Lantern fest: Students criticise ministry

By Ng Boon Hooi (Malaysiakini.com)
Nov 10, 2000 08:59am

The Malaysia Inter-varsity Council (IVC) has criticised Deputy Education Minister Hon Choon Kim for using his official one-sided statement to cover up the bureaucratic "culture" of Universiti Malaya (UM) with regard to the lantern festival issue.

IVC secretary-general Ng Wei Aik said that Hon should not use technicalities to deny the right of students for holding activities.

"UM students should have the right (to decide on) the size and the type of their activities. UM authorities should not deny the celebration of the Tanglung festival recently, even if it was on a big scale," he said in a statement to malaysiakini.

Hon had told Parliament on Wednesday that Universiti Malaya forbade a planned Mooncake Festival on its premises last month because the organising group was not recognised by the university authorities and that the event over three days would consume the students' time and energy (Mooncake fest banned as organisers not recognised, Oct 18).

Ng said that the problem of committees set up by colleges not being in the list recognised by the UM authorities can be easily resolved.

Ng pointed out that Tanglung Festival is only one particular case which shows the oppression of the authorities, yet the education ministry and UM seem unwilling to learn from the experience and correct their bureaucratic ways.

"Hon has not listed out how many activities had been denied by the authorities, therefore his explanation in Parliament is unacceptable," he said.

He called on the education ministry and UM to apologise to the students and the public over the cancellation of the lantern festival originally planned for Sept 12. "

They should overcome such bureaucratic problems and give more freedom to the students," he said.