By Zurairi AR
Malay Mail Online
October 28, 2014

PETALING JAYA, Oct 28 ― Malaysia looks to have a brighter future with a new generation of student activists who last night stood up to an authoritarian administration to preserve their academic freedom, several civil society leaders and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers said.

The prominent speakers at a fundraising dinner attended by close to 1,000 people here last night pointing to the mammoth in-campus demonstration in Universiti Malaya (UM) led by its student council to show solidarity for alumnus Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who returns to the courtroom today to challenge his controversial second sodomy conviction.

“I say we need a third wave of uprising. An uprising of the people of Malaysia to fight and arise,” said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, to much applause from the crowd.

According to the Gelang Patah MP, the “first wave” happened in 1998 following Anwar’s sacking from government and first sodomy charge. That period in time has come to be knows as the “reformasi” period.

The “second wave”, Lim added, was in 2008 when PR was formed to go toe-to-toe against the Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition in the 12th General Elections.

Prominent lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan singled out the UM Student Representative Council (PMUM) president Fahmi Zainol for his bravery in facing the university’s “autocratic” rule, after a lockdown purportedly to bar Anwar from entering the campus for a highly-anticipated speech last night.

“It all shows that you can push people only that far. I was hoping that I would see the pushback in my lifetime and we’ve seen it,” said the patron of the Negara-Ku movement.

“We’re seeing people reach a point of no return. They must know that they cannot bully the citizens of this country the way they had continuously done so,” added Ambiga.

“Once that pushback comes in a big wave, they’ll not be able to stop it. So I say to them: the more you push us the more we will push back.”

Anwar was originally slated for an appearance at the dinner to raise funds for a nationwide campaign to abolish the controversial Sedition Act after an address at UM, but had to give the fundraiser a miss for another late-night speech in Subang Jaya.

The opposition leader has been on a roll in the week ahead of his Federal Court hearing, with three stops across the Klang Valley on his itinerary in a bid to drum up support ahead of his appeal.

The fundraising dinner was organised by the anti-Sedition Act coalition Gerakan Hapus Akta Hasutan (GHAH), represented by PAS Deputy President Mohamad Sabu and civil liberties lawyer Eric Paulsen.

The two insisted that they wish to see the controversial colonial act go, and they do not wish it to anybody, even to Datuk Ibrahim Ali the firebrand president of Malay rights group Perkasa.

“I don’t agree. Just like we don’t want ourselves to be charged, we don’t agree if others are charged under it,” Mohamad said, catching by surprise some in the crowd who wanted Ibrahim to be similarly charged.

“We cannot be selective and having double-standards … We don’t want anyone to be charged, even Ibrahim,” said Paulsen, who spoke after Mohamad.

“If [Ibrahim] cannot find a lawyer, I will gladly defend him,” he offered.

The coalition also garnered the support of Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali, who pledged his state government’s support to civil societies involved.

“Only a weak government, like Umno and BN, uses the Sedition Act to oppress the citizens,” Azmin said.

“If the government is strong, legitimate, and backed by the public, there is no need for it to use the Act to curb the public’s freedom.”

The Federal Court is set to hear today Anwar’s challenge against his second sodomy conviction as decided by the Court of Appeal.

The Permatang Pauh MP, charged with sodomy again in 2008, was initially acquitted by the High Court in 2012.

But the appellate court subsequently overturned the High Court verdict on March 7 this year, ruling that the trial judge had erred in rejecting the DNA evidence produced in the case.

If Anwar fails to reverse his five-year imprisonment sentence and conviction in the Federal Court tomorrow, the Permatang Pauh MP would lose his seat as the law bars anyone fined RM2,000 or imprisoned for one year from serving as a lawmaker.