Umany New Youth (Umany) President Ho Chi Yang in a statement expressed the group’s anger and disappointment at the university authorities for issuing the warning letter to the “sixth victim of the university’s student-suppressing policy”.
On December 31, Ho and five others received warning letters for the same reason.
“We are also disappointed by MPP Penggerak Mahasiswa’s (UM’s student body council) assistance to the authorities in the suppression of the student’s right to dissent.
Ho also said the university was using fear to stop students from rightly exercising their freedom of expression in the future. “The university wants those who are accused to be charged as soon as possible so that student leaders will be afraid to voice out again, and also to act as a deterrent to others.”
On December 14, Ho held a press conference with Persatuan Mahasiswa Islam UM (PMIUM), on the university’s plans to limit WiFi access on campus to 5GB from March, instead of continuing the current unlimited quota.
Ho also claimed extra usage would be charged.
This claim, however, was denied by UM vice-chancellor Dr Mohd Amin Jalaludin, who explained that students would not be charged for extra usage of the Internet and the university would only monitor, but not limit WiFi use.
Ho went on to state that the university should spend more time listening to and respecting opposing voices rather than wasting time and resources on trying to suppress them.
“Malaysians enjoy freedom of speech under Article 10 (1) of the Federal Constitution. We students are not excluded.
“Students definitely have the right to hold press conferences in the university, or express any dissent towards any policy in the university to the outside world.”