Chua: Stop treating students activists as criminals

KUALA LUMPUR -The raid on the student activists at the Freedom Square on last Sunday, by the relevant authorities, has made a mockery of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's much-publicised so-called reforms towards creating a better democracy in Malaysia, said MP for Tawau, Datuk Chua Soon Bui.

"So much so that the Parliament had to sit until 3:45am recently to bulldoze through all the bills for show of government's determination for judicial reforms, before the impending election," she lashed out.

To express her disapproval of Najib's antics of "preaching one thing and doing another", she quoted the famous quote of the 16th President of the United States of Merica, Abraham Lincoln: "If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

Chua who again visited the student activists on Sunday after she learnt about the raid, asserted that the raid by the relevant authorities like the DBKL enforcement officers and the police, was excessive and a travesty of the citizens' Constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

"These student activists are only exercising their democratic rights to lobby for free tertiary education in the country, not just for themselves but also for the future generation of Malaysians," she said.

She further noted that the student activists' non-resistance of the raid clearly demonstrated that they are responsible-and-well-disciplined lot.

She thus regretted that this was the second time the student activists were harassed and intimidated for their peaceful demonstration, to demand for free tertiary education in the country.

The first incident took place on Thursday morning, at around 2.30am, where the group was attacked by a mob of about 60 to 70 thugs garbed in black who demanded that they disperse and return home immediately.

"It was shameful that some government operatives have deemed appropriate to mobilize some thugs to intimidate and to instill fear on the student activists," she said.

Chua who is also a vice president of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) was especially upset to learn of the arrest of social activist, Fahmi Reza, whom she spoke to during her first visit to Freedom Square on last Saturday, a day before his arrest. Both Fahmi and student activist Umar Mohd Azmi who was also arrested by the police, were later released on police bail.

She also reminded that the Parliament has in last November passed the Peaceful Assembly Bill.

"The freedom of expression is part of a democratic process especially when it was done in accordance to the law. Therefore, stop treating the student activists like a criminal. They don't deserve to be treated this way," she stressed.

Chua thus urged the Government and the relevant authorities to immediately move to have a dialogue with the student activists to reach an amicable solution to the issue, instead of deploying some high-handed tactics to stifle and to silent the student activists' legitimate plights.