malaysiakini logo
story-image
story-image
story-image
ADS

COMMENT | Universiti Malaya (UM) is apparently retrogressing to a state of tyranny, when it fined four of its students for holding up protest placards demanding an answer on the 1MDB scandal.

The appeal which will be held today will determine whether the four students, dubbed the Universiti Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany) 4, are able to clear their names.

Despite the 1MDB scandal receiving all the negative publicity worldwide, and the case is currently being investigated in eleven countries around the world, I am appalled that holding up placards can be considered an offence in the eyes of UM senior administration staff.

In the first place, the university should not have invited 1MDB president and CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy to speak on "1MDB and the Country’s Current Issue" unless it is truly interested to find out the truth.

What was the motive of the event’s host, Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz, when he organised the townhall meeting? As an Umno Youth exco member, was he seriously seeking for an answer and explanation from Arul Kanda?

Or was he trying to do a propaganda event at one of our universities in the name of a townhall meeting? He has no business in hosting the event in UM and technically UM should not even allow its facilities to be used for such talks if what appears is nothing but propaganda.

Face the opposition lawmakers instead

What was the reason why Arul Kanda accepted his invitation but did not accept the invitation from the opposition lawmakers who represent the people who want to find out the truth behind the mother of scandals?

The United States Department of Justice has touted the 1MDB scandal as the biggest money-laundering scandal ever exposed in the US. Of course, Malaysians are generally anxious to know the truth, not to mention these four students who sat through the whole meeting to hear the explanation by Arul Kanda.

The students were merely demanding an answer. Anyone in their position would be concerned because we have heard too many spins from 1MDB, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his cabinet ministers. The truth has not been told.

If Arul Kanda was able to provide a plausible answer, he and Faisal should have responded positively to the demands by the students and proved that they had all the answers. Why charge them in the first place? What appears to me is that this was basically "institutional intimidation" of the students...

Unlocking Article
Unlocking Article
View Comments