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Police aid undergrads in street protest against university law

Monday, 19 December 2011 09:03am

©The Malaysian Insider (Used by permission)
by Debra Chong

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — City police today appeared to pull out all the stops to aid a student movement lobby for academic freedom, a far cry from a week ago where they arrested 15 undergraduates for demanding the same.

Two police patrol cars blocked off traffic on Jalan Chow Kit, one of the city’s busiest roads, as a 100-strong group organised by Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM) took to the streets to lobby the repeal of the University and University Colleges Act (UUCA), which the undergraduates say denies their academic freedom.

Several more uniformed police on motorcycles accompanied the group and helped direct traffic as they made their way this afternoon from the Masjid Jamek LRT station to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) office in Jalan Sultan Ismail where they handed over a six-point demand to Commissioner Md Sha’ani Abdullah.

Yelling for the law to be repealed and carrying banners that read: “‘We unite for academic freedom”‘ and “Mahasiswa bukan robot” (“Undergraduates are not robots”) the student activists staged a noisy sit-down protest in the middle the dual-carriage thoroughfare for about 40 minutes before moving on to Menara Datuk Onn, which houses the ruling Barisan Nasional government’s lynchpin party Umno.

Unlike the 30-strong gathering at KL Sentral on December 14, the police made no move to detain the student activists.

Passing motorists caught in the downtown snarl threw them dirty looks and scowls.

“Oi! Tepi, tepi. Orang nak pii kerjalah! Aku pun bayar cukai.” (“Oi! Move to the side. People want to go to work! I pay taxes too.”) a motorcyclist shouted angrily at the multi-ethic crowd of youngsters blocking traffic.

Another observer on the sidewalk ticked out the group for interrupting businesses in the area.

The Malaysian Insider understands the assembly was allowed because it did not involved partisan politics.

But Dangi Wangi district police officer in charge of public order, ASP W. Karthik, who was on the scene declined to confirm if the authorities had issued a permit for the public assembly.

He referred all questions to the district officer in charge, ACP Zulkarain Abdul Rahman.

The Dang Wangi OCPD could not be reached for comment.

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