Discussion held in the dark after UPM blocks venue

Attendees at an academic discussion on the National Economic Model were forced to sit on the floor in the dark last night when the original venue at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) was allegedly cordoned off by university officials.

There was also heavy security surveillance taking photographs and video recording of the event, invited speaker Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan (right in photo) said.

When contacted, Wan Saiful said that the number of security personnel grew from three officers to six when the original venue of Latar Siswa at the Modern Languages Faculty was changed to Kompleks Mahasiswa.

“It was a certainly a big change for me, from being invited to present at the cabinet and ministry to talking in the dark to people sitting on the floor.

“To be fair, the security personnel were only acting on orders and the lights may just be on automatic timer, so we can't say they turned off the lights on us.

“But the security personnel were following me around and taking pictures of me, one even placed a video camera right in front of , less than two metres away. I felt like a celebrity,” he quipped.

He said that heavy security presence may have turned off some students from attending.

About 70 people were waiting at Latar Siswa when the event was supposed to start at 9pm, he claimed, but only about 20 stayed on for the two-hour talk which ended at midnight.

Security there to 'ensure safety'

He added the security personnel “coyly” said their presence were to ensure safety as a similar discussion organised  by the same group last week came under protest by another student group.

“If they were truly there to keep us safe, then let us use Latar Siswa and keep us safe there,” he said.

The organisers, a loose group of students who organise discussions called 'Kelas Pencerahan' (Enlightenment Class), last week organised a discussion on the book The Prince.

The discussion was led by PKR-linked think tank Institut Kajian Dasar's Khalid Jaafar, but his presence at campus was protest against by youth group Pembina, linked to the Islamic NGO, Isma.

It is understood that the book discussion also faced difficulties, and had to move to another venue on campus, also under security surveillance.

“I don't know if the students had obtained permission for the event beforehand, but I would question the need to have to ask for permission to hold an academic discussion in a university.

“I wish I could say we were part of some underground movement, but this is a lecture I have delivered before at Inti University in an university-organised event and will deliver at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) upon the university's invitation,” he said.

He added that Ideas had also done a tour of universities nationwide last year to speak on libertarian policies, and faced no problems.

In fact, he said, he had agreed to rebut the students' claims that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's economic liberalisation hurts the poor.

UPM: Students didn't get permission

Meanwhile, UPM Student Affairs Department head Nor Mohamad Shakil Hamid said the students did not obtain university clearance for the discussion, nor did they book the venue.

“All events organised by students have to have permission from the student affairs department, especially if it involves outside speakers, as the university needs to look at the speakers’ backgrounds first,” he said.

He said that the heavy surveillance and recording of the event were also part of the “standard procedure”, particularly when it involves an “unauthorised” speaker.

“The security personnel were there to monitor the situation,” he said, adding that he does not know what the security department will do with last night's photographs or video recordings.

He also could not confirm if Latar Siswa, a void deck-like area usually freely-accessed by students to hold study groups, was cordoned off by the faculty to stop the event.

In a similar incident last month, Universiti Malaya student held a history lecture just outside the Kuala Lumpur campus gates (above) when the university barred activist Fahmi Reza from addressing the pre-approved event at the last minute.