YOURSAY 'The job of panelist is to answer the hard questions, not belittle the questioner. It shows immaturity and incompetence.'

Sharifah: Was Bawani planted at UUM forum?

SteveOh*: If Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) student KS Bawani was planted, then forum panelist Sharifah Zohra Jabeen Syed Shah Miskin ignited the bomb. And it exploded in her face.

Indeed, her short fuse and hectoring of her guest was unacceptable. The job of panelist is to answer the hard questions or bypass them - not belittle the questioner. It shows immaturity and incompetence.

How could Barwani have guessed she would go off her handle the way she did? I would have just smiled and thanked Bawani for the question and moved on. Sharifah has much to learn. Pride and arrogance won't do.

Bumiasli: Is Sharifah being ‘planted' by Umno? It's time she stop her accusations and false imagination. The videos are clear cut as to who is right and who is wrong.

If Bawani was a rich man's daughter, her father would have sued Sharifah for harassment and slander. So, Sharifah, time to shut the gap. Don't stir the rubbish as you might sink in it.

Aries46: Sharifah misses the 'wood for the trees' by a mile in her quest to defend the indefensible. Bawani being planted is irrelevant to the issue as Bawani per se is not the subject of the public's anguish, scorn and discontent.

If not Bawani, it could have been anybody else. What was averse is the high-handed manner in which she confronted Bawani, the subsequent tirade against her, disparaging Bersih co-chair S Ambiga as an anarchist, mockingly equating animal rights analogy to Bawani's rationalisation for free education, belittling Bawani's education level as inferior to her own, talking down to the participants, and leading them on to clap for her.

Her autocratic approach, one-sided communication, body language and tone were unbecoming of a moderator or panelist tasked to conduct a participative forum of this nature for undergraduates from a public university, who deserve to be treated as intellectuals and future leaders of the nation.

Keanjin: The issue is not whether Bawani was planted in the UUM forum but rather how Sharifah reacted to the questions asked, with her Umno-style 'look down on others' attitude. She is just giving lame excuses to justify her actions.

Ipoh2: Bawani is a student at UUM. The forum was for UUM students and she had every right to be there. So how can Sharifah now claim that Bawani was planted?

The fact is that Bawani has been a very vocal student at UUM. So much that a smear campaign was mounted against her so that she didn't win a seat in the students council.

Sharifah didn't expect that any student to question her. When Bawani did, she was unprepared and all that she could say was her now-famous "listen, listen, listen" phrase.

Rubicon: Watch the video yourself. Bawani asked two questions. There was nothing wrong with the questions. Just watch your body language. You were behaving like Goliath against David. Very intimidating.

AnakBangsaMalaysia: Sharifah's bluster is pathetic and self-serving. Instead of coming out with a proper apology, she - like all delusional egomaniacs - still cannot see where she has gone wrong, because in her own mind she has never, ever been wrong.

Now, caught in an embarrassing situation entirely of her own creation, she is forced by her own ego to squirm and do gymnastics to try and turn the blame anywhere else but on herself. It is quite entertaining to watch her antics, really.

RedHot: Listen, listen, listen, everybody watched the video and you cannot lie. You used your authority to talk down on this poor girl and bully her so much that she had no room to argue with you.

Where is the part that you asked her to stop 22 times? Why don't you just apologise to Bawani and the people of Malaysia and get on with your life. Don't lie and make life even more difficult for you.

Rakyat Malaysia: Can you use a more professional way to stop someone who is going off the allocated time? I'd never seen anyone use "Listen x11" to tell someone that his/her time is up in any forum before.

Unspin: Instead of apologising to Bawani, this woman has insulted and belittled Bawani again by implying that Bawani was influenced by an opposition party.

Anyone who watched the "listen, listen, listen" video and Bawani's subsequent interview shows an intelligent, rational and bold second-year law student who has her own mind (a rarity) and who fights for what she perceives as injustice.

It is so obvious that this woman's IQ vis-à-vis Bawani's is like night and day, and even kindergarten kids would laugh at her comedic and irrelevant rant on animal problems.

One wonders whether she has watched the UUM video to see how much of a fool she had made of herself.

Gandhi: This woman is 100 percent trouble. Let me ask why she has to say Bersih co-chair S Ambiga is an anarchist? Why did she tell Bawani to leave her home country?

Both statements are improper in a forum that should be neutral. Suara Wanita 1Malaysia (SW1M) is a pro-BN NGO which is self-explanatory. This confirms that she's a BN agent.

Mahashitla: It's a stupid spin by you, Sharifah, to say that Bawani was planted at your forum. You should also blame UUM which allowed you to hold the forum as Bawani is a student there.

It is in your interest to defend SW1M and your big fat pay check, but you should know that any such future forums are going to be met with more of Bawani's type of questioning and you better get prepared for it.

Our students' minds should be allowed to grow and flourish and not only to think what your bosses want them to think.

Esse: Planted or not planted is not the issue. Sharifah's behaviour merely demonstrates what is wrong with our system - authoritarian, inability of those who claimed to be highly qualified to convey their views in a rational manner, and the intimidation of students.

This sort of approach is the norm both with the government as well as institutions of higher learning.

Dude: Sharifah was taken to task by a undergraduate. Period. The only person that was planted at the forum is Sharifah. She had a job to do.

She was planted there to brainwash university undergraduate against anti-establishment views. She had political motives. Judging by her behaviour, she is not fit to conduct any forum.

TehTarik: Her interview is a public relations disaster. Instead of damage control, Sharifah has further damaged her credibility. She is totally non-apologetic and arrogant. She is now 'damaged goods' and no private company or university would want to touch her.

L112: How can SW1M's protect the rights of women and children when the president bullies a woman, doesn't apologise for it but blames everyone else?

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