Media Statement
Cease All Intimidation of Students
Aliran condemns the Barisan Nasional (BN) government's use of the obnoxious ISA once again, this time to detain two students: Khairul Anuar Ahmad and Mohamad Fuad Mohd Ikhwan.
Aliran demands that Khairul Anuar and Mohamad Fuad be released immediately and unconditionally without conditions since the only "crime" they have committed is to protest against the present regime for its authoritarian rule and widespread practice of cronyism.
Aliran also calls upon the BN government to cease all other forms of intimidation of students who have been critical of the government. In recent weeks, such students have been hauled up under the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) or some other coercive act.
In any democracy worth its name, students have the right to assemble, to associate, and to express themselves.
The police reportedly took a handcuffed Khairul back to his Universiti Bangsar Utama (UBU) office and raided it, seizing various items. The UBU had been promoting the idea of reform through theatre and had been providing free tuition to secondary school students in the working class community around the flats and KTM staff quarters near Bangsar Utama.
Earlier on 25 June, IKM issued a show cause letter to Khairul, accusing him of "being involved in a reformasi motivational workshop intended to spur reformists to carry out plans to overthrow the government via street demonstrations." Khairul was further accused of showing support, along with 10 other Malay youths, for the protests against the closure of SJK(C) Damansara.
Mohamad Fuad Mohamad Ikhwan, 22, on the other hand, is the president of the Students Representative Council of University of Malaya. He was picked up on 6 July in Jalan Sentul, Kuala Lumpur. The police have claimed that Mohamad Fuad "threatened national security and peace."
It is in this spirit of idealism that the students have also formed new informal organisations like Gabungan Mahasiswa SeMalaysia (GAMIS) and the Students Against the ISA Movement. This is due to the unnecessary constraints of the UUCA which seek only to prevent Malaysian students from expressing themselves.
The detention of Khairul Anuar and Mohamad Fuad under the obnoxious ISA is the most publicised case in the recent intimidation of students by the authorities.
Over the past months several other cases of intimidation using the UUCA and other coercive acts have also occurred. Among these are:
It is all the more clear why the obnoxious ISA and other coercive laws must be repealed.
In the name of decency and justice, Aliran calls upon the BN government to release Khairul Anuar, Mohamad Fuad and all other ISA detainees immediately.
In the interest of our nation's future, the BN government should also cease all intimidation of Malaysian youths whose burning sense of idealism concerning justice and democracy should be encouraged, not snuffed out.
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Khairul Anuar Ahmad, 24, an electrical engineering student at Institut Kemahiran MARA (IKM), was detained under the ISA at Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur on 5 July. He was accompanying six student activists who were told to present themselves there in connection with an anti-ISA demonstration in front of the National Mosque on 8 June 2001.
Undeniably, Malaysian students have awakened and are demanding political reforms and are reclaiming their rights as Malaysian citizens. Like older Malaysians, as well as their youthful counterparts in other Southeast Asian countries, Malaysian students are fed up with the way their leaders have abused their power and promoted cronyism and nepotism. Indeed, like youths throughout the world, Malaysian students too are driven by idealism and are striving to build better governments and civil societies. This flame of enthusiasm should be encouraged, especially since it is non-violent. It should not be snuffed out.