FROM ALLY TO DESPERATE FOE: Did Muhyiddin order UM ban against Anwar

Universities are supposed to be the seedbed for intellectual debates, where the best of brains are allowed to carry out their debates.

Instead, the way University of Malaya's top brass officers treated the Opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim is simply uncivilised for any public university which is supposed to be the top institution in the country.

Anwar was invited by the elected student body to speak to the people about the Sodomy II case, but the university did all it could to block off the students and members of the public from listening to Anwar's talk.

It is shocking how the university had locked the gates and even threatened members of the public of trespassing the university grounds. This was done, despite the official invitation was made by the university's student association.

Based on news reports, what's even more shocking is that the power supply to the campus was turned off, when Anwar was delivering his speech. How could anyone with a right mind, especially an intellectual, do such a shameful act in the name of national security?

Anwar's one hour speech is not going to be a threat to national security, but what these top brass officers at UM have done would have stirred up a storm. Brickbats have been hurled against UM for the actions of a few of its officers.

Under normal circumstances, Anwar should not have been treated as though he is a criminal, a subversive or a threat to national security. He is the Member of Parliament of Permatang Pauh, and the country's leading politician.

He is also the Opposition leader as far as the Malaysian parliament is concerned. More importantly, he is also an alumnus of the university. You do not treat your alumnus with such brutality as to lock him out of the campus ground, especially when he has an official invitation to speak.

You simply do not treat the Opposition leader of the country with such disgust. Even Japan has invited Anwar to speak, why can't the student body invite Anwar, a fellow alumnus, to explain to the people what he thought would happen to him after the judgement is made at the Federal Court today?

I am therefore shocked to see the antics of these UM staff and the way they had reacted to the students' event on Monday night, “40 years from University of Malaya to prison”. What is so subversive about Anwar's talk in the first place!

Laughing Stock

As pointed out by DAP National Vice Chairman and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok, "University of Malaya has become an international laughing stock, not only in banning Anwar from returning to his alma mater university and barring him from accepting the invitation of the Universiti Malaya Undergraduates Association (PMUM) to speak, but for resorting to the outrageous and preposterous ruse of a shut down of power supplies in the university."

The university administration should be fully aware that their actions are being watched by both their alumni and members of the public. With the advent of the Internet age, such news would have reached the far corners of this world. I will not be surprised if UM's action is now being talked about within the intellectual community worldwide.

It does not surprise me that UM will be ranked lowly in terms of the respect it shows for human rights. By giving all sorts of excuses, they have made themselves the subject of ostracism.

In this case, the Vice Chancellor (VC) and his senior brass should be made responsible for dragging UM through the mud once again. They should apologise to both students and members of the public for the fracas that they had created.

To date, the VC has not given his justification, but left it to his lower ranking officers to put up the walls between the university and the public. As the leader, the VC should do all he can to take charge of the situation.

His failure to lead by good examples is what resulted in UM receiving the brickbats from the politicians, students and other activists.

Boils Down to UMNO and the Education Minister

Ultimately, it all boils down to the fact that UM is under the Ministry of Education, whose minister is none other than another UMNO minister, Datuk Seri Muhyiddin Yassin.

We are serious about finding out whether Muhyiddin himself had issued a directive for UM to block Anwar from entering. If not, Muhyiddin has to come forward to deal with the fracas created by a few junior university administrators. His response will tell us where UMNO stands with regards to Monday night's fracas.

As an UMNO minister, Muhyiddin should realise that whatever is done by the University administration towards this man they fear, will ultimately costs the Barisan Nasional Government its votes. With the fracas that happened last Monday, can UMNO still expect MU alumni voting it in the coming General Election?

Muhyiddin should answer where is the logic for an alma mater to bar its alumnus from speaking to a group of undergraduates who wanted to hear it directly from Anwar himself?

Anwar is not a subversive or a terrorist. Why should he be treated like one? It is injustice done to him, his family and those who support him.

Bring it to Suhakam: University or Umno lobby group?

Instead of being probed by the university, the student body should now lodge a report to Suhakam, the human rights commission to see what it can do.

Such political bullying should be discontinued, especially when it involves a public institution of higher learning. UM cannot, and should never behave like it is another UMNO lobby group; instead, it should be neutral towards toward the politics of the day.

At the same time, Suhakam commissioners cannot remain silent over such a fracas happening on the premises of the country's top university.

It is time that a public enquiry be carried out by Suhakam, where the university's top brass will be forced to answer questions raised by the public. The time has come when the Little Napoleons have to be accountable to the people.

We can no longer tolerate people with limited thinking capacities to act like Little Napoleons. The same thing has happened before when Bersih 2.0 steering committee negotiated with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) for the Dataran Merdeka to carry out a Duduk Bantah demonstration.

What was initially a simple demonstration turned out to be the nation's embarrassment in the eyes of the world. Known and promoted to be a country of moderates, recently a friend of mine from Australia asked: "Why there are so many extremists? Isn't Najib's government doing something about these people instead of going after opposition leaders and activists who pursued legitimate causes?"

He ended up with his observations about the UM fracas: "Has UM failed to be a university? Or is it now another utility at the disposal of the ruling party in your country?" - MAILBAG