'Booing' of the UM VC

Thanks to Johnleemk for his comments on the First Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit 2007. Part of his comment was the following: "Today was more interesting - I think it's quite difficult to have confidence in Rafiah Salim and Mustapha Mohamad (especially the former) after how they performed today. Both gave ridiculous answers to questions on academic freedom at home and abroad; Rafiah made this ridiculous proposal that we send boys to "paramilitary" (her words) boarding schools. For a moment we thought she was joking." Perhaps, it was in this context that the NST reported that she was booed at this summit.

The NST reported that:

Boos and catcalls greeted Datuk Rafiah Salim when she said public university students had the freedom to express their thoughts and ideas.

Several hundred dissenting voices rang out when the Universiti Malaya vice-chancellor, when taking a question from the floor, said there was "no such thing as students being unable to address their concerns".

Hearing their disapproval, Rafiah retorted: "Behaviour like this is exactly what causes people not to respect you. You won’t even give me a hearing. And you won’t get respect.

"If you behave like that, nobody will listen to you because it is not worth listening. You are not respecting others."

I was a little surprised that the NST reported that the UM VC was booed. Usually, something like that would be conveniently 'left out' in favor of more positive news, perhaps focusing on the Minister in attendance, in this case, Tok Pa, the Minister for Higher Education.

I was even more pleasantly surprised that 'several hundred dissenting voices rang out' when the UM VC said that 'public university students had the freedom to express their thoughts and ideas'. While UKEC organized forums in the UK might attract crowds which can be boisterous and opinionated, I would have thought that the fact that this summit was held in Malaysia would have held many 'tongues' in check. Thus, the fact that those in attendance (including JohnLeeMK) would be brave enough to offer their dissent in a vocal fashion is something refreshing.

I would certainly laugh at the notion that there is freedom of expression among students in public universities in Malaysia. The UUCA puts many restrictions on student activities and organizations (including the ability to join political parties and volunteer for political activities) and student elections are notoriously 'rigged' and 'controlled' by the university authorities.

The UM VC should have realized that when she says ludicrous things in front of a crowd that is intelligent and is not afraid to show their contempt for such ludicrous statements, 'booing' is the first thing that she should expect. But I'm sure that she didn't see that coming, probably anticipating a far more docile crowd, perhaps similar to the crowd that she is used to in UM.

Sometimes I wonder if people like the UM VC really believe that there is freedom of expression in public universities in Malaysia or that they say this because they have to or perhaps they have said this so often that they start to believe this fiction.