‘Spirit of 74' lives on among UM students

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YOURSAY ‘There is great hope for Malaysia when students dare to speak up.’

 

Hundreds of UM students march for law lecturer

2Kali5: Syabas! Glad the students are marching at Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to protect academic freedom.

 

If the institutions of learning are forbidden to discuss their respective fields of learning, the universities will only produce a robotic society in the future.

 

StopMonkeying: What associate professor Azmi Sharom said was nothing seditious at all. The shelf life of the Sedition Act has long expired and despite this, if it is implemented fairly without bias, it could still be tolerated to a certain degree.

 

But the real problem is double or even triple standards in applying this law. Instead of going after the ultra-racist culprits such as Perkasa, Isma and the like, this Act is abused to persecute and silence those who genuinely express their real concerns on issue affecting our society.

 

Jaguh: I am from UM. The march by the students reminds me of 1974. I’m very proud of you.

 

Hplooi: ‘Umnofy’ your kids? While Winston Churchill is remembered for his memorable prose, PM Najib Abdul Razak is exactly the antithesis of 'memorable prose'.

 

Compiling a list of Najib-bloopers would be a good thesis for a topic on contemporary Malaysian prose. Example: "RM1 chicken", "Apa lagi Cina mau", "Something about kangkung" and now “Umnofy your kids”!

 

Yes, Jaguh, I am also an alumni of Pantai Valley High, 1979. I hope this groundswell will help UM to regain its past glory.

 

Lone_star: The ‘Spirit of 74' is alive in UM. The rakyat of Malaysia need it.

 

Flamescanner: On the day when our deputy prime minister says stricter enforcement of sedition online is required, our students in UM march against it. Well done, o ye sons and daughters of Malaysia.

 

Malaysia Truly Asia: That is all our opposition MPs are good at - marching and creating havoc. The problem is that marching is now fast becoming a yesterday thing and very ineffective.

 

Opposition MPs have never been seen marching for any good cause for the sake of society's welfare, just causes that will affect their right to slander, insult and be disloyal.

 

Rojak: The always predictable, always vitriolic ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’ suggests people only march for the right to slander. Perhaps s/he could provide just one tiny shred of evidence that these young people had selfish motives in mind?

 

Fortunately almost everybody else realises what courage it took for them to do what they did. I believe their social awareness and sense of justice will augment their studies.

 

When they become lawyers they will be one of the few precious hopes this country has left for the future.

 

Single Malt: Students are the heartbeat of the country. Their pulse will be heard sooner or later. Well done, all you young people.

 

Lamborghini: There is great hope for Malaysia when students dare to speak up for freedom and against abuse of authority by the authorities.

 

Bad Head: I feel that the students have a more important task to do from now on. They would need to go back to the kampung and explain to as many kampung people on the current wrong policies.

 

Odin: It looks like the very, very lengthy - some 57 years long - Malaysian 'winter' is coming to an end and the Malaysian spring is in the air. The spark that will thaw the snow is, of course, the Sedition Act.

           

 

MB's lawyer: Bank Islam doesn't want details public

Ipohcrite: There's a saying that shady deals are always hidden from the sunlight of transparency. If a deal is above board, there's really nothing to hide. Otherwise, the claim of propriety in Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim’s loan settlement matter is pure hogwash.

 

Fair Play: The integrity of a politician's reputation is all about perception. And certainly in the eyes of the majority of the commentators, sadly Khalid is found wanting.

 

James_3392: First, you hold high public office, your MB position empowers you with an extremely high degree of authority, many of which are discretionary, then your conduct or decisions on several major projects of high public interest are questionable.

 

Your settlement with the bank, RM70 million, is not a small matter either. Common sense tells you that you should insist that the bank make it public or there would be no settlement at all.

 

Alternatively, keep it private, but you relinquish your public office, which is as MB of Selangor.

Robert Lim: This is typical Khalid-bashing session. It is clear that Khalid was the plaintiff and the bank is the defendant, therefore all the hocus-pocus accusations against Khalid earlier do not hold any water any more.

 

If Khalid's position was the other way around, then there is still room for suspicion about some underhand dealing. Many Malaysiakini commentators can't see the wood for the trees.

 

Rick teo: Robert Lim, if you still think Khalid is innocent then go to Bank Islam and ask for a loan of RM1,000 to be wiped off. See if they allow it or not.

 

How do the rakyat know that the deal is transparent if the details of the deal are not fully disclosed? Just saying it’s transparent without any proof is clearly an indication that the deal is in return for a favour that cannot be disclosed.

 

Eyespye: Cannot disclose means it's not in the bank's interest to disclose. Why should Bank Islam, by disclosing the terms of the settlement, encourage everybody else to push for settlement for an unpaid loan?

 

A bank, like any business, is not stupid: if you can't pay me back, what's the point of dragging this out in court, spend more money to bankrupt you and be left with lawyers’ fees that can't be paid by you?

 

Banks do this to ordinary citizens all the time because they have assets to seize. But if you have nothing, then even the promise to pay something - and some independent assurance that you can - is better than nothing.

 

What Khalid did was force Bank Islam to the bargaining table - remember this case could have gone to the High Court, and it's anybody's guess how the High Court will rule over the question of a matter essentially without precedent (if I've read the judgments right).

 

Did you know insurance companies do this all the time for legitimate claims disputes?

 

Mushiro: This is not under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and it is important for Khalid to prove his innocence. Don't hide under the bank not giving its consent.

 

People will believe the accusations that Khalid had a special deal with the bank. No bank in their right mind will reduce, say a RM59 million loan to about RM8 million. Khalid will have to teach us how to do it.

 

Terjah: When I take a loan from the bank and settled it, the bank never asked me where I got the money.

 

As for the bank, the most important is that the loan is settled and it gets its money back. The bank never imposed a rule for me not to disclose who helped me to settle the loan.


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