As soon as Friday prayers came to a close, the youths converged before erupting into chants of "Long live knowledge", "Fight cruelty", "Free Aziz Bari".
Led
by student activists Ahmad Syukri Abdul Razab and Mohd Hilman Idham,
the group chanted "Hidup Ilmu (long live knowledge)", "Stand against
cruelty" and "Free Aziz Bari".Apart from supporting Aziz's resumption of service, the protesters are also calling for greater freedom for university students.
Aziz, a well known expert on the federal constitution, was suspended for his comments on the Selangor Sultan's recent decree on the religious authority's raid on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church.
Senator Mohd Ezam Noor had lodged a police report against Aziz for saying that the sultan's move was unusual and inconsistent.
In the show-cause letter to Abdul Aziz, he was accused of "issuing statements that are against the interest of the university" and must reply by Oct 25.
Scuffle
He said the penalty meted to Aziz was disproportionate, adding that Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) dean Zainal Kling should be punished too for suggesting that Malaysia was never colonised.
After a few short speeches, the group marched towards UIA reactor Zaleha Kamarudin's office to submit a protest note.A scuffle broke out when university security and police personnel tried to stop them.
The shoving lasted for about 10 minutes before the student leaders, including Mohd Hilman calmed the protesters and negotiated with the security personnel.
After the note was delivered to the reactor's office about 2.15pm, Ahmad Syukri told the students that their mission would not end until Aziz was cleared of the charges.
"Don't be complacent. We will rise again in future if this matter is not resolved," he said, to cheers from the protesters.
Reactor promise fairness
The protest note, prepared by Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM), calls for charges against Aziz to be dropped to “restore the image of UIA as a respected academic institution”.
SMM said the university should not resort to “legal pressure that conflicts with academic principles” against Aziz, and instead open a fair investigation into the matter.
“We undergraduates demand that the university respects the principles of academic freedom in line with the Declaration on the Principles of Academic Freedom and Academic Members 1970, Academic Rights List 2001 and the Academics for Academic Freedom campaign,” says the memorandum.
The memorandum is supported by a coalition of nine student movements, among them the National Association of Malaysian Muslim Students (PKPIM), Pro Mahasiswa Nasional (Pro-MN), All Malaysia Muslim Undergraduates Movement (Gamis) and the Independent Undergraduate Activists Group (Kami).
In a statement on her Facebook page this afternoon, Zaleha assured the students that investigations against Aziz would be fair and done in the best interest of the university.
"We are now in the process of fact-finding to determine the truth of the matter, in the spirit of the verse, 'O you who believe! Avoid much suspicions, indeed some suspicions are sins'.
"We should not be divided, but we should know that this is a test and hardship that we must face in unity," she wrote.
Campus security beefed up
Prior to the protest, UIA security personnel stepped up their efforts and scrutinised those entering the university.
Members of the public and reporters are also not allowed to enter the university grounds, according to a guard there.“(Reporters) are allowed in only for the press conference at noon, after that members of the public are not allowed to enter, not even for Friday prayers,” a guard said.
However, several notable Pakatan Rakyat figures, including Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, Batu MP Tian Chua and PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar, managed to slip past security.
Shamsul was detained by university security while performing the wudhu (ablution) ritual. He was taken to another mosque 6km away, in Taman Melawar, to perform his Friday prayers.
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