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Kenyataan Akhbar GERAK tentang Perbicaraan Azmi Sharom di bawah Akta Hasutan pada hari Selasa 15 Disember 2015 di Mahkamah Sesyen, Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur

Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (GERAK) adalah pertubuhan akademik yang mewakili kakitangan akademik dari institusi pengajian tinggi awam dan swasta di Malaysia.

Salah satu tujuan utama GERAK adalah untuk menjaga kepentingan professional para ahli dan kita dari awal lagi mempertahankan prinsip-prinsip asas kebebasan akademik. Perbicaraan Prof Azmi Sharom adalah serangan serius terhadap kebebasan akademik dan juga pencabulan kepada Syor UNESCO 1997 berhubung dengan kedudukan para pengajar dalam pendidikan tinggi. Selain dari kebebasan nurani, bersuara, berpersatuan dan bergerak, artikel 26 Syor UNESCO juga memberi para akademik “hak untuk menyumbang kepada perubahan sosial menerusi kebebasan bersuara dan pendapat tentang dasar-dasar Negara.”

Adalah menjadi dasar GERAK untuk mengekalkan dan menggalakkan kebebasan sepenuhnya  dalam usaha mencari jawaban, wacana,  pengajaran, penyelidikan dan penerbitan, dan juga untuk melindungi mana-mana kakitangan akademik daripada pengaruh, dari dalam atau luar Universiti, yang akan menyekat kakitangan academik dalam melaksanakan kebebasan ini demi kepentingan ilmiah mereka.

Sebagai warganegara, pensyarah universiti harus mempunyai kebebasan yang sama seperti rakyat lain tanpa sekatan institusi atau tatatertib. Walau bagaimanapun, beliau harus berhati-hati bahawa ketepatan, kejujuran, dan maruah menepati dan sesuai dengan profesi akademik,  yang mana orang ramai akan menilai integriti beliau dan institusi beliau melalui prilaku dan ucapan mereka.

Kebebasan akademik bertujuan untuk melindungi perbezaan pendapat, perselisihan pandangan dan perdebatan – ia adalah penting kepada penciptaan,  penafsiran dan penyebaran ilmu. GERAK komited dalam mengakkan siasatan bebas dan akan menyokong kakitangan akademik yang mana kebebasan akademik mereka telah dicabuli.

Kami mengajak seluruh kakitangan akademik Malaysia yang punya nurani untuk bersama-sama menegakkan kebebasan akademik dan autonomi universiti. Kami akan mengambil tindakan yang sesuai pada masa hadapan dalam mengharungi ancaman terhadap kebebasan akademik dari dalam dan luar universiti .

WanAManan

Prof  Wan Manan  (http://blogakademikmalaysia.blogspot.my/)

Pengerusi,  Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (GERAK) 15 Disember 2015

MOVE’s Press Statement on the Trial of Azmi Sharom under the Sedition Act on Tuesday, 15 December 2015 at the Session Court at Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur.

The Malaysian Academic Movement (MOVE) is an academic association representing faculty members from both public and private institution of higher learning in Malaysia.

One of the primary purposes of MOVE is to serve the professional interests of its members and we have long been committed to the fundamental principles of academic freedom. The current trial of Prof Azmi Sharom is a serious attack on academic freedom and also a gross violation of the 1997 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel. Beside freedom of conscience, expression, association and movement, article 26 of the UNESCO Recommendation also confer on the academics the ‘right to contribute to social change through freely expressing their opinion of state policies’.

It is the policy of MOVE to maintain and encourage full freedom within the law of inquiry, discourse, teaching, research, and publication and to protect any member of the academic staff against influences, from within or without the University, which would restrict the member’s exercise of these freedoms in the member’s area of scholarly interest.

As a citizen, a university lecturer may exercise the same freedoms as other citizens without institutional censorship or discipline. He or she should be mindful, however, that accuracy, forthrightness, and dignity befit association of the academic profession and that the public may judge that person’s integrity and the institution by the individual’s conduct and utterances.

Academic freedom is meant to protect dissent, disagreement, and debate—and is essential to the discovery, interpretation, and transmission of knowledge. MOVE is committed to free inquiry and will advocate for our members whose academic freedom may have been violated.

We urge all Malaysian academics with conscience to come together to uphold our academic freedom and autonomy.  We will take appropriate course of action in the near future counter further threats to academic freedom from within and without the university.

WanAManan

Prof  Wan Manan  (http://blogakademikmalaysia.blogspot.my/)

Chairperson, Malaysian Academic Movement (MOVE)   15^th December 2015

Sajak memperjuangkan kebebasan berfikir dan berilmu

Sarjana dan Kesarjanaan

                (Buat Azmi Sharom)

Seorang sarjana

Dituntut berkata benar

Kerana kebenaran itu

Teras kepada tamadun

Dan harga diri.

Ilmu itu anak kepada pemikiran

Dididik untuk menjadi warga mulia.

Tafsiran itu dikutip

Dari kolam luas pengetahuan,

Ditimbang pada neraca hati dan akal

Supaya ilmu dapat menyumbang pada manusia.

Ini bukan taman politik

Dan halaman kuasa.

Muhammad Haji Salleh
12.12.15


*
Profesor Emeritus USM
Tokoh Akademik Negara 2008
Sasterawan Negara 1991

Kenyataan Bersama GERAK-PKAUM

KENYATAAN BERSAMA

PERGERAKAN TENAGA AKADEMIK MALAYSIA (GERAK)

PERSATUAN KAKITANGAN AKADEMIK UNIVERSITI MALAYA (PKAUM)

14 DISEMBER  2015

Perbicaraan tokoh akademik, Azmi Sharom dibawah Akta Hasutan akan bermula pada hari Selasa, 15 Disember 2015 di Mahkamah Session, Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur.

Pertuduhan terhadap Azmi Sharom adalah satu hentaman hebat terhadap kebebasan akademik dan akan memberi kesan yang drastik terhadap cara pelajar Malaysia diajar tajuk-tajuk ‘sentitif’. Pemikiran kritis akan dikawal dan dicuci. Pelajar kita keluar dengan pemikiran yang ‘betul dan selamat’. Harapan untuk mana-mana universiti Malaysia menjadi ‘world class’ lebih tipis.

Selain dari melanggar hak kebebasan bersuara di bawah Perlembagaan Malaysia, pertuduhan terhadap Azmi adalah juga satu pelanggaran berat terhadap 1997 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel yang Malaysia sokong. Selain daripada kebebasan berfikir, bersuara, bersekutu dan bergerak, Artikel 26 UNESCO Recommendation juga memberi hak kepada para akademik untuk ‘menyumbang kepada perubahan sosial dengan meluahkan secara bebas pandangan mereka terhadap dasar pemerintah.

Sempena Hari Hak Asasi Manusia Antarabangsa pada 10 Disember 2015, GERAK yang mewakili para akademik Malaysia dan PKAUM yang mewakili para akademik Universiti Malaya, menggesa tuduhan terhadap Azmi Sharom ditarik balik. Para akademik patut dibenarkan meluahkan pandangan professional kepakaran mereka tanpa dibelengu ketakutan dan secara pilih kasih. Para akademik mesti diberi ruang untuk melahirkan pandangan mereka.

BEBASKAN AZMI SEKARANG!

JOINT STATEMENT

MALAYSIAN ACADEMICS MOVEMENT (MOVE)

UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA ACADEMIC STAFF ASSOCIATION (PKAUM)

14 DECEMBER  2015

The trial of academician, Azmi Sharom under the Sedition Act will resume on Tuesday, 15 December 2015 at the Session Court at Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur.

The charges against Azmi Sharom is a serious attack on academic freedom and will have drastic effects on the way Malaysian students are thought ‘sensitive’ topics. Critical thinking will be controlled and sanitized. Our students will graduate with the same ‘right and safe’ mentality. There would be slim hope for any of the Malaysian universities to be ‘world class’.

Besides violating his freedom of expression under the Malaysian Constitution, the charges against Azmi are also a serious violation of the 1997 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel, which Malaysia subscribes to. Beside the freedom of conscience, expression, association and movement, article 26 of the UNESCO Recommendation also confers on the academics the ‘right to contribute to social change through freely expressing their opinion of state policies’.

In conjunction with the International Human Rights Day on 10 December 2015, MOVE, representing academics in Malaysia and PKAUM, representing the academics at University of Malaya, urge that the charges against Azmi Sharom to be dropped. Academics should be allowed to express their professional expert opinion without fear or favour. Academics must be given space to articulate their views.

FREE AZMI NOW!

Solidaritas dari Indonesia

Siaran Pers SEPAHAM Indonesia 

Dalam Peringatan Hari HAM Internasional 2015

ANCAMAN DAN TEKANAN ATAS KEBEBASAN EKSPRESI DAN KEBEBASAN AKADEMIK

Tahun 2015 ditandai dengan begitu banyaknya tekanan dan ancaman kebebasan berekspresi dan kebebasan akademik. 

UU Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik yang menjerat ekspresi melalui media sosial, terutama dalam kasus pencemaran nama baik (cyber defamation), Surat Edaran Kapolri soal Hate Speech, serta penggunaan kriminalisasi, menjadi isu dominan atas tekanan dan ancaman itu. 

Pembubaran diskusi dan pemutaran film di berbagai kampus dan kota, terutama terkait film "Senyap, Samin v. Semen, Prahara Tanah Bongkoran", memperlihatkan dinamika pemikiran dan ekspresi telah dibungkam. Apalagi, stigmatisasi komunisme memperlihatkan ideologi dan karakter otoritarianisme Orde Baru masih kuat diusung. 

Di sisi lain, kampus masih belum menunjukkan posisi pentingnya sebagai praesidium libertatis (benteng pertahanan kebebasan), karena selalu takut di bawah ancaman premanisme atas nama agama maupun pendidikan. Sebaliknya, kampus justru terlibat merepresi sebagaimana terlihat dalam pemaksaan majalah mahasiswa Lentera di UKSW. 

Belum lagi, kampus melahirkan proses pendisiplinan pendidik dan mahasiswa dalam skema komersialisasi yang disponsori negara sehingga menjadikan kampus-kampus di tanah air tak ubahnya seperti mesin industri sebuah korporasi pendidikan (state sponsored higher education corporatism). 

Kita patut khawatir dengan perkembangan pendidikan tinggi yang demikian, terutama upaya membentengi kebebasan ekspresi dan kebebasan akademik. Tekanan dan ancaman itu jelas persoalan pelanggaran hak asasi manusia, yang akan berdampak terhadap upaya pendidikan tinggi sebagai upaya kesejahteraan sosial yang meluas. 

Atas dasar ini, kami menyeru kepada Pemerintah, penyelenggara pendidikan serta asosiasi akademisi untuk bersama-sama 

1. Meneguhkan komitmen atas mandat UUD 1945, khususnya pasal Pasal 28C (1) "Setiap orang berhak mengembangkan diri melalui pemenuhan kebutuhan dasarnya, berhak mendapat pendidikan dan memperoleh manfaat dari ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi, seni dan budaya, demi meningkatkan kualitas hidupnya dan demi kesejahteraan umat manusia.";

2. Melawan segala bentuk intervensi yang mengancam dan menekan dengan cara-cara kekerasan terhadap segala aktifitas akademik dan kebebasan ekspresi; 

3. Menghentikan cara-cara berfikir dan tindakan yang mencerminkan anti kebebasan, serta karakter otoritarianisme Orba di kampus-kampus. 

4. Memperkuat mandat Deklarasi Lima, 1988, Pasal 1, yang menegaskan kebebasan akademik sebagai “the freedom of members of the academic community, inividually or collectively, in persuit, development and transmission of knowledge, through research, creation, teaching, lecturing and writing”.

5. Memperkuat solidaritas kebebasan akademik di tanah air serta di kawasan, sebagaimana keyakinan kami otonomi keilmuan diperlukan sebagai basis etis dan progresi dalam menjadikan kampus sebagai pengawal pembaruan soaial dan bangunan peradaban kemanusiaan yang lebih humanis. 

Dalam kesempatan hari HAM 2015 ini, kami pula memberi solidaritas kolega kami di Universitas Malaya, Assoc Prof Azmi Sharom yang hendak dihadapkan di muka sidang peradilan/mahkamah pada 16 Desember 2015 atas tuduhan penghasutan, sekalipun ia dalam kapasitas seorang akademisi yang memberi persepektif atas perubahan baik bangsanya. 

Surabaya, 10 Desember 2015

Dr. R. Herlambang P. Wiratraman

Ketua Serikat Pengajar HAM Indonesia / SEPAHAM 2014-2016

h.p.wiratraman@gmail.com

+62 82140837025

Guardian: Academics! You've got to fight for your right to job security

The destruction of job security is central to the long-term transformation of the sector. Universities are encouraged – with the enthusiastic co-operation of their vice-chancellors – to think of themselves as businesses. This means running increasing surpluses, recruiting more students in popular courses and cutting whole departments where numbers are lower.

http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/dec/01/academics-fight-for-right-to-job-security?CMP=new_1194&CMP=

Prachatai: End political prosecutions: Thai Academics for Civil Rights

 ‘Universities are Not Military Barracks, the Country is Not a Concentration Camp’

http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/5662 

Al-Fanar: Science in the Muslim World

Weak Research, Strong Female Participation

http://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2015/11/science-in-the-muslim-world-weak-research-strong-female-participation/

http://muslim-science.com/science-at-universities-of-islamic-world-2/

AC: Rampant academic dishonesty is alive and well in Malaysia

"With the level of academic dishonesty in general society, it’s not surprising that there is a lack of academic integrity within Malaysian institutions of higher education. However what is surprising is the extent of it"

http://asiancorrespondent.com/2015/11/rampant-academic-dishonesty-in-malaysia/

THE: Journal impact factors ‘no longer credible’

Trickery by editors to boost their journal impact factor means that the widely used metric “has now lost most of its credibility”, according to Research Policy journal.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/journal-impact-factors-no-longer-credible

THE: Higher education Green Paper: what it means for teaching

Quality teaching in higher education will be driven by academic freedom, not more regulations.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/higher-education-green-paper-what-it-means-teaching

EI Workshop Promoting Young Women and Men Leaders in Teachers' Trade Unions and Education

Workshop organised by Education International
MOVE/GERAK representatives: Aznijar Ahmad Yazid dan Alicia Izharuddin

Malay Mail - It’s time to put university research in Malaysia under the microscope - Murray Hunter

Malaysian universities have tended to put emphasis on producing large quantities of papers, rather than quality. Many academics are practicing ‘chequebook academia’ by paying to place articles in journals that can publish them within a month or so from submission. The quantity of paper output rather than academic weight is the prime KPI of Malaysian universities today. 

See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/its-time-to-put-university-research-in-malaysia-under-the-microscope-murray 

Media Statement 7 October 2015

KENYATAAN MEDIA 7 OKTOBER 2015

Semalam, 6 Oktober 2015, Dr Azmi Sharom telah gagal dalam cubaan beliau untuk mendapatkan pengistiharan dari Mahkamah Persekutuan terhadap ketidakakuran Akta Hasutan dengan Perlembagaan Malaysia. Mahkamah telah mengistiharkan akta tersebut adalah sah.

Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (GERAK) terkilan akan keputusan tersebut dan amat bimbang akan kesannya terhadap kebebasan akademik di Malaysia, terutamanya terhadap kebebasan bersuara. Dengan pengesahan tersebut, mahkamah telah melanjutkan kegunaan sesutu undang-undang boleh dan telahpun digunakan untuk menyekat kebebasan akademik.

Azmi telah dituduh dibawah Akta Hasutan kerana memberi pandangan professional sebagai seorang ahli akademik undang-undang. Kami sebagai ahli akademik mempunyai satu tanggungjawab untuk berkongsi ilmu bukan sahaja dengan pelajar dan masyarakat akademik tetapi juga dengan masyarakat umum. Ini adalah sebahagian dari sumbangan wajib para akademik kepada masyarakat. Para akademik bukannya robot hanya untuk mengajar dan buat penyelidikan. Kami perlu menyumbang balik kepada masyarakat atas kebebasan akademik yang telah diberikan.

Kami, para akademik Malaysia mengesa Peguam Negara mengkaji semula dan menarik balik pertuduhan terhadap Azmi Sharom. Berikan ruang kepada kami untuk suara akademik. Kita tidak akan dapat membentukkan universiti kelas dunia dengan ranking tinggi jika para akademiknya tidak diberi kebebasan akademik. 

Yesterday, 6 October 2015, Dr Azmi Sharom lost in his attempt to get a declaration from the Federal Court on the non-constitutionality of the Sedition Act. The court had declared that the act is valid.

The Malaysian Academics Movement (MOVE) is very disappointed with the declaration and worried with its effect on academic freedom in Malaysia, particularly on freedom of academic expression. The court, by upholding the Sedition Act has in fact allowed for the continuation of a law that can be and has been used to curb academic freedom.

Azmi was charged under the Sedition Act for giving his expert opinion as a legal academic. We, as academics have a responsibility to share our expertise not only with our students and the academic community but also with the public at large. This is part of our required contribution to society. Academics are not robots that just do teaching and research. We must give back to society for giving us academic freedom.

We, Malaysian academics, urge the Attorney-General to revise and withdraw the charges against Azmi Sharom. We need room for academic expression. We can never have high-ranking world class universities without academic freedom.

Bagi pihak GERAK / On behalf of MOVE

Rosli H Mahat

Setiausaha Agung / General Secretary

GERAK / MOVE

Solidarity with Azmi Sharom

6 Oct 2015: Academics in solidarity with Azmi Sharom at Palace of Justice (Federal Court), Putrajaya

Education International (EI) Sub-Regional Workshop on Teachers Migration and Social Protection

Federal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, September 2015

Wakil GERAK: Sdr. Robert Jeyakumar (Belakang, kanan)

Asian Correspondent: The plight of academic freedom in Malaysia

The government is pursuing new reforms and just recently released the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 with much fanfare. However, something conspicuously absent from these proposed reforms is a commitment to academic freedom.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/135569/the-plight-of-academic-freedom-in-malaysia/

Academic revolution demands for open access to knowledge

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/apr/09/frustrated-blogpost-boycott-scientific-journals?CMP=share_btn_fb

The Guardian ........."Academic publishers operate with profit margins of 35% or more, while getting their raw materials and the work of thousands of taxpayer- and charity-funded scientists free.

Academics write the papers, academics referee the papers, academics select the papers that are going to be published – it's almost as though the publisher does nothing that we need except perhaps their organisational role and lending the name of the journal that confers a certain reputation."

VOX: Liberal college students want to be "coddled".

http://www.vox.com/2015/9/14/9326965/obama-political-correctness

Obama:  "The idea that you’d have somebody in government making a decision about what you should think ahead of time or what you should be taught, and if it’s not the right thought, or idea, or perspective or philosophy, that person would be — they wouldn’t get funding, runs contrary to everything we believe about education," 

How Academia Resembles a Drug Gang

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2013/12/11/how-academia-resembles-a-drug-gang/

Academic systems rely on the existence of a supply of “outsiders” ready to forgo wages and employment security in exchange for the prospect of uncertain security, prestige, freedom and reasonably high salaries that tenured positions entail. Drawing on data from the US, Germany and the UK, Alexandre Afonso looks at how the academic job market is structured in many respects like a drug gang, with an expanding mass of outsiders and a shrinking core of insiders.

Scholars-at-Risk releases report on attacks on universities

SAR releases Free to Think, a path-breaking report on the crisis of attacks on higher education

June 23, 2015 -- At the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Scholars at Risk released Free to Think, the first report of its kind demonstrating the alarming frequency and scope of attacks on scholars, students and other members of higher education communities worldwide.

The report, which culminates four years of monitoring and reporting from SAR staff and researchers around the world, analyzes 333 attacks on higher education arising from 247 verified incidents in 65 countries between January 2011 and May 2015.

"Attacks on higher education are at crisis levels"

(New York) - Scholars at Risk announces the release of Free to Think, a report of the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project. The culmination of four years of monitoring and analysis by SAR staff and researchers around the world, the report analyzes 333 attacks on higher education communities in 65 countries from January 2011 to May 2015, demonstrating the pressing need to raise awareness and document attacks on higher education:

• There is a crisis of attacks on higher education communities around the world.
• Attacks on universities, scholars and students are early warning signs of political, social and cultural insecurity.
• Universities and scholars are critical parts of national infrastructure that is essential to rebuilding conflict torn states.

The report calls on all stakeholders, including the international community, states, the higher education sector, civil society and the public at large to undertake concrete actions to increase protection for higher education communities, including documenting and investigating attacks, and holding perpetrators accountable.

SAR invites you to download and share the report with your networks over social media. Use the hashtag  #Free2Think and join the conversation! 

Forum: Education for Development?

UWN: Success of blueprint depends on buy-in and politics

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2015060214590283

The  Malaysia Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025 provides a comprehensive articulation of the goals for Malaysian higher education in the form of student and system aspirations. The 10 key areas highlight issues that are critical to the development of individuals as well as the ecosystem of higher education. 

UWN: Political will, planning behind rapid rise in research

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150529080547140

Malaysia’s research achievements and challenges were outlined by Professor Zakri Abdul Hamid, science adviser to the prime minister and one of 26 members of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s scientific advisory board, at a major conference in Johannesburg from 10-14 May co-hosted by the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association.

Kenyataan media GERAK

PERGERAKAN TENAGA AKADEMIK MALAYSIA (GERAK)

MALAYSIAN ACADEMICS MOVEMENT (MOVE)

KENYATAAN MEDIA

16 Mei 2015

GERAK merasa resah akan pembatalan tiga forum di universiti dalam tempuh tiga minggu. Forum-forum tersebut adalah:

1) The Great Debate Series 2: Everything in Moderation - Ways of Living Together, pada 29 April 2015 di UIAM

2) Forum Industri penerbitan buku pada 13 May 2015 di UM

3) Forum Goods and Service Tax (GST), pada 13 May 2015 di UIAM

Pembatalan forum pada saat akhir merupakan satu perlakuan yang tidak bijak. Lagi tidak bijak adalah apabila satu dari forum tersebut tersebut telah diganggu. Nyata sekali ini merupakan perlanggaran hak kebebasan akademik yang patut wujud di dalam sebuah kampus universiti, seperti yang disyaratkan dalam 'Recommendation concerning the status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel'. Recommendation ini telah diluluskan semasa perhimpunan umum UNESCO pada 11 November 1997. Sebagai ahli UNESCO, Malaysia dikehendaki melaksanakan Recommendation ini, Pada peringkat antarabangsa, reputasi dan prestasi sesebuah universiti adalah diukur dari tahap keakuran dengan Recommendation ini.

GERAK mengesa dihentikan kegiatan membatalkan sesuatu aktiviti akademik setelah kelulusan diberi. Ianya akan mematikan usaha untuk meningkatkan univesiti-universiti ke tahap dunia. Malah kelulusan tidak patut diperlukan untuk mana-mana aktiviti akademik. Semua forum-forum yang telah dibatalkan mesti diadakan semula di universiti-universiti berkenaan.

GERAK is troubled by the cancellation of three university fora in the last three weeks. The three fora are:

1) The Great Debate Series 2: Everything in Moderation - Ways of Living Together, on 29 April 2015 at IIUM

2) Forum on book publishing industry, on 13 May 2015 at UM

3) Forum on Goods and Service Tax (GST), on 13 May 2015 at IIUM

The cancellation at the eleventh hour of the fora is not a wise decision. What is worse is the harassment at one of the fora. This is a clear abuse of the academic freedom right that should have existed in all university campuses as required in the 'Recommendation concerning the status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel'. This Recommendation was approved by the UNESCO general assembly on 11 November 1997. As a member of UNESCO, Malaysia is required to implement this Recommendation. At the international level, the reputation and performance of a university is measured from the level of compliance with this recommendation.

GERAK urged that academic activities should not be cancelled after prior approval has been given. It would discourage all effort to push our universities to be world class universities. In fact, approval should be required for any academics activity. All the cancelled fora must be reconvened at the affected universities.      

Bagi pihak GERAK,

ROSLI H MAHAT

Setiausaha Agung

Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (GERAK)

akademikmalaysia@gmail.com                             

NATURE: Rana Dajani: Why I teach evolution to Muslim students

http://www.nature.com/news/why-i-teach-evolution-to-muslim-students-1.17364?WT.ec_id=NEWS-20150423

Encouraging students to challenge ideas is crucial to fostering a generation of Muslim scientists who are free thinkers.

EUA: Protect Universities from Attack

http://monitoring.academicfreedom.info/reports/2015-04-02-garissa-university-college

Following the terrorist attack that unfolded at Garissa University College in Kenya on Thursday 2 April killing 147 students and leaving at least 79 people wounded, the European University Association invites and encourages all European universities to observe one minute’s silence on 

Monday 27 April 2015 (12:00 CET) 

in remembrance of all those killed in and affected by the attack on Garissa and by other attacks on universities and university values around the world. While the events in Garissa stand out in their barbarity, we draw attention to the appalling reality that attacks continue to happen every day.

In calling for this observance, EUA reaffirms its belief that any act of violence or attack on education runs counter to the fundamental university values of freedom of thought and expression, tolerance and autonomy and undermines the ambition and fundamental right of any person to gain qualifications and make a contribution to their nation, society and the world.

Attacks on universities, their students and scholars weaken or obliterate academic freedom; have a devastating impact on research, teaching and access to education; and impair society’s long-term development. Safeguarding the freedom and safety of universities and university communities is therefore vital in ensuring the advancement of knowledge and the cultural and scientific development of humankind.

The pursuit of knowledge has no boundaries and universities transcend geographical and political frontiers. In keeping with its endorsement of the principles of the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, EUA calls on universities across Europe and beyond to unite in solidarity in condemning these recent and any other forms of violence against education. It further appeals to the international community to take action to protect universities from attacks and prevent them from happening in the future.

European Universities Association, Brussels, April 2015

Open letter to Khoo Kay Kim – Rachel Leow

Malaysian Insider: Open letter to Khoo Kay Kim – Rachel Leow

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/open-letter-to-khoo-kay-kim-rachel-low
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/historian-tells-court-he-has-no-knowledge-of-history-textbook-with-his-name

Elsevier: How to prepare a manuscript for international journal

1)  Six things to do before writing your manuscript

http://www.elsevier.com/connect/six-things-to-do-before-writing-your-manuscript

2) 11 steps to structuring a science paper editors will take seriously

http://www.elsevier.com/connect/11-steps-to-structuring-a-science-paper-editors-will-take-seriously

3) Writing the first draft of your science paper — some dos and don’ts

http://www.elsevier.com/connect/writing-a-science-paper-some-dos-and-donts?sf8195043=1

The Guardian: The war against humanities at Britain's universities

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/mar/29/war-against-humanities-at-britains-universities

Higher education is stuffed with overpaid administrators squeezing every ounce of efficiency out of lecturers and focusing on the ‘profitable’ areas of science, technology, engineering and maths. Are the humanities at risk of being wiped out?

students and academics rebel against neoliberal university

http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/in-amsterdam-a-revolt-against-the-neoliberal-university/

Expensive Education Equals Social Injustice

Free education will only be provided to high achievers. Education will be available to low achievers and failing students in return for high fees—a measure that favors the wealthy, continues to limit the chances of the poor and destroys any hope for achieving social justice.

http://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2015/02/expensive-educaton-equals-social-injustice/?utm_source=Al+Fanar+list&utm_campaign=5a8057835a-The+Fate+of+Syrian+Professors&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8b6ddcac65-5a8057835a-88142693&ct=t(Al_Fanar_English_newsletter_no_438_19_2014) 

FSUR: Free Speech University Ranking

Rating of free speech in UK universities:
http://theconversation.com/new-ranking-exposes-curbs-on-university-freedom-of-speech-37060
http://www.spiked-online.com/free-speech-university-rankings/results