UKM | Square pegs in round holes

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Open letter to UKM vice-chancellor

WED, 26 MAY 2010 15:32
From U-Jean, UKM student,
via e-mail

Dear Dr Sharifah Hapsah,

I'm writing to you with regards to the persecution of the four UKM students who were hauled up for taking part in the Hulu Selangor by-election.

On June 2-3, they will be charged under Section 15(5) of the University and University Colleges Act 1971 which prohibits students from participating or expressing sympathy or support for any political parties.

I'm of the assumption that if we grant voting rights to citizens of 21 years and above, that would mean that we acknowledge their capacity to make decisions and to exercise their rights as lawful adults.

Therefore, as citizens of Malaysia, they have every right to participate in the political processes of the country. If so, why then are we persecuting them for exercising the right every adult Malaysian should have?

We already have too many students who are apathetic to the fate of the country. We complain about those who don't bother, don't care, and tak tahu and tak nak kisah about events that happens in the country.

These are among those who will eventually graduate to become graduates who are clueless about the social, political, and economic landscape and will fall among those without adequate soft skills.

When we finally have students who bother to take interest the election process, we choose to penalise them for their interest and for executing their rights.

Dear VC, when the rest of the student population cannot even be bothered about what’s happening in the country, shouldn’t we instead take pride in having students who do?

Are we to reward patriotism with penalties? On May 19, at 9.28am, you tweeted this on Twitter and also on Facebook, “Tun Musa Hitam: Youth & Women will change d world". But both need empowerment.

Now how do we empower youths to make decisions when their capacity to execute their basic rights as adults is limited and restricted? This isn't empowerment, this is control and intimidation not to mention an infringement of a person’s rights.

UKM's educational goal is "to produce graduates with strong leadership qualities who are confident of themselves with a strong sense of national integrity and are ethical and able to engage internationally."

Our four political science students stepped up to the plate to demonstrate that they can and will take interest in the nation's politics, confident, willing, and brave to engage with "the outside world".

Penalising these students would amount to contradicting UKM’s own educational goal. How can we refuse to acknowledge student leaders who rise above their peers, who have shown that their interest and contribution reaches beyond the walls of the university.

We choose to see them as pests and threats rather than recognise them as agents of change. We are not talking about ne’er-do-well hooliganistic troublemaker students, but among them are students with CGPAs of 3.79 and 3.51.

If we penalise them, we risk having generations of cowardly students, too afraid to challenge the status quo, and never break free from their comfort zone.

Is this the direction UKM is heading for?

FreeMalaysiaToday

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What would the "Vice" Chancellor or Deputy Chancellor say? Are Law, Economics, Political Science Students not allowed to make meanings of their lives and that of their nation? They are more than informed compared our rural folks in the last Sibu By Election. So what message then would the Vice Chancellor have for the brainy citizens on Campus? What would the Chancellor's perception of the whole issue be? She should be more than capable any way, not least of all intellectually.

When she goes up to the rostrum to tell the students it is NOT RIGHT, the Government is RIGHT, wouldn't she be very intellectually dishonest?

Of course, it goes without saying that the decadent BN Government, who pays her salary (or is it us?) would be more at ease cheating and lying to less informed rural folks than matching brains for brains. When they get more confused, they intimidate citizens with guns and tear gas! And sometimes with bullets!