The UM protest: Hypocrisy in the right to freedom of expression and speech ― Hafidz Baharom
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Hafidz Baharom |
OCTOBER 18 ― If you still haven’t heard, a Universiti Malaya student decided to take a stand against what he perceives is the racist antics of his Vice Chancellor.
As usual, the Malaysian population is again divided into camps ― those who agree with his actions, and the dithering mass of humanity that believes such freedoms should only be applicable when convenient to themselves.
The most astounding hypocritical argument is that it was a ceremony with others involved and it ruined the mood. Why? Did he interfere with the photo sessions for your own sons and daughters?
Can you imagine if a tourist said this after saving up for a holiday and ending up in the Bersih protests?
How dare you protest and ruin their long-awaited vacation in Kuala Lumpur with your antics! Sounds ridiculous, right?
Same goes for the people arguing ceremony over the rights of speech and expression. It is a horrible argument. Should people then not protest dignitaries from foreign countries coming for an international conference like the G8, Opec, Apec and such?
Because if so, even Khairy Jamaluddin has something to answer for over his casted arm protest of yesteryears against Condoleezza Rice.
And more importantly, nobody was harmed physically, nobody was slightly inconvenienced other than the damage control department of UM, and everyone continued on with their convocation ceremony.
Heck, he wasn’t even spreading fake news with his allegations on why the VC had to resign. And this is something the university and their Vice Chancellor has to answer for – why in God’s name would you let him attend a racist propaganda event when he represents a university with a diverse student population.
Oddly enough, the damage control department of UM did not seem to have a spin on that issue.
So why are Malaysians divided?
I have no idea ― to me the whole thing is a non-issue. It seems very hypocritical to somehow advocate freedom of speech and expression as sacrosanct, and then turn around and say you can’t do it if you’re a student.
So yes, I will back the student’s actions and words, perhaps having an unpopular opinion among those in his varsity and such ― because you have every right to voice it out even if people brand you a moron, an idiot, an “otak rosak” fellow.
Because there will always be ramifications on what you say, even if it is among your closest and dearest.
However, I believe the student will be vindicated by his stance with the passage of time, if only because universities and its leadership should be more independent and stop attending and bowing down to government pressure when it comes to divisive agendas.
Vice Chancellors need to understand that when they attend events, they don’t just represent themselves or the people who agree with them, but also those who will be against such stances.
As usual, the Malaysian population is again divided into camps ― those who agree with his actions, and the dithering mass of humanity that believes such freedoms should only be applicable when convenient to themselves.
The most astounding hypocritical argument is that it was a ceremony with others involved and it ruined the mood. Why? Did he interfere with the photo sessions for your own sons and daughters?
Can you imagine if a tourist said this after saving up for a holiday and ending up in the Bersih protests?
How dare you protest and ruin their long-awaited vacation in Kuala Lumpur with your antics! Sounds ridiculous, right?
Same goes for the people arguing ceremony over the rights of speech and expression. It is a horrible argument. Should people then not protest dignitaries from foreign countries coming for an international conference like the G8, Opec, Apec and such?
Because if so, even Khairy Jamaluddin has something to answer for over his casted arm protest of yesteryears against Condoleezza Rice.
The youths have every right to protest wherever they wish to, regardless of the forum. There is no sacrosanct authority over what platform and event one can or cannot express themselves. Those barriers are subjective and set in individual brains, not collective thought.
And more importantly, nobody was harmed physically, nobody was slightly inconvenienced other than the damage control department of UM, and everyone continued on with their convocation ceremony.
Heck, he wasn’t even spreading fake news with his allegations on why the VC had to resign. And this is something the university and their Vice Chancellor has to answer for – why in God’s name would you let him attend a racist propaganda event when he represents a university with a diverse student population.
Oddly enough, the damage control department of UM did not seem to have a spin on that issue.
So why are Malaysians divided?
I have no idea ― to me the whole thing is a non-issue. It seems very hypocritical to somehow advocate freedom of speech and expression as sacrosanct, and then turn around and say you can’t do it if you’re a student.
So yes, I will back the student’s actions and words, perhaps having an unpopular opinion among those in his varsity and such ― because you have every right to voice it out even if people brand you a moron, an idiot, an “otak rosak” fellow.
Because there will always be ramifications on what you say, even if it is among your closest and dearest.
However, I believe the student will be vindicated by his stance with the passage of time, if only because universities and its leadership should be more independent and stop attending and bowing down to government pressure when it comes to divisive agendas.
Vice Chancellors need to understand that when they attend events, they don’t just represent themselves or the people who agree with them, but also those who will be against such stances.
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malulah - dignity pun ta'adabuat laporan polis karena takut tuduhan siswa |
And there should be a platform for them to voice out their disagreements and an avenue to speak – the fact that there was no such platform then and even now in universities is the reason why they took it to the convocation.
Students should not be herded like sheep. People shouldn’t be herded like sheep. To insist on authoritarian style decorum to please your ego and make things look pleasant to outsiders should really stop in this day and age.
Unfortunately, it seems many out there believe in toeing lines and being hypocritical rather than accept such freedoms apply to all sides.
Students should not be herded like sheep. People shouldn’t be herded like sheep. To insist on authoritarian style decorum to please your ego and make things look pleasant to outsiders should really stop in this day and age.
Unfortunately, it seems many out there believe in toeing lines and being hypocritical rather than accept such freedoms apply to all sides.
Just two months ago Toonsie also used Free Speech at the United Nations General Assembly, speaking up in front of the world audience....so the graduate Wong was just following Toonsie's example to speak up for what is right in front of as big an audience as possible....
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Israel is the origin of modern terrorism, Dr M says
Saturday, 28 Sep 2019 08:30 AM MYT
BY JOSEPH RAJ
NEW YORK, Sept 28 — The creation of Israel by seizing Palestinian land and expelling its 90 per cent Arab population is the root cause of terrorism, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.
“Since then, wars have been fought in many countries, many related to the creation of Israel. And now we have terrorism when there was none before, or at least none on the present scale.
“Military action against acts of terrorism will not succeed. We need to identify the cause and remove it. But the great powers refuse to deal with the root cause,” he said in his statement at the General Debate of the 74th UN General Assembly here.
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Anti-Semitic Malaysian PM insists Jews are ‘hook-nosed’ to BBC
Mahathir Mohamad also claims only 4 million Jews killed in Holocaust, blames Israel for region’s woes in interview set to air Tuesday
By MICHAEL BACHNER and TOI STAFF
2 October 2018
Malaysia’s avowedly anti-Semitic prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has repeated his claim from the 1970s that Jews are “hook-nosed” and claimed that the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust wasn’t six million.
“They are hook-nosed,” he insisted in a BBC interview during a visit to the United Kingdom, after host Zeinab Badawi asked him why he used such language, according to Reuters.
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Just last month Toonsie was allowed to exercise his right to Free Speech at the bastion of Jewish Studies Columbia University, NYC. There in front of many anti-Semitic protesters he was allowed to make his racist remarks.
ReplyDeleteSo why can't our graduate Mr Wong exercise his right to Free Speech at the bastion of education University Malaya?
Step down ol'man, your time is up.
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In speech at Columbia, Mahathir cites free speech for anti-Semitic remarks
Koh Jun Lin
Published: 25 Sep 2019
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has defended his remarks that have been deemed anti-Semitic, claiming that he was exercising his right to free speech.
He said this during his talk at the World Leaders Forum at Columbia University in New York today, after a member of the audience confronted him about his remarks.
“I am exercising my right to free speech. Why is it that I can’t say something against the Jews when a lot of people say nasty things about me and about Malaysia and I didn’t protest? I didn’t demonstrate.
“We have to be willing to listen to views which are not in our favour because of free speech. Free speech is about free speech.
“When you say, ‘No, you cannot say this. You cannot be anti-Semitic’ then there is no more free speech,” Mahathir said in response.
The talk was broadcasted live over the Internet through various channels, including via one of RTM’s Facebook pages.
The audience member, who introduced herself as a member of the "Students Supporting Israel" movement at Columbia University, took Mahathir to task for supposedly questioning, during a BBC interview, the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust
“Columbia University is a world centre for Jewish studies. When you come to a place like Columbia, this kind of remark either makes you racially provocative or astonishingly ignorant. Please address and clarify your standing on the Holocaust,” she said.
Mahathir claimed he was not disputing the number of people who died but was noting that different sources had given different estimates on the death toll depending on whether they are “in favour” or “against”.
“So I accept that there was a Holocaust and there were many Jews killed. In fact, at one time, I was very sympathetic towards them […] during the war, when you were not around but I was around,” he said.
The audience member shot back that her grandmother was alive during the Holocaust to which Mahathir thanked her and ended the exchange.
Mahathir’s presence at the university has sparked controversy due to his anti-Semitic remarks although the university defended its decision to invite Mahathir to speak while noting that Mahathir's anti-Semitic views deserve condemnation.
In introducing Mahathir at the beginning of today’s talk, a university representative took stock of Mahathir and Malaysia’s anti-Semitic remarks and actions.
Vishankha Desai, who is senior global affairs advisor to the university’s president Lee Bollinger, noted that Mahathir had made offensive remarks during a tour of British universities earlier this year and Malaysia itself had banned Israeli swimmers from participating in an international meet that was being held in Kuching.
“Clearly, such attitudes are absolutely contrary to what we stand for.
“In a letter to several student groups which had expressed their concerns about Mahathir’s visit to Columbia, Bollinger offered this useful perspective: ‘Open public engagement can sometimes be difficult, even painful.
'But to abandon this activity would be to limit severely our capacity to understand and confront the world as it is, which is a central and utterly serious mission for any academic institution,’” she said.
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Partial recovery from otakrosak syndrome?
ReplyDeleteToonsie can exercise his right to free speech at Oxford University, so graduate Wong can do the same at UM.
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Jewish students protest ‘unrepentant’ Dr M’s Oxford Union address
Friday, 18 Jan 2019
By Danial Dzulkifly
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Despite being the first Malaysian to address the prestigious Oxford Union, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has drawn the ire of Jewish students at Oxford University.
In a statement yesterday, the Oxford Jewish Society expressed its concerns over Dr Mahathir’s speech, citing his previous anti-Semitic remarks.
“Prime Minister [Mahathir] is an open and unrepentant anti-Semite, accusing Jews of ‘Nazi cruelty’ and seeking to wipe out all Muslims, has said ‘anti-Semitic’ is ‘an invented term to prevent criticising Jews for doing wrong’, as well as indulging in Holocaust denial.
“Given an opportunity to reframe his comments on a recent edition of BBC’s Hardtalk, he instead chose to refer to Jews as ‘hook-nosed’,” its president Nicole Jacobus said.
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All the other examples of protests , including Bersih were in public places, where people have a right to protest peacefully.
ReplyDeleteA university Conferring of Degrees ceremony is a private event. Members of the public attend only with tickets.
They this stunt in a "liberal" Australian university, and you WILL also get escorted by security out of the campus.
All kinds of twisted farts from morons of the 3rd level mentality!
DeleteThe protestor is attending the convo as a recipient of a degree he dutifully earned. Mind u, not through our markah buta!
As a member of the combo, he has EVERY RIGHT to express his opinion out right, even though the feudalistic tongkat addicts die2 won't understand.
Thus, all the excuses of private function lah, solemn & august ceremony lah, no place for politics lah… yadda yadda…
Hence the existence of that shameless himpunan maruah of the lowest order!