Help retract show-cause letter against PSD scholar, Pua tells Khairy

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has been advocating for more openness among students and today, DAP publicity chief Tony Pua urges Khairy to ensure a show-cause letter sent to a Malaysian student in Australia is withdrawn. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, June 21, 2014.

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua has urged Khairy Jamaluddin to ensure a show-cause letter sent to a Malaysian student in Australia is withdrawn, after the student, who is on a government scholarship, recently took part in a forum with the opposition lawmaker at a university there.

“I’d like to appeal to the good sense of the minister of youth and sports… to secure a cabinet directive for the Malaysian PSD (Public Service Department) in Australia to withdraw the unjustifiable show-cause letter,” Pua said in a statement today.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP said he was appealing for Khairy’s help as the latter had been advocating for more openness among students to enhance their critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as to promote greater democratic values.

Pua added that while both he and the student, Aslam Abdul Jalil, were panellists at the “Race, Religion and Royalty” forum held in Australian National University (ANU) on April 22, the discussions were “rigorous but cordial, analytical and factual, with absolutely no seditious elements”.

“There were no insults, for example, thrown at any race, any religion or any royalty in Malaysia. Hence, one can only conclude that the show-cause letter was served with malice, with the sole intent to frighten and oppress our students overseas,” said Pua.

He added that the third panellist, Dr John Funston, was a visiting fellow in the ANU Department of Political and Social Change, who specialised in government and politics of Southeast Asia and Asian history.

“The three speakers, a well-known academic who has written many books on Malaysia and Southeast Asia, an elected politician, and a student in economics, sat down to discuss the issues of ‘Race, Royalty and Religion” and its impact on Malaysia,” said Pua.

Aslam was reportedly issued a show-cause letter from the Malaysian PSD on Wednesday, asking him to explain his participation as a panellist at the forum, which was organised by Canberra Malaysian Interest Group (CMIG).

The student was alleged to have breached Clause 5.5 of his scholarship agreement which prohibits taking part in “seditious” activities or protest.

“Australian National University – Malaysian Politics”, a Facebook community page by ANU students and the CMIG, wrote on Thursday that the forum was just an expression of their political opinion.

“The forum was academically conducted to encourage critical thinking and promote awareness among Malaysian students with the assistance of foreign academics at the ANU,” the page’s administrators wrote on a Facebook post.

Pua said Aslam was "accused of an extremely serious offence, that of ‘sedition... detrimental to the interest of Malaysia or an educational institution.”

He said the onus was now on Khairy to convince the government to step in, as Khairy had also disagreed with how his (Pua’s) invitation to speak at the Malaysia Summit Australia (Masa) in Melbourne was retracted by the student organist ion upon protests by the Malaysian Education Department.

“The retraction of the invite then had caused such a furore that Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had tagged me in a tweet saying he was against the move as well.

“However, it is obvious from this latest episode that the cabinet places no value to what Khairy has raised, for the show-cause letter to a student went far beyond just a ‘disinvitation’ to an opposition politician,” said Pua.

- TMI