Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy says Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia should proceed with its planned forum on Indian migration.

While the original title was badly worded, he said, academic discussions within the confines of tolerance should be encouraged.

"I am all for this forum. You should allow these things to take place and people should be free to participate," Ramasamy told Malaysiakini.

The UKM forum next Wednesday was originally titled Polemik kehadiran masyarakat India di Semenanjung Tanah Melayu: Migrasi atau Imigran? (The polemic of Indians arriving in Malaya: Migration or Immigrants?)

The university's Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation (Atma) has since said there would be a new title for the dialogue, following brickbats over the word polemic.

Other had also taken issue that the panel of four academics were all Malays.

Atma said they had invited Indian academics to speak, but were turned down.

Ramasamy, however, said he is willing to join the panel if invited.

"UKM is my old university. I was a political science professor there. If they invite me, I can see if I am free to attend.

"Maybe, they think that since I am a politician now I don't know anything anymore," he said with a laugh.

Ramasamy had previously engaged in a public talk with Universiti Sains Malaysia policy research and international studies professor Ahmad Murad Merican on Indian heritage and migration.

Ahmad Murad is one of the panellists for UKM's talk.

Ramasamy, however, said he felt Indian migration to Malaya, whether as traders a thousand years ago, or as plantation workers brought by the British, was no longer a polemic and was something that has been accepted.

Meanwhile, when contacted by Malaysiakini, Atma director Dr Supyan Hussin denied there were any political connotations to the forum, replying briefly: "Intellectual discourse is a discourse on knowledge, not politics."

He, however, did not reply to a question on whether the lineup of speakers would be retained.