New Freedoms for Tertiary Students?

OR is it the government's selective double standards again?
Dear esteemed readers, you tell me.
Desi treasures this freedom of THINKING ALOUD, and not because the government gives it. I am born with this inalienable right. I don't need to seek at approved permit. Not from this blardy BN government. Not from the Opposition parties. Not even from my ER, but I seek your indulgence of lending Desi your ears.
Paraphrasing Shakespeare's in Julius Caesar:

Friends, Malaysians, countrymen
Lend me your ears
Today I come not to seek your permission to air my views
I've come to bury the Barisan Nasional's racist policies and its double standards
always on naked display...

From the Star Online:


Friday August 15, 2008 MYT 4:19:09 PM
Segamat students protest Selangor MB's proposal

By HAMDAN RAJA ABDULLAH


SEGAMAT: Another group of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students, this time in Segamat, staged a protest against a proposal for the university to open its doors to other races.

The big group of students on Friday staged a peaceful protest inside the university's compound before marching to the university's mosque for Friday prayers.

Johor Universiti Teknologi Mara student council president Mohd Izkhairi Ibrahim said the students were against any plan to open the university to other races.

He said the proposal by Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim for UiTM to accept 10% of non-bumiputra students was uncalled for and they would not accept it.

Mohd Izkhairi said there were about 20 universities in the country for the authorities to implement such a plan but not at UiTM as it would only rob the Malays of their rights.

Meanwhile, UiTM's corporate affairs coordinator Jafri Jawahir said besides staging the protest, the students also launched a signature campaign on Friday.

He said the group expected to collect more than 5,000 signatures from the students and they planned to submit the signatures to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The students together with the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students or Gabungan Pelajar-Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung will submit the protest signatures to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi soon, he added.

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And from the cpiasia.net website:

IS MALAYSIA A JURASSIC PARK?

Columnists
Written by Yong Thye Chong
Friday, 15 August 2008 07:26
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IS MALAYSIA A JURASSIC PARK?

By Yong Thye Chong aka Kim Quek


August 14, 2008

Can those people thumping their chests to condemn Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim’s suggestion to allocate 10% of student admission of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) to non-bumiputra and foreign students please answer one simple question.

Is there a single university in the world which practises 100% racial discrimination in its student enrolment?

If there is none, shouldn’t these same people start to do some reflective thinking now as to whether it is a plus or minus for Malaysia to have this unique distinction?

Should they not contemplate on whether they are proud or not so proud of this ‘achievement’?

Should they not be concerned of what the rest of the world might think of a country that is still fanatically defending its policy of total racial discrimination in its highest seat of learning when the whole world has either abandoned or criminalized racial discrimination of all kinds? Are they not worried that Malaysia may soon acquire the image of ‘Jurassic Park’ or ‘Lost World’ of this globalised age?

Yes, I use the word ‘fanatically’ because the outburst against Khalid’s suggestion was swift, vituperative, irrational, racist and spearheaded by top UMNO leaders and reverberated down to UiTM students who gathered in the thousands to protest in front of Khalid’s office. Vocal assailers include unfortunately the minister of higher education Khaled Nordin and UiTM vice-chancellor Ibrahim Abu Shah; and vitriolic criticisms include ‘selling out Malay special privileges’, ‘insult to his own race’, and ironically even ‘playing with racial sentiments’.

Surprisingly, even the Constitution was brought in to defend UiTM’s 100% racial discrimination policy, displaying wide-spread ignorance of the Constitution. Vice-chancellor Ibrahim specifically referred to Article 153 of the Constitution as legal basis for his refusal to open the door of UiTM to other races. Whereas the reverse is true –- Article 153 only empowers the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to request for the reservation of such proportion of positions as deemed reasonable for the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak in educational institutions funded by the government. Coupled with Article 8 which prohibits discrimination of any kind on the ground of race, UiTM’s 100% racial policy is clearly unconstitutional.

The fanatical zeal displayed by the ruling party (UMNO) in condemning even the tiniest opening of its mono-racial institution to others in this multi-racial nation half a century after Independence is undoubtedly a terrible indictment on the miserable failure of nation-building carried out by the only ruling coalition this nation has ever known led by UMNO.

It should be pointed out that this UiTM fiasco is the latest in a long string of world renowned scandals that have shamed this country in a short spell of time –- starting with the Lingam tape that reveals our judicial rot, the Mongolian high-level murder trial that drills on endlessly and aimlessly, the Anwar sodomy frame-up saga II which symbolises the regime’s moral bankruptcy, the violent disruption of Bar Council forum on family problems arising from conversion to Islam that displays religious intolerance. What alarms the public even more is that these scandals seem to roll in with increasing frequency and speed, destroying what little trust and confidence the people may still have with the government. Are we as a nation already in the reverse gear sliding into an abyss?

With these self-destructive maneuvers, apparently self-engineered for its own political survival, UMNO is actually stretching the political and social fabric of the nation into a danger zone. How then could Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in all honesty announce that the country “is doing quite well in terms of the economic fundamentals” when the economy is already deeply troubled with slumping demand amidst spiraling inflation in an environment of administrative incompetence, and escalating political turmoil and uncertainty?

The latest two incidents – Bar Council forum and UiTM enrolment – appear to be linked to the imminent Permatang Pauh by-election through which Anwar Ibrahim is planning to make his grand return to Parliament. It is apparent that UMNO is hell bent to exploit every bit of potential religious and racial friction and blow it up to inflame the primordial instincts of the 70% Malay electorate in the Permatang Pauh constituency. Its policy seems to be: There is no price too high for UMNO to retain power, including stoking the fire of racial hatred and religious animosity that may eventually rift the nation apart.

The nation must decide whether it can tolerate such an incumbent political power to continue to hold the reign of government. And that collective decision, if in the negative, can be put into effect (to a significant extent) by the electorate of Permatang Pauh by giving Anwar Ibrahim a resounding victory.

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The writer, Kim Quek, who is an accountant by profession, has written extensively on the socio-political issues confronting the nation. His collection of past writings and essays had been collated and published in a book entitled "Where to, Malaysia?".