University student probed for protest while paedophile gets second chance.
By Zan Azlee

Scenario 1:

Nur Fitri Azmeer Nordin, a 23-year-old Malaysian MARA scholarship student who was studying in Imperial College, United Kingdom, was caught with more than 30,000 photographs and videos of child pornography.

He was then sentenced to 5 years in prison. Aside from the possession of these materials, the British authorities also said he had intent to distribute it.

After serving a reduced sentence from 18 months to nine in a British prison, Nur Fitri was extradited back to Malaysia.

Now, it is reported that he is studying for his PhD in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. What did the authorities and government say?

That he deserves a second chance because he is smart, will have a bright future plus he served his sentence and should be allowed to study.

Scenario 2:

Wong Yan Ke, a 23-year-old Malaysian student who studied civil engineering at University Malaya, had held up a yellow sign during his convocation that stated ‘Tolak Rasis’ and ‘Undur VC’ (Reject racism and VC withdraw your statements).

This was in valid protest against UM Vice-Chancelor Datuk Abdul Rahim Hashim (and the univeristy) for failing to promote racial tolerance and unity by being a part the Malay Dignity Congress.

The university made a police report to investigate Wong Kan Ye for tarnishing the university’s image and disrupting convocation protocols.

He was interrogated by the police for one hour and now, the university has not presented Wong with his graduation scroll.

The university proceeded to also bar another student, Edan Kon, from his convocation the next day.

Who actually has a brighter future and should be given a second chance?

A convicted paedophile sex offender or a university graduate who has not even committed a crime?

What’s the deal here Malaysia? It seems that the priorities we have are a little bit skewed and perverted.

We are okay for a sex offender to repent after being convicted with a serious crime (the government does not even have him registered as a sex offender), but we are not okay for a university student to practice his freedom of speech by protesting non-violently against racism.

And we’re supposed to be a country of democracy.

Our Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, when asked to comment about Wong’s protest stated that the UM convocation was the wrong place for him to protest because it could have led to chaos.

This is very disappointing because, as far as I can recall, Dr. Mahathir (above) was part of a much bigger protest a few years back that really disrupted and caused ‘chaos’ on a weekend (it was Bersih, in case you don’t remember).

Of all people, the Prime Minister should know that protests and demonstrations are suppossed to be disruptive and cause chaos.

The objective for that is so that people will pay attention and take heed when all other methods fail.

Would the matter regarding racism receive as much attention if Wong had not chosen to do what he did? Of course not.

Education Minister Maszlee Malik needs to say something about this too.

I know his ideals and he has always been an encouraging party when it comes to the youth and students being the voice of dissent.

He allowed student protestors to demonstrate in front of his ministry’s lobby a few months back. He has also met with student protestors for dialogues before.

Today, we have a government that that consists of so many people who were the voice of dissent.

I have seen with my own eyes (and documented by my camera) of current Cabinet members who use to yell into loud hailers calling for disruptive protests and demonstrations.

They have also been sprayed with water jets, shot at with tear gas and, of course, arrested.

So they cannot say to the public now that protests and demonstrations can only happen at the right time and at the right place.

That would be very hypocritical of them to do so. Weigh in the severity of what Wong did.

Nothing detrimental (much less violent) came out of what he did that affected the public in any negative way.

The only thing that did come out of it was that the vice-chancelor and the university were butt-hurt and had their feelings (ie: ego) damaged with what he did.

But anyway, it’s like what Malaysians like to say, “Siapa makan cili, dia yang rasa pedas!”.

Am I right, or am I right?

[This article was originally written for and published at Malaysiakini.com]

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