Our oppressive university system should not be an excuse for academicians to self-censor themselves, said University Malaya Law Faculty associate professor Azmi Sharom.

"We have to brave enough look at ourselves. We should not allow kelelakian kita dipotong oleh kita sendiri (self-castration)," he said in at a public forum on education issues yesterday.

Stressing that he was speaking at the forum on his own capacity, Azmi said no action had been taken against him thus far for speaking out on the need for university reforms.

He had recently written an open letter to newly-minted Higher Education Minister Mustapa Mohamed urging him to address problems afflicting our universities, which was published by The Star.

"I am an academic not a politician. My agenda is purely to improve our education system... Some of the things that I say might anger some people," he said.

He said the culture of fear is not unfounded among academicians and students in the restrictive campus environment caused by government policies and laws such as the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA).

"I am not ashamed to say that I'm very scare talking at a public forum like this," he said to the laughter from the floor.

The forum organised by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) also featured its advisor Anwar Ibrahim, Chinese education movement Dong Jiao Zong representative Ngeow Ngin Yee and Tamil Education Research and Development Foundation exco K Arumugam.

Azmi also ticked off university students for not capitalising on 'the little freedom' granted to them under the UUCA.

He said universities should not be a political battlefield but a place to produce good students and excellence in research which will ultimately benefit the country.

Mother-tongue education

Earlier, Ngeow and Arumugam explained respectively to the 300-odd crowd that the movement to defend mother-tongue education did not mean that they were against Bahasa Melayu as the national language.

Ngeow also said Dong Jiao Zong was not a political institution as generally perceived by non-Chinese community.

"We totally agreed that Bahasa Melayu must have a prominent status in this country," he stressed.

Meanwhile, Anwar told the forum that all national issues and policies, in particularly education policy, should be discussed in a 'Malaysian' context.

He cautioned that without a new paradigm to discuss such national issues, Malaysians will be trapped by the prejudices they have against one another.

"We have to discuss the issues as Malaysians ... Only then we can find a meeting point," he added.