SW1M was trying to brainwash, says Bawani

She claims this was obvious from the visuals used and the comments that panellists made.

PETALING JAYA: Overnight sensation KS Bawani claims that the Suara Wanita 1Malaysia (SW1M) seminar that made her famous was an attempt to brainwash university students into harbouring contempt against opposition and anti-establishment figures.

She said this was evident from the visuals used and the comments offered by panel speakers.

“If you see the full recording of the forum, it clearly shows that the forum was an attempt to brainwash students,” said Bawani in an interview with the video portal YobTV.

Bawani, a law student at Universiti Utara Malaysia, shot to fame with the spread in cyberspace of a video showing her being berated by SW1M president Sharifah Zohra Jabeen Syed Shah Miskin for asking a question.

Among other things, Sharifah Zohra told Bawani to go to Cuba or Argentina if she was looking for free education.

Bawani told YobTV that speakers at the SW1M forum labelled Bersih chief S Ambiga an anarchist and questioned Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar’s Islamic credentials.

She said the speakers also spoke ill of women who participated in opposition-backed rallies.

However, SW1M official Ema Lee Abu Samah has denied that any of the organisation’s forums was an attempt to brainwash students or to win support for Barisan Nasional.

SW1M has held similar forums in University Perguruan Sultan Idris and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

“If we are really from BN, we would have conducted the forum in a hotel and would not have taken the trouble to deal with the university administration,” Emalee said.

“It’s hard to convince UUM to let us speak about politics.”

Ema Lee also told FMT that the media, in their reporting of the Bawani affair, had given the wrong title for the forum. “The title was Women and Politics, not as published in the media,” she said.