government students had also acted similarly against the opposition, yet only he was punished, he said.

Aksi Mahasiswa Peduli Unisel secretary Ekhsan Bukharee added that Khalid’s actions were sanctioned under the constitution and called the punishment “cruel”.

NONE He also questioned the directive to prevent members of the media from entering the university, which forced Khalid (middle in photo) to hold his press conference outside university grounds.

Malaysiakini had managed to enter UiTM, but was told by campus police officers to leave. However it is unknown if the order directly concerned Khalid’s hearing.

'I don't blame UiTM, I blame the government'

However, Khalid laid the blame for his punishment squarely on the government.

“I don’t blame UiTM, but I blame the government for the (Universities and University Colleges Act),” he said.

Asked what his plans were, Khalid said he would make full use of his time despite the punishment.

He wants to continue studying on his own, as well as maintaining his active involvement in politics.

“I will help election campaigns against cruel regimes. Whichever regime is the cruel one, that is the one I will oppose,” he said.

The Facebook posting said: “I would agree if all the policemen be killed because of the way they have treated the rakyat (during Bersih 3.0).

“So every time we hold a demonstration, there is no more need to negotiate with the police again. We will fight on.”

NONE He had gone to the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters to assist the police over the matter, but was arrested and asked questions of a sexual nature instead.

It was also thought that he may have been detained over a widely-circulated photograph on the Internet which shows a man resembling Khalid attacking a traffic police officer during the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28.

However, he had presented pictures including a photo by Malaysiakini to prove that he was not the person shown in the photograph.

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