The arrest and detention of two university students charged for vandalism a week ago seemed to receive lukewarm attention from our quiet public. The charge was a result of their act of spraying the wall of a certain faculty in their campus, a brief unoriginal message deemed controversial and political: C4 Puaka. I was informed that they were slapped with three different charges, one funnily accusing them of obstructing traffic and were later bailed by their family at the killer rate of RM5, 500 after almost a week in the lock-up.
What a sweet coincidence that on the 18th, a week before this incident, the seven students who were put on trial for involving in a peaceful assembly were found guilty and were imposed with a fine of RM3, 900 or imprisonment for 3 months. I was at the trial and listening to the magistrate and Deputy Public Prosecutor championing public interest with no regard for the people’s human rights makes me wonder if our judicial officers were ever exposed to the ideas of fundamental liberties. My best bet was that perhaps during their Constitutional Law class, Chapter II of the Constitution was conveniently skipped to give more time for issues such as public order and national interest.
Both incidents are pitiful reminders of the consequences our university students have to endure for expressing themselves. One case is through peaceful assembly, with or without permit. The other is through graffiti, an act normally associated with vandalism rather than a medium of expression. Whatever the method is, what is more pathetic is how the role of educating or in this case “disciplining” was left to the police rather than the university itself. Criminalizing acts of dissent such as the ones above are successful approach to deter the rest of the students from standing up for what they believe in. I was even told, way before the seven unlucky heroes were convicted, their names are notorious in the campus because a certain university for example, used them as examples of ungrateful students while their pictures are officially displayed during these “explanation sessions”. Not only the seven were fined for RM3, 900.00, they were also denied education for eight years and a better livelihood, as a direct impact of that, what was even worse, they have to endure character assassination and were labeled as criminals and an ungrateful lot even before the Court issued its verdict.As a student once, I understand the frustration of being suppressed very well. I need not look very far to identify the source of suppression. We have AUKU to thank for that matter. It does not help either that Universities in Malaysia do not really embrace the concept of campus autonomy or academic freedom. University administrators played an aggressive role in dictating the direction of democracy in campuses. Campus elections are set up events where the regulations meant for the so called democratic processes are actually technical strategy to defeat anti-government candidates. With such unhealthy environment, wouldn’t one in every ten students (at least) realized the great intellectual sham they are dedicating themselves to, and pulled out from the herd and daring enough to call for reform?
I believe Universities should be humble enough to reflect on these two contemporary incidents and try to understand the reason behind the so called unruliness. State, as the guardians of our public universities must give up the futile attempts at battling the rise of culture of dissent in the universities. As the centre of knowledge and I would say, clearinghouse for young souls seeking for truth, culture of dissent will always exist in the universities. The priority now is to think on how to nurture these new ideas and views towards our nation building. We need these intellectual rebels to channel their passion towards strengthening social justice and democracy in the country. Why waste our time, living in denial?
Abolish AUKU! Long live Student Power!
