USM stifling freedom to protest, say student groups

A coalition of student groups has criticised the deputy vice-chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for threatening action against students who had joined a sit-in protest outside Parliament, and barring students from wearing Bersih 4 T-shirts on campus. The Students Progressive Front, a coalition of 24 student groups across Malaysia, in a statement today hit out at Prof Adnan Hussein saying disciplinary action would be taken against two USM students, who were among 17 arrested in the sit-in protest outside Parliament. "The action of USM to bow down to the government in oppressing those who have different views than the government is against the spirit of a university," the group said today. It also said that USM's plans to take action against the arrested students were "irrelevant and rushed" as the students had yet to be charged by the police despite being arrested. The students are being investigated under Section 124(b) of the Penal Code, for offences relating to threatening parliamentary democracy. "The Federal Constitution has provided freedom of speech and freedom of assembly to all Malaysians. But the university does not seem to agree with this guarantee," the students' statement said. It also said that it was "paradoxical" for the authorities to criticise the current quality of students when students were not allowed to express themselves. The #OccupyParliament sit-in began in the last week of August before the Bersih 4 rally but was broken up by the arrest of 17 students on August 25. The students had vowed to take turns camping outside Parliament until Prime Minister Dautk Seri Najib Razak stepped down. – September 5, 2015.