'Banned' history lecture takes place at UM gates

They started off organising a lecture on the history of the Malaysian student movement, but by the end of Monday night, a group of Universiti Malaya students found themselves to be part of the same movement.

It all started with a phone call from a university officer on Monday afternoon, saying that the event's main speaker - student activist Fahmi Reza - was barred from entering the UM campus. 

According to organiser and UM Economics student Abdul Muhsi Ramlan, they were told that the lecture could proceed at the booked lecture hall if second-billed speaker, 1960s student leader and UM alumnus Khong Kim Hoong, only spoke.

"But Fahmi has done extensive research on the student movement history, so it would not be right to replace him with someone else.

"At the same time, we did not want to go against university officers as this could jeopardise any future events and cause problems for our faculty dean. 

"So we pooled money to buy a RM380 power generator, linked it to a projector and put up a screen so our lecture could carry on at the area just outside the Kuala Lumpur campus gates," Muhsi said. 

Despite the light rain, at least 150 students turned up at the grassy area just outside the gates to listen to Khong and Fahmi recount the glory days of the student movement.

Muhsi said the students came from various public universities around Malaysia, with some being doctoral candidates writing their theses about the same movement.

"We now call this area 'Dataran Mahasiswa' (Student's Square), and it is now part of the student movement history.

"Now, anybody whose event cannot be held in the campus can use these equipment and hold it at Dataran Mahasiswa," he said. 

'No wonder rankings dropped'

Happily, the two-hour lecture, which has already been held in several tertiary campuses throughout the country, was not disrupted by the authorities. 

Although UM has consistently banned Fahmi (right) from delivering his now famed Student Power lectures, the organisers are still scratching their heads over Monday's incident. 

The students had earlier successfully held a forum on the federal budget, featuring PAS leader Dzulkefly Ahmad, and saw this as a signal that the nation's oldest and best university was opening up again. 

"We thought if an opposition politician was allowed to speak on campus, then surely Fahmi would be. Why should he be banned? He's not a murderer or a serial rapist," Muhsi said. 

Compared with the "jeers and cheers" at university forums from his student days, Khong said, Monday's event was a "tame" affair and he sees "no reason why it should have been disallowed". 

"When I was a student, we had people of diverse opinions speak at campus, pro-government, opposition, everyone was invited and there were no untoward incidents. 

"It was part of university life. University not just a physical campus, but a place where people develop critical thinking about on issues important to society, and to disagree in a decorous manner...

"No wonder the university does not rank highly any more... the students can't even hold a forum," said Khong, who taught at UM for 16 years as an associate professor before moving on.

The Student Power lecture has also been banned in Universiti Teknologi Mara, but has been held in other public universities such as Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA).

Rejected by UM for the fourth time in 2010, Fahmi launched a campaign asking students to lobby the university authorities to allow the lecture, which in most part is about UM's history. 

Yesterday's event was the closest the Student Power lecture had got to bringing the story to where it all began.

"I have always been open about the lecture and students can approach me to bring it to their campuses any time," Fahmi said when contacted.