KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Close to 7,000 people have backed a Facebook campaign supporting student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim, who came under fire for the infamous “flag incident” last Saturday.
During Saturday’s march for academic freedom, Adam had lowered and then raised a flag with a picture of Datuk Seri Najib Razak in front of the Umno headquarters here, immediately drawing criticism from the public and several government officials.
As at 11.06 last night, “We Are All Adam Adli” had garnered 4,894 “likes”, with the number increasing as netizens now appear to be “sharing” the page on their respective walls. It was 7,031 at 9.13am today.
“Support Adam and all undergraduates who are brave enough to speak out!” said user Shahrul Effandi.
“Finally undergraduates are no longer being controlled and fed by Umno/BN. Back then, undergraduates were a minority in voicing out public interest opinions, NOW... the world has changed. See the gangster ways used by Umno to threaten the students. Don’t you dare touch Adam Adli!” user Selva Vathany Pillai commented.
Yesterday, Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin said the government remains committed to amend the UUCA to provide for greater academic freedom despite the incident.
The Umno deputy minister is among several from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) who have backed a proposal to amend the university law for greater academic freedom.
On Saturday, the student activists representing Solidariti Anak Malaysia had demonstrated outside the Umno building before Saifuddin agreed to meet them and accept a six-point demand from the group staged a sit-down protest a few roads away.
He said he believed in “undergraduate idealism” and supported their right to freedom of expression in a democracy, adding that “the flag-lowering incident is not a part of the democracy that is meant”.
Saifuddin, who chaired a roundtable on the proposal for the law, said talks were going well and would be continued to seek wider and more open views.
“It strengthens the commitment to uphold true democracy that is desired by amending the UUCA,” he said in a statement.
He said the committee to amend the UUCA would begin work shortly and expects the government would be ready to present the revised law in Parliament next year.
Malaysia first or Islam first?
ReplyDeleteRecently the Malaysian King, the Agung, emphasized on the special position of Islam in Malaysia. That’s not the point. The point is, which comes first, Malaysia or Islam? Rightly, Malaysia comes first and foremost. Always, Malaysia comes first. Is the Agung aware of this? If they choose Islam first, then…………..
If they choose Islam first, then it is time for all non-Muslim Malaysians to give strong moral support to the Philippine’s claim to Sabah. Philippines is a non-Muslim nation; and therefore all non-Muslim Malaysians should give moral support to the Philippine claim to Sabah.
Malaysia first or Islam first?
The Islamic scriptures allows for slavery. Islam is not egalitarian.
In addition, we need to know more about the Malay Regiment. Again, Malaysia first or Islam first?Does the Malay Regiment put Islam first or Malaysia first? The Malay Regiment has to choose between Malaysia first or Islam first because they cannot have both. The Islamic scriptures allows for slavery. All Malaysian citizens have to put Malaysia first.
At the global level, both Mandarin language and English will compete for influence. It is often a numbers game; and believe me that China with more than a billion people has an advantage in any numbers game. May be Chinese English will eventually be tolerated world-wide. (I define Chinese English as L1 interference English). Since China has a growing economy and more than 1 billion people, it would eventually be hard to avoid L1 interference English; and we also have to tolerate code-switching by bi-lingual and tri-lingual speakers. The Chinese Malaysians should make sure that Mandarin medium schools grow in Malaysia.
By the way, the indigenous people of Malaya are the Orang Asli, not Malays. The Orang Asli are not even mentioned in the Constitution. Furthermore, another person who should hold his tongue and stop making comments is Dr.Chandra Muzzafar. Dr.Chandra Muzzafar has no influence among Malaysian Indians. If Dr.Chandra Muzzafar does make any comments, please ignore it.
The bottom line is that, no matter who says what, the future is that with every passing day both China and India are growing socially, politically, and economically. I don't care who says what; and I don't care who does what. Nothing can change the fact that with every passing day both China and India are strengthening socially, politically, and economically. That's it. The bottom line is the bottom line.