Education Minister Musa Mohamad was greeted by a group of protesters who were against the recent crackdown on students during a visit to New Zealand last weekend.

"We protested the Malaysian government's use of its Internal Security Act and the Universities and the University Colleges Act against students and their expulsion from universities for involvement in political movements," said organiser Rebecca Lineham, who is New Zealand Amnesty International spokesperson.

The protests, Lineham said, took place in front of the Malaysian High Commission in Wellington last Saturday and at the University of Auckland campus on Sunday.

"Students from various universities in New Zealand took part in the hour-long protest at each of the venues carrying placards urging more freedom of assembly and expression for Malaysian university students," Lineham told malaysiakini.

She said the protestors had wanted to raise their concern on these issues to Musa. "We want him to take this message back when he returns to Malaysia," she added.

However, said Lineham, the minister did not speak to the protestors and met only with Malaysian students.

"He drove pass by us in his car but the Malaysian students also walked pass by us as we were protesting. They were generally supportive but were somewhat cagey about us being there as well," Lineham said.

Nip in the bud

Institut Kemahiran Mara student activist Khairul Anuar Ahmad Zainuddin was arrested under the ISA in early July and this was followed a few days later by the arrest of University of Malaya student council president Mohamad Fuad Mohd Ikhwan.

The police did not specify any reasons for their arrest and both have since been released. There have also been cases of students being expelled from local varsities for involvement in anti-ISA gatherings last June.

The use of both laws have been construed as part of the government's campaign to nip in the bud student dissent culminating in the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's move late last month to introduce a meritocracy criteria for the admission of bumiputra students into local varsities.