Academics' Support

The academics too fully supported the students' and peasants' struggle against rural poverty. A statement issued by the Academic Staff Association of the 5 universities on Dec. 12, 1974, said in parts: "............we believe that students in institutions of higher learning were justified in highlighting the plight of power various parts of Malaysia, especially in rural areas. Students should continue to be concerned with the problems of the nation as part of their intellectual as well as their social committment. When students are aware of such a committment it becomes imperative to develop effective channels of communication so that their views could be harnessed for purposes on national developement. We regret that recent student demonstrations expressing concern for the problems of the poor degenerate into a confronation between the police and students. As a result of confrontation, it appears that public interest has been shifted from the real problems of Malaysian society to the way in which students expressed themselves."

The statement went on to "urge the government to launch immediately a Fund For Food Campaign as a short term measure to alleviate the suffering of the poor in the country. We resolve that all our members shall contribute at least 5% of their salary towards this fund. But we believe that for long term solution of poverty it is necessary to mobilise all available research resources to study the problem. The academic Staff Association, for its part, is prepared to participate fully in this effort. We urge the government to take up this task as a matter of the highest priority."

Instead of congratulating the academic communities for taking an interest in the plight of the less privileged, the government replied with crude repression.

Thousands of troops were sent into the universities through out the country to terrorise the students and staff. More than 1100 students were arrested in one demonstration. 38 students, lecturers, youth and religious leaders were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act. Some are still detained today, the most prominent being Dr Syed Husin Ali, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Malava: some have been forced to seek refuge abroad e.g. Hishammudin Rais, Secretary General of the University of Malaya Students' Union and the whereabouts of some are still unknown.

In the wake of the student upheaval, the government unleashed further repression in the form of an Amendment to UUCA designed to render the universities a servile, unthinking and uncritical adjunct of the Government.