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.