Former Persatuan Mahasiswa Universiti Malaya (PMUM) president Fahmi Zainol has told the National Professors Council (MPN) to advise the UM management instead of criticising students.
He also questioned the standing of MPN, which has been seen as a “tool for Umno and BN”.
“Everybody knows that MPN is only a tool for Umno and BN. They have become so bad that people are calling them ‘Professor Kangkung’,” Fahmi told Malaysiakini yesterday.
He said the ‘Occupy UM’ protest was done to voice the discontent of the students towards the punishment meted out by the university management on eight of the UM students.
“The allegation made by MPN is very shallow.‘Occupy UM’ was not done to duplicate the actions and attitude of the opposition.
“If there is something that is not right, it (UM management) has to be questioned. That is what was done by the students in ‘Occupy UM’,” Fahmi said.
He also said MPN members should look to improve themselves before coming out with statements that do not represent them as professors.
Fahmi added that the student activists had no choice but to go ahead with the protest as the management did not want to listen to them.
“The (management) body holds on to crazy principles and is not willing to listen and accept advice or criticisms to improve themselves. We have no other option but to go ahead with ‘Occupy UM’ to make ourselves be heard.
“It must be remembered that an academic institution must have a balanced system,” Fahmi added.
Last Sunday, National Professors' Council head of the political cluster and Universiti Utara Malaysia vice-chancellor Mustafa Ishak (right) said in a statement that the act of students protesting was derived from the actions of the opposition parties in Malaysia.
The ‘Occupy UM’ protest gathered support from prominent opposition politicians, including like DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli and PAS central committee member Khalid Samad, who visited the students as a sign of solidarity.
Eight UM students, popularly known as the UM8, had to face a disciplinary hearing for their part in opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s talk in the campus on Oct 27, which was barred by UM.
The university management had locked the gates, prompting 2,000 students and supporters to storm into the campus.
Two students, including Zainol, were suspended for two semesters, four were fined and one issued a warning. One was found not guilty.
Since the announcement of the punishments, students have been camping out at the university to protest the decision, in what is coined as ‘Occupy UM’. - Mkini
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