Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan today promised to uphold student’s freedom of expression and to prevent a repeat of the incidents which saw student representatives being penalised.
University Malaya (UM) student group Demokrat UM said the Umno leader promised this in a meeting with them after appearing as a panellist on a forum on student involvement in politics and community that was held in UM.
In the meeting, the Demokrat UM said they handed over to Mohamad a memorandum while inquiring him on several other matters.
“He promised to uphold students’ freedom of speech and incidents of students being subjected to disciplinary actions for inviting opposition leaders to campus such as in 2014 and the UM4 incident and never to be repeated,” the Demokrat UM said in a statement.
The incident in 2014 is in reference to the disciplining of student council president Fahmi Zainol at the time for inviting Anwar Ibrahim, who was de facto opposition leader then to speak on campus.
Meanwhile, the UM4 incident is the case of four UM students and a Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia student who were punished by their universities for participating in a 2016 rally.
“Forgotten history is history that will be repeated. Therefore, it is our collective responsibilities, as UM students, to ensure UM remains a stage for intellectual discussions, irrespective of whose governance Malaysia is under,” the statement read.
Demokrat UM further welcomed Mohamad’s presence on campus, labelling it a "batu loncatan" (stepping stone) for the University of Malaya Students Union in organising a forum attended by various representatives.
“In the words of Tok Mat (Mohamad) himself, political correctness is when politics is made to suit the environment and not the latest trends,” it said. - Mkini
It all happened during bn's reign.
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