17 January 2021

Academic Staff Association of IIUM

 STATEMENT ON THE NEED TO UPHOLD ACADEMIC FREEDOM


The Academic Staff Association (ASA) of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) would like to reiterate its stance on academic freedom which entails the right for academic members to voice their views and opinions. The 1997 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel defines academic freedom as “the right, without constriction by prescribed doctrine, to freedom of teaching and discussion, freedom in carrying out research and disseminating and publishing the results thereof, freedom to express freely their opinion about the institution or system in which they work, freedom from institutional censorship and freedom to participate in professional or representative academic bodies.” The Ministry of Higher Education and Institutions of Higher Education should not be seen to curb this fundamental freedom.


Nonetheless, ASA IIUM would like to remind academic members to exercise this right responsibly and that their views and opinions can also be challenged.


ASA IIUM would like to note its concerns on the ‘policing’ of social media posting which can be ‘subjectively’ construed as not in favour of any parties and subsequently subjected to rigorous questioning and accusations of ‘insubordination’.


وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ ۚ إِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُولَٰئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْئُولًا


Do not follow blindly what you do not know to be true: ears, eyes, and heart, you will be questioned about all these [al-Isrā’/17: 36]


عَنْ أَبِي ذَرٍّ رضي الله عنه قَالَ: قَالَ لِي رَسُولُ اَللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم: قُلِ اَلْحَقَّ, وَلَوْ كَانَ مُرًّا


Narrated Abū Dharr, Allah’s Messenger said to me: “Say the truth even though it is bitter (i.e. difficult to admit).” [Ibn Ḥibbān]


Academic Staff Association

International Islamic University Malaysia

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Kenyataan PKAUM

 [07:50, 15/01/2021] Noraishah Um: JOINT STATEMENT BY PKAUM, KMUM, DEMOKRAT UM, GERAKAN PEMBEBASAN AKADEMIK (GPA), HARMONI MALAYSIA, ANGKATAN MAHASISWA UM AND UMANY IN RESPONSE TO THE 222 PhD HOLDERS STATING THEIR SUPPORT OF THE STATE OF EMERGENCY IN MALAYSIA


PKAUM, KMUM, Demokrat, GPA, HARMONI Malaysia, Angkatan Mahasiswa and UMANY are distressed by the statement in support of the state of emergency issued by the 222, intimating their intellectual superiority over other Malaysians on the basis of possessing a PhD qualification. In as much as the notion of freedom of expression is valued and held sacred by us, it is regrettable that the recent support of the 222 Pintar PhD holders has introduced a new division in this beloved country of ours.

A division of those with academic doctoral degrees apart from those with lesser or with no academic credentials whatsoever. This is indeed an alarming development in a country already torn apart along racial, economic and religious divides. We would like to remind every learned citizen of the important role they must play as the conscience of the nation. PhD holders working as academicians carry the heavy burden as bearer of the torch of hope based upon knowledge. The job of academicians is NOT to curry favours in exchange for promotion and career advancement. Instead what we see is a continuation and increase in numbers of sycophancy which began in March 2020. 

In these troubling and difficult times that the country is facing, it is paramount and most imperative for bright individuals and scholars to focus on studying, reasoning, developing and proposing solutions to take us out of the current dire straits thus elevating the country to a better condition for the benefit of each Malaysian. Who is in a better position to do so, other than those who have been trained to perform scholastic research, the degree the PhD was awarded for? Working together with everyone, including those without academic credentials but possessing the necessary experiences within all the relevant industries and sectors, positive proposals are most welcomed rather than harping on forlorn conclusions which are of no benefit, academically nor practically.

The Honourable Prime Minister has assured us that our lives will hardly be disrupted if we do not interfere with the running of our current government. Yet, the most vulnerable amongst the citizens of Malaysia bear the brunt of the consequences. Disabled children in Malaysia, both citizens and immigrants, are particularly at risk. They are currently denied their much-needed therapy during the MCO. Other vulnerable population include, those who suffer from chronic illnesses, the victims of the current floods, the women who are trapped at home suffering violence from perpetrators, the children who are unable to gain access to appropriate education, the workers who will lose more income during this emergency, the common person on the street who are all affected by the adverse effects on the economy. 

During a state of emergency, Parliament is not allowed to convene. The academics should therefore instead produce feasible solutions on how best to propel the economy further during this emergency, i.e. be the brains for the various possible solutions to protect our vulnerable population and help to rebuild our beloved nation. Therefore, the issue should not be nor should it revolve around the next General Election. In fact, academicians should be advocating for the people of the country and not the nation's politicians. The issue should be how do we save our beloved country from the scourge of Covid19 with the least disruption to the lives of the most hard-hit amongst the citizens of Malaysia.

The Declaration of the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia published on the 10th of November 2020 clearly stipulated that a transparent middle path would be best for Malaysia in overcoming the Covid19 scourge. We urge all academicians to do their jobs as effectively as possible and refrain from further ambiguous activities that will further mar the country's reputation globally. Let us all work together, hand in hand across all divides, to find solutions, beneficial to everyone.


 

Noraishah Mydin bt Haji Abdul Aziz, PhD
Secretary General
Academic Association of Universiti Malaya (PKAUM) 2020/2022

Muhammad Haziq Azfar Bin Ishak
President
Universiti Malaya Students’ Union (KMUM) 2020/2021

Farhan Amran
Koordinator
Demokrat Universiti Malaya

Yap Wen Qing
President
UMANY

Nik Azura Nik Nasron 
Chairperson
Gerakan Pembebasan Akademik

Usaid Asmadi 
Presiden
Persatuan Belia HARMONI Malaysia

Wan Afiq Ikhwan Wan Alias
Chairman
Angkatan Mahasiswa UM
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Joint Statrment

 

















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Joint Statement

 

Covid-19 Vaccines for Malaysia:

A Call for Transparency in Registration & Purchasing

 

 

Citizens’ Health Initiative

citizenhealthinitiative@gmail.com

 

 

December 28, 2020

 

 

With the exception of the People’s Republic of China and a few other countries like New Zealand, Vietnam, Cuba, Senegal, and Kerala state in India, which seem to have largely brought Covid-19 under control without the help of vaccines, most countries are struggling with succeeding waves of the pandemic and a likely global spread of a more contagious mutant of SARS-CoV-2. 

 The collateral damage to economic and social well-being worldwide has been unprecedented, and it underscores the urgently felt need for vaccines and a return to some semblance of normalcy.

 Despite a major lapse with a 16,000 plus person religious gathering which erupted into several clusters locally and in the region (March 2020), Malaysia had performed creditably earlier.


Sources of Current Outbreaks

Unfortunately, since October 2020, a resurgence of clusters emerged from non-compliant returnees from abroad, and porous Sabah state border controls, exacerbated by lax enforcement of SOPs during the September 2020 Sabah state elections.

 Immigration and health authorities were not sufficiently pro-active to prevent its further spread in the peninsula, resulting in numerous outbreaks, especially among workers in congested accommodations and workplaces, and in prisons and detention centres.

 Unlike Singapore’s experience with outbreaks in migrant dormitory complexes, we in Malaysia are additionally reaping the consequences of decades of corrupt mismanagement of labor migration, viz. a persistently large pool of undocumented migrant workers (currently estimated at 1.2-1.5 million) who have strong incentives to avoid contact with government agencies.  

Senior Minister Ismail Sabri’s disastrous U-turn in going after undocumented migrants (after initially promising them sanctuary and no arrests and deportation during the pandemic) greatly complicated pandemic control efforts, in particular the crucially important contact tracing.

As generally younger daily-paid workers, more likely to ride out the milder symptoms of Covid-19 infection, they are now even less inclined to cooperate in testing and isolation, given the risks of arrest, detention and deportation.

We thus face the prospect of protracted and repeated seeding of the general population by the asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, especially undocumented workers reluctant to seek treatment unless severely ill. (We should also note that active avoidance of contact tracing and testing involves others disinclined to divulge network contacts or contact history, e.g. underworld elements, drug and sexual encounters, etc).

As in many other countries, many Malaysians support efforts to secure vaccines to enhance pandemic control efforts.

Procuring Vaccines for Malaysia

The minister for Science, Technology, and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin has announced commitments to purchase a basket of Covid-19 vaccines, and options for further orders[1].

Khairy Jamaluddin needs to be transparent about the technical rationales, criteria, and pricing for his ministry’s purchasing decisions.  In particular, he needs to respond to very pertinent points raised by the Covid Research Centre (KL)[2], chest specialist Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj[3], and others, which include the following:

·         there is currently little information on long-term safety beyond 2 months or on durability of protection, for all candidate or approved vaccines (any late-manifesting adverse effects will only be detected by conscientious follow-up surveillance, monitoring, and reporting systems).  This is especially pertinent for novel mRNA vaccines, in comparison with the more familiar inactivated whole-virus vaccines with which we have decades of experience

·         the decision by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to grant immunity to Pfizer from legal liability for late-manifesting adverse effects, and the Pfizer CEO declining to be among the early vaccinees (claiming selflessness in prioritising those more vulnerable, in contrast to some vaccine researchers who vaccinated themselves even before phase 1 human trials) perhaps reflects the true risk perception or assessment of the pharmaceutical corporations (whose profitable research and development work has been highly subsidised by governments for ‘vaccine nationalist’ reasons)

·         stringent logistic requirements (deep-freeze or ultra-low temperature facilities) for the mass deployment of mRNA vaccines to under-served remote areas

·         one additional advantage of the inactivated whole-virus vaccine is that the host immune response is mounted against a spectrum of antigens from the whole virus, rather than against a much more limited array of antigenic sub-components of say, the spike protein.  This could provide some insurance against mutations, say in the coding sequences for the spike protein, which might render vaccines directed solely against the spike protein wholly or partially ineffective.

Beyond the immediate urgency of securing access to adequate quantities of safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines, the larger question of our continuing dependency on foreign vaccine developers, producers and suppliers remains unaddressed.

 

National Capabilities in Production of Medicines and Vaccines

Consider Cuba, a nation of 12 million citizens hamstrung by a 60-year economic blockade by the US, which has invested in human and material resources to become a biotech power-house:  recombinant hepatitis B vaccines, synthetic polysaccharide vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type B[4], CIMAvax vaccine against lung cancer[5], and innovative treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

Cuba’s repeated offers of scientific collaboration in R&D, and joint ventures to position Malaysia as a regional production and distribution platform for Southeast Asia[6], have elicited only a lukewarm response.  Tan Sri Dr Abu Bakar Suleiman, the retired Director General of Health, has shown greater foresight and entrepreneurial verve as chairman of Bioven[7], which is shepherding CIMAvax through US-FDA and UK phase 3 clinical trials[8].

It is not too late to make the necessary strategic decisions for a promising growth area (pharmaceuticals and vaccines) in the national and regional economies of the newly launched RCEP.

 

 for more information/clarifications, please contact:

 

Chan Chee Khoon     cheekhoon50@gmail.com

Chee Heng Leng        cheehengleng@gmail.com

 Endorsers

 

Aliran

Citizens’ Health Initiative

Freedom

Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH)

North South Initiative

Pengguna Pahang

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)

Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (GERAK)

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)

 

 

 

 

 


[3] COVID-19 vaccine: Hold your horses, let us play safe!  https://focusmalaysia.my/opinion/covid-19-vaccine-hold-your-horses-let-us-play-safe/   

[4] Synthetic Vaccine Is a Sweet Victory for Cuban Science https://science.sciencemag.org/content/305/5683/460

[6] Cuba exploring possibility of producing vaccines in M’sia  https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/410301

[8] Roswell Park Lung Cancer Expert Shares Initial Findings from First North American Study of CIMAvax https://www.roswellpark.org/newsroom/201809-roswell-park-lung-cancer-expert-shares-initial-findings-first-north-american-study; Bioven Begins Phase III Trial of Cuban NSCLC Vaccine in UK https://ihsmarkit.com/country-industry-forecasting.html?ID=1065971583

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ESPACT - GERAK Joint Conference


 

Programme

Session 1
9.00am – 10.00 am
Motivations for the 2019 Reforms and its Successes
Keynote Presentation by
Dr. Maszlee Malik, Minister of Education 2018-2020

Session 2 (video)
10.00am – 11.30 am
Roundtable: The 2019 Recommendations on Higher Education
Dr. Wan Chang Da, Dr. Rozilini Mary Fernandez-Chung, Mr UK Menon

Session 3 (video)
11.30am – 12.30 pm
The Higher Education System – System Issues
Dr. Andrew Aeria, Lt Col (Rtd). Ahmad Ghazali Abu Hassan,
Dr. Sharifah Munirah Alatas

Session 4 (video)
2.00pm – 3.00 pm
Institutional Autonomy and Accountability
Dr Wan Manan, Prof Teh Yik Koon

Session 5 (video)
3.00pm – 4.00 pm
Access to higher education – how real is this?
Dr. Ngo Sheau Shi, Dr Yuwana Podin

Session 6 (video)
4.30pm – 5.30 pm
Status of Academics in a Divided Higher Education System
Dr. Francis Loh Kok Wah, Prof Zaharom Nain





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22 November 2020

Media Statement 21 November 2020

GERAK condemns the recent violent threats made by vicious individuals against student leaders from the Universiti Malaya Association of New Youth (UMANY).

Threats of this nature – and those making these threats – have no place in civilised society. 

Unfortunately, they have become commonplace in Malaysia and often little seems to be done by the authorities to stop them and charge them or better, to educate these groups and individuals. 

This inaction or slow reaction by the authorities must change. Threats of violence against law-abiding citizens must be investigated quickly and resolved effectively.

This time around, the threats followed police investigations of a Facebook post by UMANY on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Malaysian politics. 

The UMANY students had every right as citizens to voice their concern and many of us believe they insulted no one, and certainly were not seditious. But the authorities were nonetheless swift in moving against them. 

GERAK believes the police investigation was uncalled for, akin to using a sledgehammer to strike down a fly. 

It is sad and duplicitous that, on the one hand, we urge our students to question and to be critical, yet when they are, as in the case of UMANY, we detain, interrogate and intimidate them.

In any case, UMANY has since taken down the post and apologised.

Now they are being threatened with death and personal injury. These threats of violence must be roundly condemned, investigated, and nipped in the bud. Just as the authorities were quick to detain and question the students, so must they now move just as quickly against those making these threats.

Sadly, often such threats are racially motivated and reflect blind hatred, without the perpetrator showing any sign of understanding what the issues are actually about. 

GERAK believes that this unthinking hatred, reinforced by self-serving politicians and others who should know better, must be strongly countered by everyone concerned, certainly by the authorities and those with influence at every level of Malaysian society. 

Professor Zaharom Nain
GERAK Chairman
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17 November 2020

Joint Statement: Civil Society Call For An End to Intimidation and Harassment Tactics Against UMANY and Associated Individuals

 https://www.amnesty.my/2020/11/12/civil-society-call-for-an-end-to-intimidation-and-harassment-tactics-against-umany-and-associated-individuals/


We, the undersigned organisations and endorsers, strongly condemn the continued intimidation tactics and acts of harassment being perpetrated by the State and its agencies against Universiti Malaya Association of New Youth (UMANY) members and student activists linked to the group. We call on the relevant authorities, including Universiti Malaya (UM) and other entities, to stop investigating and questioning these student leaders, and uphold academic freedom and our constitutional right to freedom of expression and free speech.

UMANY is being investigated by both UM and the police over a statement it issued following the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s advice that all Members of Parliament should support Budget 2021. Since then, seven members of UMANY, its president and vice-president, as well as two other student leaders, have been called in for questioning. A former UMANY president was also detained overnight for recording a police officer attempting to search the house of an UMANY leader, and will be charged tomorrow under Section 188 of the Penal Code. Meanwhile, the Public Service Department (JPA) has asked for show-cause letters from six JPA-sponsored UMANY members over their purported involvement on the matter. UMANY’s statement has since been retracted.

We are disappointed that the State and its agencies, including the police, continues to arbitrarily stifle freedom of speech and expression in Malaysia, a rising trend that has become apparent since the change of government earlier this year. We wish to remind the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government that freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed for all Malaysians under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution, and should not be disproportionately restricted simply because said speech or expression challenges norms or presents critical or alternative views.

The right to express views and ideas freely, without fear of interference or persecution, is an essential part of democracy. Respectful debates and expressions help us examine and critically challenge conventional wisdoms and promote heterodox views. In doing so, we foster a more informative and critical society, one that is able to articulate their own views and alternative views, safely and openly.

We risk spiralling into an undemocratic state if our government continues to censor and restrict speech and expression without due process and at the expense of fundamental civil liberties of its peoples – as is the case with the UMANY investigations. Articulating an academic view based on the Federal Constitution, as was the case in this instance, should not warrant police action. Recording a police search of a student activist’s house also should not result in criminal sanction. The police, despite issuing a statement to clarify their actions in arresting the student activist in question, have failed to justify why taking videos or photographs of police investigations could affect the confidentiality of said investigations.

Furthermore, we do not want to foster an environment which undermines accountability and good governance and where people are prohibited from questioning or criticising the government over public affairs.

Academic scholarship, on the other hand, cannot flourish in an atmosphere of censorship and disproportionate restriction of speech and expression. An open and robust environment for sharing ideas freely is crucial for learning as it allows students to think critically, challenge and engage with different perspectives. Students must remain free to inquire, study and evaluate, and gain new maturity and understanding. The participation of students in intellectual debates concerning the state of affairs of the country, therefore, should be encouraged, not discouraged. Higher education institutions must ensure that they are moulding a thinking society and supporting the promotion of multiple views – not investigating such views.

To that end, we call on the following recommendations to be adopted at once:

1.       The police and UM must, without any delay, drop their respective
investigations into UMANY, its members, former members and associated student leaders, over UMANY’s statement;

2.       JPA should uphold academic freedom and immediately withdraw the demand for show-cause letters from the JPA-sponsored UMANY members over their alleged involvement over the matter;

3.       The relevant authorities must pledge to protect UMANY members who are being harassed, cyberbullied or threatened online over their statement and ensure that those who are making such threats are dealt with in accordance with established international standards and practices, and;

4.       The PN government must ensure that freedom of expression and speech is upheld and protected at all times for all Malaysians by repealing repressive laws used to arbitrarily restrict these freedoms, in particular, the Sedition Act 1948 and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

12 November 2020

Jointly issued by:
Amnesty International Malaysia
Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)
Suara Rakyat Masyarakat (SUARAM)

Endorsed by the following civil society organisations:

1.       Agora Society

2.       Aliran

3.       ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR)

4.       Beyond Borders Malaysia

5.       Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC)

6.       CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

7.       Community Women and Workers Network (CWWN)

8.       Demokrat UM

9.       EMPOWER Malaysia

10.   ENGAGE

11.   G25 Malaysia

12.   Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM)

13.   Gindol Initiative for Civil Society Borneo

14.   Greenpeace Malaysia

15.   Growing Emerging Leaders (GEL)

16.   In Between Cultura

17.   Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia (JKOASM)

18.   Johor Yellow Flame (JYF)

19.   Justice for Sisters

20.   Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH)

21.   KLSCAH Youth

22.   LLG Cultural Development Centre Berhad

23.   Malaysia Muda

24.   Malaysian Medics International (MMI)

25.   Malaysian Students’ Global Alliance (MSGA)

26.   Malaysian Action for Justice and Unity Foundation (MAJU)

27.   National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE)

28.   North South Initiative (NSI)

29.   Oriental Hearts and Minds Study Institute (OHMSI)

30.   Our Journey

31.   Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)

32.   Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (GERAK)

33.   Persatuan Kesedaran dan Keadilan Iklim Malaysia – Klima Action
Malaysia KAMY

34.   Persatuan Komuniti Prihatin Selangor & KL (PRIHATIN)

35.   Persatuan Prihatin Masyarakat Lipis

36.   Persatuan Promosi Hak Asasi Manusia (PROHAM)

37.   Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor

38.   Pertubuhan SiraguGal

39.   Pusat KOMAS

40.   Research for Social Advancement (REFSA)

41.   Sabah Environmental Protection Association (SEPA)

42.   Sabah Women’s Action-Resource Group (SAWO)

43.   Sarawak Association for Peoples’ Aspirations (SAPA)

44.   Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM)

45.   Sisters in Islam (SIS)

46.   Society for Equality, Respect And Trust for All Sabah (SERATA)

47.   Student Unity Front UKM

48.   Taiwan Alliance for Thai Democracy

49.   Tanah Dahai

50.   Tenaganita

51.   Teoh Beng Hock Trust for Democracy

52.   Thai Students in Europe for Liberal Democracy

53.   The Coalition for Clean and Fair Election (BERSIH 2.0)

54.   Tindak Malaysia

55.   UM Law Society

56.   Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO)

57.   Youth Era Malaysia


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