Idealism of our youth cannot be suppressed
YOURSAY ‘Expect Fahmi to be found guilty on all nine charges.’
UM rebel Fahmi slapped with nine charges
Ferdtan:
Universiti Malaya (UM) by punishing rebel student leader Fahmi Zainol for organising and participating in the rally for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is asking for trouble.
Student activism was at its height in the 60s and 70s. That was during the Anwar Ibrahim’s, Hishamuddin Rais' and, yes, Ibrahim Ali’s time.
Life or any activity has a periodical cycle; and it just has to come after more than five decades of suppression of the students’ power. They cannot be silence for so long. Something has got to give. Could this be the trigger for the revival of the student activism in this century?
Don’t forget our students may be emboldened by the recent event in Hong Kong termed as the ‘Umbrella Revolution.’ Good luck to Fahmi. Sometimes bullying can backfire.
Odysseus: UM is showing us why its global ranking is so low. The government-appointed administrators cannot even handle such a simple issue. If they had allowed Anwar to deliver his speech, there will be less or no drama at all.
Now, with the power blackout, lockout, gate crashing and Anwar still delivering his speech on top of a pick-up truck in front of the blackout Dewan Tunku Canselor, these have all the ingredient of a front-page news in the global media, excluding the local MSM (mainstream media).
Armageddon: Nothing got damaged and no one got killed or even injured, so why is Fahmi being charged?
Students should be given some freedom to express and organise get-together and UM officials should minimise dictating terms to these students who will be our potential leaders, unless it is the objective of UM to train students to be future dictators.
War Child: My humble opinion is the UM authority creates problems which should not have happen. It should have allowed the student body the opportunity to listen to Anwar.
Should there be arson and destruction of university property, call the police. Similarly should another group of students want to listen to PM Najib Razak or Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, allow this to happen also in the UM grounds.
Clearwater: The real crime Fahmi committed is in inviting Anwar Ibrahim to speak at the university but he is not hauled up for it. Instead, nine frivolous charges are levelled against him with expulsion a most probable scenario.
Vincylim: I don't see a point why we should defend Fahmi after what he had done. He has not only broken the rules but also gave a negative image to UM.
Dr Suresh Kumar: Has this foolish and naive kid pawned his future because of a selfish politician? I don't think so.
Fahmi belongs to the superior race called 'bumiputera' or 'bumiputhran' in Tamil, where the sky is the limit.
All he has to do is strike a deal with Umno and he will be on the way to stardom and material wealth which he can never dream of achieving in his lifetime with his present qualification (if he were to complete his course).
And if that does not materialise, Anwar may compensate him and even offer him a lucrative job as his new aide-de-camp.
Did not Anwar do the same about four decades ago when he was a student in the then world-class MU, after which he became the commando of Abim (Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement) who supposed to join PAS but switched camp to become one of the greatest Umno stalwarts?
If Umno had accepted Anwar after he was released from prison by Pak Lah (PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), he would have abandoned all you blind, naive supporters a long time ago.
Sarah Tan: Our country has seen such activity had caused a lot of trouble and these students, they never learned.
Looking back during the student activism in 70s led by Anwar himself, he started with the idea of having Bahasa Malaysia as the sole national language.
And now he is struggling to take over the nation. If the students are not given the proper guidance, the country will face people like Anwar distorting peace and unity.
Paul Warren: Expect Fahmi to be found guilty on all nine charges. But still not as bad as one that UM is guilty of - dragging the university through a sewage-filled drain.
Surely that must make every student from that university, present and past, feel rather dirty.
Odysseus: UM students of UM should sue the campus administration for negligence and incompetence that caused them to miss class due to power outage. Bring them to the court for the world to see how incompetent they are.
Tok Karut: I hope Anwar's people (I am not saying PKR here) will assist. I remember bunches of students were sacked for reformasi demonstrations and no one looked out for them. They lost their right to education and possibly a better future with their families.
I hope politicians will remember the idealism of our youth, which holds sway over pragmatism.
What alternatives do we have for these brave young leaders when the state denies them a right to education when sacked from all local universities under UUCA (Universities and University Colleges Act)?
Kangkung: Fahmi Zainol, Adam Adli, Muhammad Safwan Anang give me faith in this country once again. They are truly brave people and we salute you.
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