IIUM denies forcing lecturer to remove post critical of MCO

 

University should be fertile grounds for intellectual discussions and critical thinking plus crafting ideas based on facts and figures.

However, doing so did not bode well for one International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) lecturer when he landed in hot water for posting his critical views on some of the measures taken by the government in handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Malaysiakini learned that the medical doctor had posted on LinkedIn two days ago his disagreement with the second round of the movement control order (MCO) now being imposed on six states.

"MCO 2.0 is the greatest lie to the Malaysian public. It has been implemented to so call reduce the number of cases. The great plan is actually to test less!

"Don't test the asymptomatic. Only test those with symptoms! Of course, when you test less, you find less!" he wrote, among others.

Accompanying the text were two photos, or screenshots, of a news article and a Health Ministry's circular that stated changes in its contact tracing procedures.

The new plan sees the Health Ministry reducing its Covid-19 testing to only symptomatic close contacts instead of every individual whom they manage to identify as at risk.

The doctor's post, however, did not stay long on the lecturer's LinkedIn page.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, the doctor, whose expertise is public health, claimed that he had to take it down after being told to do so by a superior.

The superior claimed the instruction came from the university's legal adviser's office, he said.

"I have no idea if it is genuine or not," the academician said, referring to the instruction.

He had requested not to be named for this article.

IIUM's Office for Communication, Advocacy and Promotion denied that the university had issued such an order.

Its director Harmi Taazim Mohamad said the university did not practice suppression of freedom of speech.

"I have also checked with the legal adviser office, but they did not issue the order.

"An internal investigation will be carried out to find out who gave the instruction," he said when contacted by Malaysiakini. -Mkini