‘Lecturer’s push for DAP deregistration proves he’s a lackey’

DAP's Syerleena Abdul Rashid says controversial UUM lecturer is playing 'gutter politics to show his worth to his political masters'.

PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Syerleena Abdul Rashid has hit out at lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff for calling on the authorities to deregister the party, barely a week after he accused assemblywoman Hannah Yeoh of trying to proselytise Muslims through her autobiography.

“Kamarul’s latest stunt is evidence that he is indeed a lackey who is willing to stoop low to show his worth to his political masters,” Syerleena told FMT.

Syerleena, a councillor for the Penang Island City Council, said academicians like Kamarul have a responsibility to nurture the minds of future Malaysians with intellectualism and critical thinking, and become stellar role models students could look up to.

“Instead, he is too busy playing gutter politics. This is extremely counterproductive and a waste of our nation’s resources.”

Yeoh had lodged a police report against Kamarul on May 15, following a Facebook post by the Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer in which he described her as an “example of DAP’s biggest hypocrisy” and accused DAP of mixing politics with Christian teachings.

Kamarul in turn responded by lodging a police report of his own against the DAP assemblywoman.

Now, the political science lecturer, who has received flak over his allegations, is pushing for DAP’s deregistration. He claims the party’s activities go against the position of Islam in Malaysia and the position of the Malays and Bumiputeras.

In a Facebook post yesterday, he urged more academics to back his memorandum to the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to issue a show-cause letter to DAP on why it shouldn’t be deregistered.

In the post, Kamarul, who has called for Yeoh’s book to be sold only in selected shops, added that over 100 local academics from 21 public universities had agreed to the memorandum in their personal capacities.

However, Syerleena said that according to Quacquarelli Symonds’ ranking for 2016’s top universities, UUM is currently ranked 701st. She added that this “abysmal” ranking should be addressed by the university and its academics.

She said while the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 prevents students from participating in politics and activism, it was clear that academicians were “exempted” from this.

“Perhaps it’s time we address this issue as well. Failing to do so will only destroy our education system further.”

Based on the number of elected representatives in the party, DAP is the single largest opposition party in Malaysia with 38 parliamentary seats and 96 state seats. -FMT