A Universiti Malaya student group today urged all UM students to rally behind student activist Fahmi Zainol who is facing disciplinary charges from the university, for participating in a talk by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim at the campus recently.

 

The Progressive University of Malaya said in a statement that all the students should show solidarity for Fahmi, who is the student union leader in the university, at the hearing on Nov 7.

 

It also asked all law faculty students to show solidarity for Abraham Au Tian Hui, who is also facing charges for attending the talk and violating the directives of the university administration, which had banned it.

 

"We urge fellow students, academic and members of the public to come join us in solidarity at the Gazebo area near the venue where the proceedings would be held," the group's secretary general Vince Tan said.

 

He also demanded the university drop all charges against the students, who broke through a locked UM gate to allow Anwar ( left ) to address a crowd of thousands of people, outside a sealed off hall inside the campus.

 

"We demand that all charges against these students are dropped by the university if it has any respect left for academic freedom and freedom of expression," he said.

 

"We demand that the university facilitates student empowerment activities and not restrict student activities," he added.

 

It said that the university had regularly shown "bias" when it came to debates or forums which had speakers from the federal opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat.