Scuffle, ugly and shame in UPM
Saturday, July 22nd, 2006 | 5:33 pm @ SK
Last Monday, gangsterism reared its ugly head in Univerisiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) when about 50 "pro-establishment" students took the law into their own hands and manhandled seven students who are members of the UPM student Student Progressive Front (SPF) in the campus canteen.
Click here (http://www.merdekareview.com/movie_show.php?sid=2) to view the video captured by a student and hosted on merdekareview website.
SPF’s coordinator and student Ooi Tze Min, 22, described how some 50 members of the ruling student body allegedly humiliated him and six others in one of the canteens.
"All we wanted to do was to help new students in financial difficulties, and getting the used to their new surroundings and bus routes," Ooi said.
"We did not do anything wrong, yet we were shouted at and bullied."
"The students could have acted professionally and just told us nicely that we should leave, and not turn it into an ugly situation by surrounding us, behaving like gangsters and shouting at us."
MCA Youth Chief Liow Tiong Lai took the episode seriously and has called for urgent action to be taken by Higher Education Ministry and UPM to conduct an inquiry into the incident.
Students should learn to accept differences of opinion and be participative in healthy discourses, rather than jeer and boo. It is intimidating.
With regarding to the matter, Minister of Higher Education Mustapa Mohamed said he has received two reports detailing the incident and has asked UPM vice-chancellor Nik Mustapha R. Abdullah to take action.
We have a VC who is responsible to ensure the university affairs run smoothly. So, I leave it to the university (to handle it). I view it seriously and I have asked for immediate action to be taken.
In return, the VC said he viewed the July 17 incident seriously and would ensure that its campus was safe for students.
"We have advised the students involved to be more careful about ethnic relations and to think rationally before taking any action, to ensure that harmony is maintained on campus," he said.UPM has emphasised to student leaders the importance of abiding by the university’s rules.
On top of all, there is this one public statement by UPM’s academic and international affairs deputy vice-chancellor Radin Umar Radin Soladi which is ridiculous by not taking into consideration the severity of the said incident.
"All the students should stay cool." […]
"I was made to understand that a number of boys involved had just finished a rugby game and were probably pumped up because of this."
Meanwhile, Subang Jaya police chief ACP Mohd Fuad Talib said police have received five reports from the students, but merely revealed that the incident arose as a result of a misunderstanding over an event organised by the students.
I seriously urge the UPM to look at this case as soon as possible, then take all the required action against those 50 rude students or so, lead by the student council president. As for SPF, the society should be allowed to register and allowed to organise their events within the rules and regulations.
The bottomeline is that, UPM just can’t let this go by without any stern action, otherwise it will set a precedent and it will be free for all.
Talk about World Class Universities with barbarian kind of inhabitants?
Think hard.
July 22nd, 2006 at 5:52 pm
I seriously think the PM should do something even more drastic. All these passing down the baton business by the Ministers are giving everyone the chance to climb on the head even higher. Like for e.g. the Min. of Higher Ed pass down to the VC and the VC down to another. Take a big rotan, whack the top and the one below won’t dare to slack anymore. This is my way of disciplining my kids. Hahaha, by far this is the most rational entry. Tks for the updates.
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:39 pm
What do we expect, when gangsters and hooligans were admitted into public universities through the Great Selection Process?
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:18 pm
The sad part is, if you replace "Students" with "Members of Parliament" is same is still true.
July 24th, 2006 at 11:01 am
[quote]
"The students could have acted professionally and just told us nicely that we should leave, and not turn it into an ugly situation by surrounding us, behaving like gangsters and shouting at us."
[/quote]
In another video I’ve seen called "The UPM Scuffle V2" the student council president and some other MPP members came to them and explain that they needed permission from HEP and stuff to be able to distribute material to the university student.
They talk to those dudes but were ignored though they represent the MPP. So i shall say those stmts i quote above are purely made up, Ohhh welcome to the SPINZONE!!
July 24th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
fedex dude, if what you said is true, it would be all over the newspaper, ‘they’ control the newspaper,they are the king of spin! Even if its true, that still don’t justify their stupid actions. But i doubt its true, i don’t believe that these type of creature will ‘explain’ anything to anyone.
Can i let u smell my smelly boot,shout at you like king kong, pull away your chair,push you around after i explain this to you and you disagree with me?can ah?
Where is the video hosted lah?youtube don’t have la…
July 24th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
fedex : don’t talk kok only lar. Upload the v2 video to yourtube.. If you don’t have, I TEACH YOU how to register yourtube.
July 25th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
So if new groups didn’t listen to them, they would….
Your version is probably edited one, afterall it shouldn’t come after the incident…
July 28th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
August 19th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
[…] On 22 July, gangsterism reared its ugly head in Univerisiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) when about 50 "pro-establishment" students took the law into their own hands and manhandled seven students who are members of the UPM student Student Progressive Front (SPF) in the campus canteen. […]