Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang today blasted Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) for the one-semester penalty imposed on a student activist charged with obstructing campus officers from performing their duty.
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Lee Song Yong was sentenced to a one-semester suspension following a three-hour UPM disciplinary proceeding that started at 10am.

This would mean that Lee will miss half-year of classes.

Despite calls by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) yesterday to halt the proceeding due to allegations of human rights infringement, the proceeding went on.

The second-year student, who was denied legal representation by the campus authority, was only represented by a fellow student from the university's supreme student council.

Lim said he is outraged and disappointed by UPM's decision and accused the varsity of being "a mechanism to derive a future generation of academic mediocrity due to the suppression of freedom of opinion."

"I will not stand silent to this, I will give a notice to move a motion to cut the salary of Higher Education Minister Mustapha Mohamad" the veteran politician said in a statement.

Culture of fear

Lim also attributed UPM's plunge in the global universities rankings to incidents involving the campus' alleged persecutions of anti-establishment students which he believes "reflects a culture of fear that stifles creativity and academic excellence."

According to him, the latest world's top 200 universities ranking released by Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) a fortnight ago, UPM, which had never been listed in the top 200, still slipped 72 slots from 292 in 2006 to 364 in 2007.

"It is most disappointing that the university administrators are unable set an example in the nation to respond to calls for a "First-World mentality" so that Malaysia can march towards fully developed nation status.

"But this aspiration continues to be mired by mindsets and approaches which could only produce universities and generations of mediocrity," he added.

Lim wants the government to give parliamentary and national attention to Malaysian universities so as to avoid "little napoleon regimes victimizing free spirits like Lee Song Yong."

On Aug 22, Lee was stopped by security guards at the university's exit and his notebook was seized on grounds that he was being investigated for being a member of an illegal student organisation.

The student initially refused to cooperate because the campus officers were not in their uniforms which led to the university accusing him of obstructing its officers from executing their duty.