UIA’s rector should resign, join Umno for stopping talk, says Rafizi

PKR lawmaker Rafizi Ramli wants International Islamic University rector Datuk Seri Dr Zaleha Kamaruddin to resign for stopping him from speaking at a forum held on campus. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 14, 2015. 

PKR lawmaker Rafizi Ramli, who was stopped from speaking at a forum at the International Islamic University (UIA) last night, said the varsity's rector should resign for failing to defend academic freedom with her decision to prevent him from addressing students.

Instead the rector, Datuk Seri Dr Zaleha Kamaruddin, should take on a new position in Umno, which the Pandan MP said would be more suitable to her political tendencies.

"To become a prestigious university, UIA has to respect freedom of knowledge and thinking. If the UIA rector cannot understand such a basic matter, then she should resign as rector and take up a new role in Umno, more suitable with her tendency all this time," he said in a statement today.

In last night's incident, Rafizi was eight minutes into his speech about the goods and services tax when an unidentified man grabbed the microphone away from him in front of hundreds of UIA students, causing a brief scuffle.

Rafizi, who is also PKR secretary-general, said the man was Superintendent Razali Mohamad, UIA's head of security, whom he claimed was a police officer from the force's headquarters at Bukit Aman.

"I openly said that his man's actions were rude and he had no respect for an academic function," Rafizi said.

The tense situation worsened when the opposition lawmaker was approached by several men in plainclothes who tried to force him out of the area.

"But I was protected by many students who separated me from these unidentified people. Some of them were shouting and criticising me," said the PKR vice-president.

"I later found out that these people were Special Branch officers."

Rafizi was invited to speak on the consumption tax by the university's student council, along with Umno representative Lokman Adam and an official from the Customs Department.

Although UIA officials had initially approved the forum, Zaleha later outlined several guidelines prior to the event and later on decided to cancel it.

However, the event was allowed to proceed at the last minute but the university conducted road blocks at the entrance to its campus.

Rafizi entered the premises on a motorcycle and arrived at the forum's venue at 9.30pm. By then, Lokman had already finished giving his speech.

"I noticed that there were many Special Branch officers and in fact, some even introduced themselves to me.

"Later, a security officer from UIA said that the university's top management had decided that only Lokman would be allowed to talk, which caused anger and disappointment among the students who were there," Rafizi said.

He was only allowed to speak after the student council persuaded and negotiated with the security officer and Rafizi was given a time limit of 15 minutes.

He noted that this was not the first time that UIA, under Zaleha's leadership, had cancelled educational programmes at the last minute as it featured politicians from Pakatan Rakyat.

A forum on moderation, which featured PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, that was supposed to be held on April 29 was also cancelled at the eleventh hour but was later held outside with the help of Global Movement of Moderates.

"The tendencies from the UIA rector give an impression as if UIA did not celebrate knowledge that is generated from differences of opinion.

"In fact, the decision of the UIA rector to only allow Umno representatives to speak reveals how she has politicised her position for Umno's interests.

"These actions are against the Barisan Nasional government's intention to improve and upgrade higher education institutions," Rafizi said.

Mahasiswa Keadilan Malaysia (MKM) president Naqiuddin Nazrin also slammed UIA for last night's incident, saying that it showed the institution’s cowardice, questioning the real reason for not allowing Rafizi to speak.

"The intervention from the management to stop the forum from being held is also to continue fooling and stopping students from receiving knowledge and information," he said.

"The university has to explain why it cancelled the event as this is clearly a cowardly action on their part."

- TMI