Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, three-time winner of the Asian British Parliamentary Debating Championship’s Asia’s Best Speaker award, has been barred from speaking at two local universities, due to his support for the People’s Declaration calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The champion debater expressed his dissappointment with the Higher Education Ministry’s decision to step in and prevent him from delivering speeches at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), and Universiti Malaysia Saawak (Unimas) for his involvement in former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s populist movement.
Syed Saddiq told The Star Online‘s Danial Albakri that his talk at Uniten was cancelled outright, and his appearance at USIM had been “postponed until the political scene gets better”.
Upon learning that his speaking engagement at Unimas was also called off by the ministry, the International Islamic University (IIUM) debater took to his personal Facebook to vent his frustrations:
“I expected the Minister of Higher Education, YB idris Jusoh to speak up for the rights of students, instead he brushed the issue aside,” he writes.
“I’ve learnt something new today. The ministry will use me as long as it benefits them. When it doesn’t, they will distance themselves.”
He ends his FB post with a reminder to the Higher Education Minister that he “should be protecting the students, not the Prime Minister of Malaysia”.
The People’s Declaration was signed recently by some 50 luminaries of Malaysian public life, spearheaded by Dr Mahathir, who has been Najib’s most vehement critic for over the past year.
The declaration, with the tagline “Save Malaysia” and aimed at removing Najib from public office through any and all democratic means, was also signed by former deputy prime minister and UMNO deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali of PKR, Parti Amanah Negara president Mat Sabu, and social activists Maria Chin Abdullah of Bersih 2.0, Ambiga Sreenevasan of NegaraKu, and provocateur-at-large Hishamuddin Rais.
