Students drenched but determined, force open gates

KUALA LUMPUR: The growing crowds outside the premises of University Malaya used their combined effort to force through the barricades and gain entry into campus grounds.

Despite the hall being in pitch blackness due to a power cut earlier in the day, the crowd was seen relentlessly marching ahead to the Dewan Tunku Chancellor, the venue at which opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is to give his talk “40 Years: From University of Malaya to Jail”.

PKR’s Datuk Johari Abdul, an alumnus of UM, when speaking to the crowds said, “Back in the day (the 60s), things were great. This kind of activism should be encouraged.”

Earlier a student who also spoke to the crowds said, “This UM let the biggest criminal in the world, Obama, in here. But they aren’t letting our opposition leader here. It’s embarrassing.”

Mocking the university for being “only a self-proclaimed premier university”, he went on to say, “Are we letting the opposition play their rightful role in the constitution?”

Saying that the students were “asking nicely” for the gates to be opened, he added, “We are so used to these things. We have dealt with the police and FRU. But all we want is for Anwar Ibrahim to give his speech in the hall.”-

-FMT