Abdul Rashid Mohamad Said
England
3:13pm Wed Jan 29th, 2003

I must say that I am baffled by what is happening in Malaysia, and by what the government is doing to its citizens.

I am a university lecturer, pursuing my PhD in south England. I share the concern of Terompah Besi (Diberi amaran kerana hadiri program pembangkang)

From the way the letter is written, I assume it must have come from an undergraduate student. I know that Mara is quietly taking action against those whose o­nly 'fault' is to attend talks organised by PAS.

Terompah Besi is not alone facing this difficulty. I have been threatened by my university with disciplinary action, even to the extent of possible sacking, simply because I hosted an opposition member of parliament at my home. It looks like my employer doesn’t care that my guest and I have been friends for ages.

And I must say that I am deeply ashamed that an institution of higher learning is being raped by uneducated politicians. Even more regretful is the fact that Malaysian universities are allowing themselves to be raped.

Coming back to my being baffled. It is indeed very confusing as to what the government wants to achieve by all these abusive scare-mongering tactics. By forcing my employer to threaten me with disciplinary actions, it has convinced me that it is abusing its position.

By putting pressure other younger students, it is proving to them that Umno is weak to the extent that even youths’ attendance at talks is becoming a source of worry.

By using the police to raid malaysiakini, Umno Youth is proving to the whole world that Barisan Nasional and Umno are weak. In short, everything they do nowadays is further evidence that they must be removed from the government.

Umno and BN must realise that Malaysians, young o­nes included, are becoming more mature politically. We can think and make up our own mind. The more Umno and BN put pressure o­n us, the more convinced we are that we are o­n the right track.

I have now cancelled my Umno membership. I applied to become a member of PAS just a week after receiving the warning letter from my university. Basically, Umno, through my university, has made me realise that I can no longer support an abusive and shameful leadership.

Such actions are a turn-off to ordinary people like myself. We all value our freedom and the powers-that-be should build their political strength in a gentlemanly manner. All cowardly actions and abuse should stop.