COMMENT When
Azmi Sharom, associate professor of Law at the Universiti Malaya, was
charged under Malaysia's Sedition Act for providing a legal opinion on a
constitutional matter, it shocked the academic community.
It was particularly alarming to academics as it is now well acknowledged
that the Sedition Act is an obsolete relic of British colonial rule,
introduced to curb dissent. Even Prime Minister Najib Razak had
expressed the view, about two years ago, that this Act had to be
repealed.
Najib's government is now preparing a National Harmony Bill to replace
this Act. Azmi was, however, one of a number of people, many of them
politicians in opposition parties, to be charged under this Act in the
recent past.
The issue that Azmi (right)
had commented on was in response to the question as to how the next
Selangor menteri besar should be selected. Azmi's views were published
in the online portal of The Malay Mail.
He is quoted as saying two things in this article: "You don't want a
repeat of that, where a secret meeting took place" and "I think what
happened in Perak was legally wrong. The best thing to do (in Selangor)
is do it as legally and transparently as possible."
It was baffling that these opinions were viewed as being seditious. In
fact, the Bar Council, in its statement on Azmi's case, is quoted as
saying that his comments "cannot, by any stretch of the imagination,
constitute sedition". Azmi, in response to this charge, has argued that
his "statements were based on established case laws and democratic
principles" and that he views this charge against him as "a blow to
academic freedom and the freedom of expression".
Like the Bar Council, many have viewed this sedition charge as
perplexing. It is not when we consider that this charge has been
proffered against Azmi. His statement on the Selangor political crisis
and his response to the charge against him are a reflection of Azmi's
now long-recognised willingness to talk the talk of justice.
Through his regular - and popular - column in The Star, to
which he has been contributing over the past few years, Azmi has been
providing, fearlessly, critical feedback on major flaws in society, the
economy, academia and the legal system. The overriding impression one
gets is that this charge is a blatant attempt to curb dissent and in
Azmi's case, a punitive act to silence critics.
Browbeat academics into obedience
The irony of this charge against Azmi is that the government has been
persistently calling on academics to ensure their research is deployed
so as to have an impact on society. In fact, government funding for
research comes with the strict stipulation that the findings must
contribute to the betterment of society.
Meanwhile, in the public domain, academics have now long been subjected
to much criticism of their inadequate contribution to society as public
intellectuals. A growing lament, and one apparently indicative of
declining academic standards in Malaysian universities, is this: where
have all the public intellectuals gone? With this sedition charge
against Azmi, the government is clear on one thing: academic feedback is
warranted, but not on matters politic, specifically those that suggest
the need for reforms.
This
act against Azmi will compel academics to rethink any aspiring notions
they may have entertained to be in the forefront of intellectual
discourse about ways and means to solve the problems that ail the
Malaysian economy and society.
The challenge to academics - and the general public if they value the
need to have intellectually vibrant tertiary institutions - is to call
on the government to stop what amounts to an attempt to intimidate
academics into obedience, an act that will only serve to further
undermine the credibility of Malaysian universities.
A large number of academics, about 300 of them from across Malaysia,
have publicly stood by Azmi, a clear collective commitment of their
resistance to any attempt to stifle academic freedom and to browbeat
university faculty into silence.
There are other crucial reasons why the government should revoke this
charge against Azmi. An obvious repercussion of this act is that it will
diminish, even subvert, critical discourses in the universities which
can seriously hamper high quality scholarship. This will, in turn,
undermine meaningful tutelage which can have a significant bearing on
the quality of graduates Malaysian universities now produce, an issue
already viewed with much concern.
The government cannot call on academics to produce graduates with the
capacity to think creatively, a clear project of educational
empowerment, while stifling academic freedom.
TERENCE GOMEZ is professor of Political Economy at the Faculty of Economics; Administration, Universiti Malaya.
Malaysiakini, 7/9/2014, Silencing Azmi curbs intellectual discourse
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