UNIVERSITY OR DETENTION CAMP? 'I wanted to give Sultan Nazrin a memo, not a BOMB'

Newly elected Universiti Malaya students council (PMUM) president Ammar Atan is frustrated that attempts to hand a memorandum to Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah were thwarted.

"I think this is very strange. All I wanted to do was hand him our memorandum. It is not like I was going to give him a bomb or anything," Ammar told Malaysiakini.

The memorandum is on UM's action against a group of students, known as the 'UM8', who broke through the university’s locked gates in order for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to deliver a speech there last month.

Of the eight, seven were slapped with disciplinary actions, ranging from fines, warnings to suspensions.

Sultan Nazrin, who is the UM chancellor, was at the campus today.

However, security personnel prevented the students’ attempts to intercept the sultan while he was inside the Chancellor's Hall and later as Perak ruler prepared to get into his car.

Meanwhile, Ammar believes that the sultan, whom he described as a "very approachable person" was not told about the matter.

"He mixes with the students, asks for a selfie and whatnot, so I assume his PA (personal assistant) had made the decision (not to inform him of the students' plans)," he said.

Memo handed to minister, vice-chancellor

The students, however, managed to hand the memorandum to Education Minister II Idris Jusoh's press secretary Danial Abdul Rahman.

Ammar, who is a third year Economics and Administration student, managed to catch up with vice-chancellor Mohd Amin Jalaludin to hand him a copy of the memorandum as well.

However, the VC quickly folded the memo and the document was later snatched by one of his assistants.

Nevertheless Mohd Amin congratulated Ammar for his election as president of UM's student union.

Ammar said he was "disappointed" and "insulted" with how the VC treated him, where instead of receiving the memorandum respectfully, he had folded it.

"We will now try to send the memo through email to the sultan and hopefully it reaches him.

"We are also going to have a dialogue session with the VC next week," he said, adding that he would not let this incident to damper his spirit.

The sultan was attending a lecture by visiting United Kingdom professor Jonathan Bates, who was giving a talk on 'Why Humanity Needs Humanities'. - M'kini