Several demonstrations have been planned against Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad during his 10-day visit to the United Kingdom which started yesterday.
The demonstrations will kick off tomorrow with Malaysian students and activists from several British Muslim organisations distributing leaflets outside the Whitehall Trade and Industry Department building where Mahathir will be giving a keynote address at a conference organised by the Malaysian British Business Council.
The group will then submit a memorandum condemning Mahathir's human rights record to the Honourary Trade Secretary Stephen Byers, who is scheduled to attend the event.
On Friday, a group of young Muslim students will demonstrate outside Reynolds Hall in Manchester, where Mahathir is scheduled to attend a dialogue session with Malaysian students.
The group claimed that the society has "clearly lost touch with the sentiments of the students it represents".
Meanwhile, Cambridge University Amnesty International has also come out in support of the protests and said that it will be organising a similar demonstration outside the university's Lady Mitchell Hall on Saturday when Mahathir will speak at the Malaysia in the New Millennium conference.
The conference is organised by the Cambridge University Malaysian Students Society and has drawn virulent calls for a boycott from a number of student groups and NGOs ([#1]Support for European NGOs' boycott call[/#], Oct 2).
Amnesty president Clare Hinkley Smith said her group is concerned that the Malaysian government continues to use restrictive legislation such as the Internal Security Act to curb freedom of expression and association.
Amnesty also believes that the charges brought against former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim were politically motivated and that the conduct of the trial was unfair.
"Many students will be boycotting the conference in protest of the current government's dismal human rights record," said Smith.
"Almost all Malaysian students at Cambridge are government funded scholars, therefore they are unable to openly protest, so this is where we all come in," she added.
Anti-Mahathir coalition
Meanwhile, a coalition of independent groups of Malaysian students studying all over the world has been formed to support the country's reformasi movement.
Calling themselves Malaysian Students Against Mahathir, the group believes that the reformasi movement initiated by Anwar in 1998 must be upheld by students despite the threat and oppression imposed on them by the various laws and scholarship agreements.
The group also believes that Mahathir has to be removed as he has become a great obstacle to any attempt to reform the society.
It is calling for all student groups to join the fight for a better future, for a modern country in which religious and moral values are promulgated and upheld.
This is the second such coalition formed by overseas Malaysian students. In August, Malaysian students at Cambridge University in Britain formed the Cambridge Coalition for a Free Malaysia.
Previous stories
[#2]Cambridge organisers deny FAC report[/#], Aug 25
[#3] Mahathir faces international conference boycott[/#], Aug 24