Student group Himpunan Advokasi Rakyat Malaysia (Haram) and human rights advocacy group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) want the higher education ministry to require public universities to provide the space for public discourse.
Their call came in the wake of the cancellation of an exhibition on custodial death and a forum on how a person should protect his rights, as well as the disruption of another event on statelessness recently.
In the most recent incident, permission for an exhibition on S Balamurugan – who died in police custody seven years ago – was revoked at the last minute.
In November, a forum on how to protect one’s rights when dealing with the authorities was denied a permit while another on statelessness was disrupted midway.
Suaram documentation and monitoring coordinator Jernell Tan said the organisers of the Balamurugan exhibition, which was supposed to be held from today to Friday, were only told yesterday that they were not allowed to proceed.
This is despite the fact that the approval had been received from the faculty and the relevant adviser a few weeks ago.
“We now have to postpone it while we look for an alternative venue,” she said.
Tan said those responsible for organising the exhibition were now being investigated by the university.
The forum on protecting one’s rights when dealing with the authorities that was scheduled to be held at another university was denied a permit on grounds that it was “left-wing and anti-establishment”, Haram executive secretary ‘Alyaah Hani Anuar said.
In the third incident, auxiliary policemen switched off the lights of the cafe where the forum on statelessness was in progress despite the fact that permission had been granted by the university.
“The situation highlights the ignorance, particularly of the auxiliary police and the university’s administration regarding academic freedom,” ‘Alyaah said.
Haram president Brendon Gan described the stifling of student political freedom as well as the intimidation by the authorities as disappointing.
“What kind of image does the government want to portray?” he asked.
“Shouldn’t universities be places of learning, where students have the freedom and autonomy to comment on current affairs? Is the government really serious about empowering the students of today who will be the leaders of tomorrow?”
Representatives of the two groups later handed over a list of demands to Hafizi Rosli, the higher education ministry’s communications head.
The list was signed by representatives of 29 organisations and eight individuals, including graphic artist and activist Fahmi Reza and academic Sharifah Munirah Alatas.
Gan later told reporters that the ministry had promised to seek an explanation from the relevant universities and had agreed to engage students in the shortest time possible.