UM students pledge to stand with Azmi Sharom

A group of Universiti Malaya students pledge their support for law professor Azmi Sharom's legal challenge to the Sedition Act.

KUALA LUMPUR: A group of students from Universiti Malaya (UM) have pledged to stand in solidarity with their law professor Azmi Sharom as he awaits the court’s decision on his challenge to the constitutionality of the Sedition Act in the Federal Court tomorrow.

Institut Rakyat executive director Yin Shao Loong told reporters during a press conference outside Universiti Malaya’s Law faculty today that he hoped the decision by the Federal Court tomorrow would be in favour of Azmi, failing which he feared a string of court-sanctioned human rights violations.

“If it doesn’t, we can expect a cascade of human rights violations in the form of negative decisions made in court against all Sedition Act cases,” he said.

“(There is a) bleak outlook for human rights in Malaysia if this falls through.”

Student leader Vince Tan said that they hoped Azmi would remain in the university faculty as many students enjoyed his lectures.

“We hope that our juniors as well as the next generation of law students to come will get to enjoy his lectures. To ensure that will happen, we must speak up now, more than ever,” he said.

According to Tan, 40 students were estimated to show their support for their law professor in the Federal Court tomorrow, with possibly an even bigger turnout as many invites have been sent to students in the university.

“At least 40 people could be there. The court might even be full,” he said.

Universiti Malaya student council member Kalaivaanan Murty said they were considering arranging transport for students who wished to attend court tomorrow if they could get the right number of students by day’s end.

“If we can’t get buses, we might consider carpooling as an option,” he said.

The group of students have called for the abolishment of the Sedition Act, to defend academic freedom and to stop all selective persecution against dissenting voices in Malaysia.

“We realise that there have been many cases of selective persecution towards dissenting voices and we condemn this,” said Suaram project coordinator Amir Hadi.

He said that the student group will organise art events, workshops, forums and a music festival to raise awareness about the Sedition Act.

Azmi was charged last year under the Sedition Act for his remarks about the Perak Constitution crisis in an article titled: “Take Perak crisis route for speedy end to Selangor impasse, Pakatan told” that was carried by Malay Mail Online.