As a Malaysian living in the UK for nearly 10 years, I was extremely happy to hear that a group of eight societies representing Malaysian students in the United Kingdom was organising a Wacana Kemerdekaan.

According to the leaflets distributed, they had managed to secure Professor Nik Anuar Nik Mahmud, the history department head of Pusat Sejarah, Politik dan Strategi, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, for the Wacana on Sept 7.

To me, he is the perfect person to give an authoritative account of the fight for independence as he is a very well known academician both nationally and internationally. I was attracted to the chosen topic, Sejarah Perjuangan Kemerdekaan.

So there I was in Birmingham, after travelling more than 480km just to listen to this great Wacana. I arrived at around 1.30pm as the programme was scheduled to start around 2pm. Once in the hall, I was totally convinced that it would be an excellent event. There were around 100 people from Dundee, Cardiff and Loughborough, among other places, with some having arrived very early.

How naive I was to assume that the authorities in Malaysia would allow this noble event to proceed. I should have known better. The Malaysian Students Department's (MSD) new director in London was desperate to show his authority. The people back home were unhappy that a group of students had organised a major event without 'consulting' them.

And guess what ... Professor Nik Anuar, I was told, had received three written warning from his superiors, and a verbal warning from the MSD director to not attend this programme. According to reliable sources, Special Branch officers had been sent to ensure that Prof Nik Anuar did not present his thoughts.

I cannot see the rationale behind this idiotic action. The students were merely trying to learn something about the history of our own country. And they had worked hard to organise the event. If you combined the amount of money used to rent the hall, to travel to the Birmingham, and to provide food for the participants, then it would surely have been the equivalent of thousands of ringgit. I myself had to pay around RM500 just for transportation.

Why did the MSD and authorities in Malaysia have to do this? What were they so scared of? I thought the MSD was supposed to be student-friendly. Why try so hard to waste students' money and time? Can someone try to answer me? For my own safety, my friend is advising me to not disclose my actual name. How pathetic has our country become when one cannot attend a programme to learn about its history, and we cannot disclose our identity for fear of repercussion.