I am happy to be back in Tawau, particularly as it has produced a youth who had stood up for the freedom and rights of all university students in the country.

I refer to Tawau youth, Yee Yang Yang, 19, first year student at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) who became the cause celebre of campus rights of university students as he was thrown into the limelight when he was victimized by UPM security personnel two weeks ago trying to cow students from asserting their human rights to independent student activism.

On Sept. 15, UPM security officials raided Yee’s hostel room and confiscated his laptop computer, high-end mobile phone, portable music player and several other items.

Being interrogated by the security officials was the least of his problems when the UPM Vice Chancellor Nik Mustapha R. Abdullah publicly defended the action of the security officials and justified the confiscation on the ground that Yee’s laptop contained pornographic materials.

This was a downright lie, which had virtually been admitted by the UPM authorities who have returned all the confiscated items to Yee.

Any lesser soul would have wilted under such unprecedented pressures from the university authorities. But Yee stoutly stood his ground.

Nobody wants to be a hero, but it is such unexpected tests which bring out the true character and calibre of a person — and by all accounts, Yee has acquitted himself most creditably for himself, his family, his town Tawau, his state Sabah and his country Malaysia.

All right-thinking Malaysians feel proud that despite his youth, inexperience and unpreparedness, Yee stood up to the test in UPM and remained firm in defending the freedom and human rights of students in the Malaysian university campuses.

Tawau has every reason to feel proud to have produced Yee. Malaysia too, as with such principled youths, there is still hope for the state and the country.

Well done, Yee.

(Media Conference Statement 2 in Tawau on Sunday, 30th September 2007)