Adam to appeal to minister against suspension

Student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim says he will appeal to Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin over his three-semester suspension by his university.

According to Malay daily Sinar Harian today, the Legasi Mahasiswa Progresif coordinator said students should be given the space to voice out and seek justice, and not be restricted as such.

Adam (left) was suspended by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris over charges of damaging the institution’s reputation, after he had swapped a flag bearing the prime minister’s image with a banner that read “liberate academic freedom” in front of the Umno headquarters in Putra World Trade Centre in December.

Meanwhile, the daily also reported that residents of Kampung Jalan Kebun in Shah Alam have banned members of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) from entering their village following a ceramah they co-organised with Anything But Umno (ABU) at the Shah Alam City Council hall last Saturday.

The ceramah was cancelled after being disrupted by a rowdy mob.

In addition, the residents have lodged a report at the Shah Alam district police headquarters asking the police to investigate Hindraf, whose members they allege are “disturbing” the villagers.

A spokesperson for the villagers, Shaari Basri, reportedly said that the villagers respected other ethnic groups, but not “illegal organisations like Hindraf”.

“We regret that they raised the Hindraf flag and had their programme during maghrib prayers. We don’t mind if it was a party flag, but not a Hindraf flag, furthermore they accused us of being provocative.

“Why organise such a programme in our village where there are no Hindraf members here? So we are banning Hindraf from Jalan Kebun,” he was quoted saying.