The organisers of an aborted Merdeka Day talk originally slated for Sept 7 in Birmingham have claimed to be innocent of the charge that they had used another organisation's name as a draw to their event.

The event organiser Al-Hizbul Islami UK and Eire (Hizbi) told malaysiakini that they had received a statement from the chairperson of the United Kingdom Executive Council (Ukec), the organisation that said Hizbi had misrepresented it, that cleared them of any wrongdoing.

"The chairman of Ukec apologised for making a misguiding [sic] statement regarding Ukec's involvement.

"Ukec [was] fully aware [of the billing] and agreed to be a co-organiser of the event and exonerates Hizbi from any accusation of manipulating any names," read an e-mail to malaysiakini from Hizbi today.

However, malaysiakini has yet to receive confirmation from Ukec.

Claims refuted

An official at the Malaysian Student's Department (MSD) in London had earlier accused Hizbi, an Islamic student group, of using Ukec, an umbrella body representing Malaysian student associations there, to "strengthen the name" of the event.

Ukec chairperson Megat Iskandar then confirmed the allegations, saying that his organisation was "misrepresented" by being billed as co-organisers on advertisement posters.

The latest Hizbi statement refuted those claims, judging the MSD official "wrong and mistaken" because Hizbi events regularly attract twice the crowd, ruling out the need to use other organisations as an attraction.

Hizbi also defended its reason for holding the event.

"The intention is solely to show that our National Day celebration belongs to everyone, and that the celebration of such an important day does not 'belong' to any one group only," the statement read.

Hizbi founded by Kelantan Menteri Besar and PAS spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz in 1991 also reacted to the MSD director Kamarudin Mohd Nor's declaration yesterday that he is a "loyal Umno supporter for ever and ever", labelling it an "outburst of arrogance".

"His statements, especially his open declaration that he is a loyal supporter of Umno, shows that it was a mistake to appoint him as director of the MSD who should be working for the benefits of all students, not just the cronies of Umno," it read.

Contradiction

It also pointed out that Kamarudin had contradicted himself by claiming to be too busy to intimidate students yet simultaneously threatening to harshly punish those who opposed the present government's policies.

"Perhaps these contradictory words are enough to show how unfortunate Malaysian students in the UK are to have an MSD director with such a mentality," it read.

The statement also revealed Hizbi's fears of the MSD becoming overly influenced by Umno rather than acting responsibly as "an agency of the Malaysian government".

The event, dubbed Wacana Kemerdekaan (Merdeka dialogue), created controversy after the MSD advised the main speaker, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia history professor Dr Nik Anuar Nik Mahmud, not to speak for "security reasons", which led to the cancellation of the entire affair at the last minute.

A former student leader has since accused the MSD of being partisan towards students and organisations that are affiliated to Barisan Nasional while trying to suppress and intimidate those who are involved in opposition-related groups.