A Merdeka day event planned by several organisations in the UK was abruptly cancelled after Malaysian authorities warned the main speaker, a Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) history professor, against participating.

The Wacana Kemerdekaan in Birmingham, England, originally planned for Sept 7, was to feature a talk on the history of Malaysia's struggle for independence by Professor Nik Anuar Nik Mahmud, head of history, politics and strategic studies centre, UKM,.

However, the event could not proceed after the Malaysian Student Department (MSD) in London and UKM authorities warned Nik Anuar not to deliver his talk at the event.

"The MSD said that I should not speak for security reasons. It was the same with UKM. I was just following orders," Nik Anuar said when contacted.

He added that the authorities did not elaborate on what the "security reasons" might have been, but speculated that it could have been related to the then impending anniversary of the Sept 11 terror attacks in US.

Although the event was jointly hosted by several groups, including Parti Keadilan Malaysia, the United Kingdom Executive Council (a student umbrella body) and the Malaysian Community Old Trafford, it was initiated and planned by an Islamic student movement called Al-Hizbul Islami United Kingdom and Eire (Hizbi), founded by PAS spiritual adviser and Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz in 1991.

A Hizbi spokesperson admitted that he was mystified over the MSD's reaction to the event .

"We still don't understand why this event has created any problem at all because it didn't involve any politicians or people who have spoken against the government."

On working visit

According to the spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous, the Wacana was only planned because he coincidentally heard from friends at UKM that Nik Anuar would be in the United Kingdom on a working visit.

"It was a good opportunity to organise something because he is a historian who has published a few things about Hari Kemerdekaan," he said.

He added that the MSD had been fully informed and that they "did not voice any concerns or disagreements" about the event. In fact, they had invited the MSD director to open it.

According to the spokesperson, when the MSD director was contacted, his secretary informed them that he could not confirm his attendance.

On Friday, Sept 6, the day before the event, the organisers said they received word form Nik Anuar in London that he would probably be unable to attend because he had received written warnings from his superiors.

Hizbi then tried contacting Nik Anuar on Saturday but could only speak to his colleague, who confirmed that the professor would not be at the event.

As a result, the event had to be cancelled at the last minute, despite the fact that some 130 people had travelled from as far away as Exeter and Scotland on their own expense to hear Nik Anuar speak.

When the Hizbi spokesperson contacted the MSD for an explanation, he claimed that the line was cut once he introduced himself.

He also claimed that his sources at the MSD had informed him that Special Branch officers were "definitely arranged" to "report back" on the event.

The spokesman expressed his frustration over the fact that the MSD had made such a late intervention in the event, which did not require a paid admission and was funded by donations of about 500 or RM2,951.

"The MSD knows all our contact details. The invitations went out with our phone numbers and e-mail addresses, but nothing was mentioned beforehand. Why bar the speaker instead of informing us?" he said.

When asked if the Wacana Kemerdekaan was aimed at promoting the Hizbi cause of "education on Islamic politics ideology", the spokesperson said that the event was "not for our own benefit but for the benefit of everyone in the UK."

PAS not involved

The spokesperson also claimed that PAS was "not involved in this" when asked to clarify PAS' role in the organisation of the event.

Nik Anuar, who was not paid to speak at the event, said that he had agreed "in academic spirit" but added that he didn't know Hizbi was the organiser when he accepted their invitation to speak.

However, he said that he didn't think politics was involved since it was an academic event and that he had planned to talk about history of Merdeka in order to encourage Malaysian students abroad to know more and imbue them with the patriotic spirit.

He also expressed his confusion over the last-minute warnings from the authorities, as he had never been barred from speaking before.

"Why it was cancelled, I don't know. The authorities can check my track record if they wish," he said.

He added that he had not received written warnings from his superiors, despite the Hizbi spokesman's claim to the contrary.

Nik Anuar dismissed the claims that Special Branch officers had been sent to Birmingham to report on the event as a rumour, but admitted that the students were "very disappointed" that it had to be cancelled.

Neither Nik Anuar nor Hizbi have spoken further with the MSD or UKM authorities regarding the aborted event.