The problem with UiTM's Students' Union

LETTER The Students’ Union (MPP) of UiTM (formerly known as ITM) is no stranger to controversies. During the salad days of Ibrahim Ali, the students of ITM had actually marched to the Parliament building in KL in solidarity with their brethren from the other Klang valley institutions of higher learning. ITM received the same treatment when it was closed down later and all the students were asked to re-register, in an effort to bar/expel the troublesome student leaders. Later, during the days of Dr Mahathir’s stewardship of the education ministry, the students actually spat on Dr Mahathir when he visited the main campus in Shah Alam. Of course, we cannot forget the unsurprisingly legal public demonstration in August 2008 when hordes of happy students were benignly excused from classes and went on marching joyfully to the State SUK building in Shah Alam.

People still question the motive and rationale of the 2008 public demonstration, even until today. One cannot certainly brush off other related incidents which could arguably show that the students were either pressured/forced/enticed/cajoled to demonstrate or that they themselves were a bunch of hypocrites. Khoo Kay Kim had revealed that similar efforts were made in the past to open UiTM for the non-bumiputra but none was interested. Yet, there was no “UiTM Benteng Pertahanan Terakhir Bumiputra” crusade launched by the students. When Tun Mahathir, who did not spout the same “UiTM Benteng Pertahanan Terakhir Bumiputra” rhetoric, told the UiTM students at the end of 2009 that it would be a lot better if they were to study alongside the non-bumi students in the same institution of higher learning, not a peep was heard from the MPP. Of course, neither was there any noise made by the V-C, not even a squeak. Still, this public demo could be seen as a sign of active student activism in campus, where there was no objection to a public display of emotions.

A few days ago, the MPP was again in the news concerning their lodging a police report against Bersih 2.0. Now, as early as May 2011, Bersih 2.0 had made known of its intention to hold a public demonstration on the 9th July 2011. This was followed by an official launch on 19th June 2011. Was there any reaction from UiTM? None at all. A few days later, somebody then alerted the public on a strange message posted on the V-C’s facebook (“Saya ingin beri nasihat kpd anak2 sekalian.JANGAN TERLIBAT DALAM SEBARANG PERHIMPUNAN. Anasir2 ingin merosakan negara kira. Ini negara kita. Ini Tanah persekutuan Tanah Melayu. Mereka hendakan negara kita hancur supaya Melayu hancur. Jangan cepat pengaruh dgn org manis mulut utk merosak org Melayu. Perhimpunan yg dirancangkan akan membawa hancuran negara Tanah Melayu. JANGAN MELAYU LAWAN MELAYU. Awas anak sekalian.”), and an article dissecting and condemning the message was published on The Malaysian Insider website on 23rd June 2011. Later that day, the article’s link was posted on the same V-C’s facebook. Any person would obviously be interested to know the reaction by the student fans of the V-C on his facebook regarding the Malaysian Insider article. However, a check at the V-C’s facebook page on the following day, the 24th June 2011, revealed that the link to the article had been removed, and the page went back to its normal practice of accepting and entertaining frighteningly sycophantic messages from the students. Later in the evening, it was announced on prime time news that the Students’ Unions from all the UiTM branches have lodged a police report, protesting against the presumably illegally planned Bersih 2.0 demonstration. From the “I am happy to wear black, skip classes and blockade the public road with my friends”, the MPP has magically metamorphosed into “public demonstrations are a heinous manifestation of a cheaply culture”.

Now, one cannot help noticing the discrepancy in the time chosen by the MPP to lodge the police report against Bersih 2.0. Why did it wait to do so until the 24th June? Next, it is well known that the degree students are away on holiday since their classes would only start after Raya. What were the MPP members doing in UiTM Shah Alam on the 24th? Next, only on Bersih 2.0 ? What about the countless of demonstrations made and planned by the UMNO Youth and Perkasa? As university students, their thinking must be above the mentality of the average uneducated kampong folks, hence they must be able to see past the simplistic “legal/illegal” label that has often been used in connection with public demonstrations (please refer to the SUHAKAM report on unlawful assemblies) , especially so when the head of the MPP himself is a law student of UiTM. If the president himself fails to see the politics behind the legal/illegal label, then one must certainly check what is wrong with the legal training at UiTM’s law faculty as to whether the faculty is merely concentrating on clerical training instead of focusing on the substance of legal education. Due to all these strange discrepancies, one certainly cannot be faulted in questioning the motive of the MPP in lodging that police report.

With this latest tragedy, the name of “UiTM” has been further tarnished. Many continue to condemn UiTM students/graduates as brainless/spineless sycophants. While it is good to read the MPP President’s comment that the MPP was vehemently against the planned Bersih 2.0 demonstration for being a “budaya murahan”, someone should point out to him the other examples of “budaya murahan” which have been lovingly practiced in UiTM. The president also feared that the demonstration might “menghasut pemikiran para mahasiswa”. Seriously Mr President? University students are very vulnerable and that they are easily influenced? Are you telling us Mr President, that despite having left secondary school and after passing your respective STPM/A Levels/Diploma and others, the mahasiswa still need a nanny/governess/school master to hold their hands and to do the thinking for them? Were you referring to kindergarten children? But then again, what could we expect after having exposed them to a system that feeds them these nuggets of wisdom: that the ¬pro-mahasiswa is a group, hence disciplinary action should be taken against them while the pro-aspirasi faction is not a group, in fact it is just a social teh tarik/footsal/BBQ gathering of friends; that the UMNO today could trace its continuous and uninterrupted history from the UMNO established by Onn Jaafar in 1946 (also, the High Court’s ruling on the illegality of UMNO in 1988 was just old woman’s gossip).

The MPP is guilty of perpetuating the perception that the students of UiTM are harlots (not literally of course) – to be used and abused at will by others. Often, the accusation has always been “dicocok oleh anasir-anasir pembangkang”. It should be clear to them by now that certain pro-establishment quarters have been equally, if not more, guilty of using the students for their own personal agenda. Regarding the Shah Alam public demonstration, the MPP should have avoided it altogether. This is because in view of the then V-C’s unapologetically pro-UMNO stance (though it is certainly not a mystery that card-carrying and active members of UMNO have been taken in as lecturers and vice chancellors in the local universities, it is still a mystery as to how disciplinary action has yet to be taken against these privileged individuals), it should have been clearly obvious to them that their public demonstration would be seen as a show of support to him, thereby validating his racist views. Similarly, the current MPP should have been extremely careful before they lodged that police report. They should have foreseen that as a result of their police report, they would be branded as a hypocritical bunch and that they were merely a bunch of toadies and sycophants that were used to support the V-C and thereby validating his disturbing facebook message. In politics, perception is everything.

However, the blame does not entirely lie on the MPP. UiTM claims to be a university, and a university by definition, must have some people who are intelligent. Why didn’t any of these intellectuals/lecturers/advisors advise the MPP to adopt a neutral stance? Assuming that the MPP were bona fide against unlawful demonstrations, why didn’t they scrutinize the content of the MPP’s planned report so as not to make the MPP appear to be a bunch of hypocrites? Instead these people have allowed the students to make fools of themselves. This is certainly odd considering the fact that UiTM folks are certainly well-known for their zeal to stand up and fight for UiTM. They are also known to be fiercely demanding in their struggle for UiTM. But in this recent tragicomedy, not one of them spoke and advised the MPP against such an action? Were they afraid of being summarily transferred to Sabah? Or were they hoping that their spinelessness would be sumptuously rewarded?

True, the UiTM V-Cs are well known in summarily transferring (with the tacit collusion from the other university officers) certain lecturers to other remote branches ostensibly as a punishment for “anti-government” (a wonderful euphemism for “refusing to transform into a pro-UMNO zombie”) activities. Regardless of these probably insurmountable odds, is UiTM lacking in honest characters? How many more unsavoury incidents that could/should be allowed to happen before the realization that UiTM students are a laughing stock would sink into their conscience? How much pandering to the ego of the politicians and pseudo-academicians should the members of UiTM do before they realize that they themselves are partly responsible for the erosion in the quality of their students? Have the UiTM staff lost their sense of reason and dignity ? Or have we erred in assuming that there are people of integrity in UiTM? One shudders in thinking about the kind of training that UiTM is giving to its students. There is a probably apocryphal story on a 4.0 c.g.p.a graduate of UiTM (4 flat) whose performance was spectacularly flat during a Sime Darby interview. If this story were true, could you, would you be surprised? We end this article with the latest posting from the UiTM V-C’s facebook:

“Renungan anak2. Bila bangsa yg merdeka itu digulingkan kembali tanpa sedar,maka mereka akan menjadi hamba di dalam kemerdekaan sendiri. Dan bangsa lainlah yg akan menjadi tuan, kerana tuan asalnya kembali dijajah mimpi. Perkara ini dah berlaku. Lihat di Utara. Hampir berlaku di tempat lain. Jangan gadai bangsa kita. JANGAN MELAYU LAWAN MELAYU. Saya sayang UiTM. Jangan UiTM hilang satu hari. Fikir2lah anak sekalian.”

(Ps. Yo, MPP? What are you waiting for? Go lodge a police report against sinister elements wrecking the unity of the Malays (name a few, be creative!). Also, demand vociferously for the ruling political party in Penang to resign. How dare they came to power!! It was a lot better when Penang was under Gerakan since Gerakan was a malay party. Next, propose for a constitutional amendment to reserve all the DUN and Parliamentary seats only for UMNO. Finally, demand the PAS leaders of Kelantan and Kedah to stop pretending that they are Malays. Go team! Go! You can do it!)

- Mohammad Abdullah is the pen-name of a reader of Malaysia Chronicle