Universiti Malaya (UM) law professor Azmi Sharom, who was recently charged under the Sedition Act 1948, was barred from entering the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) campus last night.

According to Gabungan Mahasiswa UKM, an anti-establishment student organisation of the university, Azmi was not allowed to go into the campus to deliver a talk on the relationship between the Sedition Act and students.

The event was organised by the student organisation as Azmi's talk was part of the welcoming dinner for freshies and the campus authority has been working from the very beginning to stop the event from taking place.

“After some discussions, we felt that the main purpose of the event is to spread the message of the importance of abolition of the Sedition Act and why academic freedom is crucial to all the students in our country and to the world.

“We had no choice and were forced to relocate our talk session to a empty space in front of the KTM railway station, and the talk processed under heavy surveillance by the police,” the Gabungan Mahasiswa UKM statement says.

When contacted, the organisation's information chief Louis Lim said Azmi was able to deliver his talk and the event ended one hour later, without anything untoward happening after they had relocated the event venue.

Three roadblocks set up to screen all vehicles

Gabungan Mahasiswa UKM said the campus authority had beforehand announced to all the students that the event was unauthorised and disallowed the student group to carry on with it.

It said the campus authority even threatened disciplinary action against whoever attended the event.

The campus security force set up three roadblocks, between the main entrance and the Pusanika building, where the event was to be held, and every vehicle that passed by was screened. There was also a heavy security force surrounding the building, the group said.

“Besides, there were people, who are believed to be police Special Branch officers, operating holding video cameras around the Pusanika building, capturing on video the students arriving to attend the event.

“We believe this to be an attempt to threaten the students and members of the public, besides preventing the event from taking place. However, more than 200 people attended the event,” it said.

The students group also chided the campus authority for harassing them by turning on alarm sirens.

Members of the campus security force tried to grab the microphone when one of the student leaders addressed the gathering, and refused to negotiate with the organisers, it said.

‘An attempt to create white terror’

Gabungan Mahasiswa UKM also slammed the campus authorities for preventing them from inviting Azmi to talk on the Sedition Act.

It said UKM was violating freedom of expression and academic freedom, as well as went against campus democracy and deprived the autonomy of the students.

This incident was not an isolated case and it was related to the job termination of Universiti Malaya Centre for Democracy and Elections (Umcedel) director Redzuan Othman and the sedition charge against Azmi.

“Its purpose is to create white terror among the academicians and intellectuals in our country, and therefore to stop the intellectuals and academicians who have the conscience to criticise the unreasonable actions of the ruling regime.

“We therefore urge the education minister and the vice-chancellors of all the higher education institutes to stop violating academic freedom and campus democracy,” Gabungan Mahasiswa UKM stressed.

Separately at its press conference today, Gerakan Hapuskan Akta Hasutan (GHAH) slammed UKM’s move to bar Azmi from the forum.

Spokesperson of the anti-Sedition Act movement Yap Swee Seng said it is detrimental to academic freedom, and leaves “no wonder” as to why Malaysian universities are languishing at the world rankings.

“It is an action that is totally anti-knowledge and anti-intellectual. Universities are institutions for knowledge, for ideas, for contestation and discourse. More importantly they are institutions to seek truth.

“If a university is going to reject a law professor to come and talk about the law in the country, this is going to be detrimental to academic freedom,” he said.

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