One university has acquired the dubious honour of being the first to bar an environmental activist from conducting a training workshop for students because he is on the police blacklist.

The Rakan Muda secretariat confirmed that Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) had barred Nizam Mahshar of Penang-based Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM).

The half-day workshop entitled 'Development and the Community' - a joint effort of the UTP Rakan Muda secretariat and SAM - was intended to introduce about 50 student leaders to developmental issues faced by communities.

As Nizam discovered, even predominantly environment-focused activism and SAM's close rapport with government bodies could not keep him out of the bad books of the campus authorities.

He was informed last Friday that UTP's Security Unit - after cross-checking with the Special Branch headquarters in Kuala Lumpur - had identified him as being on the police blacklist.

Other activists with SAM eventually conducted the workshop last Sunday.

When met, Nizam expressed disbelief that even environmentalists were now being treated as 'security threats' by the authorities.

"I am involved in such issues as the Ulu Muda case ," Nizam said in reference to logging activities in Kedah that villagers allege have caused environmental damage and affected their livelihood and welfare.

"I've also been involved in the awareness campaigns on the proposed free trade agreement with the US. The Ulu Muda issue, in particular, was one of about 15 case studies I was going to bring into the workshop.

"But these are all issues faced by communities and they are all factual. I wasn't going to bring in rumours or try to spread unrest, or anything like that. We were not meddling in politics. I don't know why they fear environmentalists."

Question for government

Nizam further said the workshop participants - all of whom are taking engineering courses - should be aware of such issues as they will be the country's future consultants and implementors of development projects.

"They will be the ones conducting studies and writing up EIA (environmental impact assessment) and other reports," he pointed out.

"We cannot have engineers and other such professionals who don't know the impact of unsustainable development on communities."

A student leader involved in organising the workshop said university procedures require that any external speakers involved in student activities be vetted by the Security Unit.

"The unit will cross-check with the Special Branch at Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur, and the feedback will determine whether the individuals are allowed or not," he said.

"I assumed it would be okay, because the workshop was focused on the environment and politics was not involved. But they told us on Thursday afternoon that Nizam would not be allowed to participate in the workshop."

He also questioned how the government would achieve its aim of honing students' professional and creative skills, when some of its actions stunt critical and analytical faculties and students' ability to look at issues comprehensively.

"If even an environmentalist like Nizam can be blacklisted and stopped from talking to students, how far do they think students will go in terms of intellectual and critical analysis?" he asked.

Calls to the UTP student affairs division resulted in malaysiakini being directed to the Security Unit. When contacted, however, the head of the unit declined comment.