UNIVERSITI

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UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
SINGAPORE PARLIAMENT PROCEEDING 25 JANUARY
2003 PROF. S JAYAKUMAR FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER
In the same vein there were almost daily
articles in the Malaysian Malay language Press
playing up Singapore alleged aggressive
intentions. On 18 January 2003, Berita Harian
Malaysia recklessly alleged that Singapore has
stealthily embarked on a bioterrorism
program Such war-mongering articles, it
should noted, are found especially in the
Malay Language press, which can only be designed
to stir up animosities in their Malay population
against Singapore.
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA Malaysias Premier
University in Engineering and Technology
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I TEND TO BE A LITTLE BIT CRITICLE

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THE ART OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM BUILDING BRIDGES
BETWEEN SCHOLARS AND THE RULE OF LAW
Azmi Hassan Director Center For Technology Policy
and International Studies (CENTEPIS) Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia International Campus
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RESTRICTIONS
Scholars in Malaysia are aware of the variety of
rules and regulations that effectively take away
their academic freedoms thus making it difficult
to carry out their teaching and research
responsibilities
The Oath of Allegiance for example is considered
oppressive because it is related to the Statutory
Bodies (Discipline and Surcharge) Act 2000. This
act in effect makes it an offence for any
scholars to comment on governmental policies
(whether favorably or critically) without
ministerial permission.
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ACADEMIC FREEDOM CONSTRAINTS

• With all the restrictions and regulations imposed
  by
• Rule 17 Statutory Bodies (Discipline and
  Surcharge) Act 2000
• Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA)
  
• Official Secrets Act (OSA)
• Staff General Order (GO) and
• Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA)
• All of which curtail the scope and freedom of
  research and teaching in one way or another.

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oath of Allegiance
I, ................... bearing I/C no
................... residing in
................... solemnly declare that I will
abide Statutory Bodies (Discipline and Surcharge)
2000 Act 605 and all instructions issued and
enforced by University Teknologi Malaysia, from
time to time throughout my services with
University Teknologi Malaysia. Thus, I solemnly
declare, as required under Rule 3, Disciplinary
Rules of the Statutory Bodies, that is within the
Second Schedule of the Statutory Bodies Act
(Discipline and Surcharge) 2000 Act 605, that
I, among others I
wholly understand that if I were charged with
breaching this Aku Janji, disciplinary action
under the Statutory Bodies (Discipline and
Surcharge) 2000 Act 605 can be taken against me.
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Rule 17 Statutory Bodies (Discipline and
Surcharge) 2000 Act 605
Impossible to enforce. It is highly impractical
for the authorities to process the requests from
all scholars every time they wish to make a
statement or write an article that touches upon
governmental policies. Therefore, one can only
presume that this law is meant to be used as and
when the authorities wish to. That is to say it
becomes a prevalent and ever present threat to
all academics. 
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Official Secrets Act Section (8)
Rule 17 should also be read together with
Official Secrets Act Section (8) under the
heading of Wrongful Communications, etc., of
Official Secret. It explicitly states that any
person who is in his position has access to any
official secret and communicates it to the
public the person is guilty of an offence.
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DEFINITION OF OFFICIAL SECRETS
Schedule to the Act lists three categories of
documents that are always considered official
secret, these are

• Cabinet records, records of decisions and
  deliberations including those of Cabinet
  committees
• State Executive Council documents, records of
  decisions and deliberations including those of
  State Executive Council committees
• Documents concerning national security, defense
  and international relations.

This list may be added to at any time by
Ministerial Order.
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Section 16A also states that any certificate of
secrecy issued by any public official is
conclusive evidence that a document is in fact an
official secret. The definition of official
secrets in OSA is tantamount to said that the
amount of information subject to classification
as a official secret is potentially unlimited.
The list of documents and information provided
in the Schedule is extremely broad and no doubt
open to abuse.
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RESTRICTIONS IS DETRIMENTAL TO SCHOLARS
Imposing all the restrictions to universities
lecturers who are considered scholars in their
field of expertise, not only detrimental to the
way these scholars conduct their teaching, but
also to the country as a whole.
Without academic freedom, the quality of teaching
and research will suffer. The general public
depends on the academe to provide unbiased views
on social analysis so as to strengthened civil
society. This can only be achieved if only
freedoms of expression are enjoyed by the
scholars.
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ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN MALAYSIA IHL?
From the general public perspective, there exist
some forms of academic freedom in higher
education. Even among the scholars, academic
freedom is taken for granted. It is not far from
truth if one said that academic freedom is under
attack via various restrictions imposed.
Scholars are considered as the main engine of
the knowledge-based society and the existence of
academic freedom constraints this surely will
hamper the value of the knowledge-based society.
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TWO CLASSIC EXAMPLES 1. SMOG CRISIS
In 2005, during the height of smog crisis due to
the open burning practice from the Indonesian
side, an air pollution expert warned about the
danger of inhaling air pollutants. The scholar
statement even though looks very innocent in
nature it incurred the wrath of government
officials. Implicitly the OSA and Rule 17 were
applied and subsequently a general gag order was
issued forbidding scholars from speaking to the
press. In this case the Air Pollution Index
(API) was classified as official secret.
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TWO CLASSIC EXAMPLES 2. JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS
A virologist from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
irked health officials when she said that the
outbreak was not caused by Japanese Encephalitis
virus, which in fact contradicts the official
health ministry statement. It was later proved
that it was in fact the outbreak was caused a new
strain of Hendra-like virus.
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RECENT EXAMPLE BUKIT ANTARABANGSA LANDSLIDE
Scholars and their views
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POLITICALLY CORRECT STATEMENT
A poser about politically correct is put into
perspective with regards to the writer own
experienced. Numerous politically motivated
statements to the media which if read in
conjunction with Rule 17 and also the definition
of official secrets as defined in OSA, the writer
can be reprimanded by the authority. The writer
also wrote numerous opinion piece in the local
media taking about sensitive issues. But being
politically correct, the rules and regulations
are set aside.
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POLITICALLY MOTIVATED STATEMENT
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AGENDA MOTIVATED STATEMENT
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AGENDA MOTIVATED STATEMENT
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Rule 17 and other restrictions may not have been
applied arbitrary on scholars where lecturers are
sacked in impunity. But these rules and
regulations are considered as insidious
velvet-glove and subtler approach to limit
academic freedom. Many scholars still shy away
from speaking out or approaching university or
government officials to voice their concerned of
their area of expertise. These regulations in
fact placed some restrictions on the scholars, in
particular the expression of unapproved political
and dissenting views.
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SPY SATELLITE PROGRAM
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AL-MAUNAH ABU SAYAFFS PULAU SIPADAN PANDANAN
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