KUALA LUMPUR – Police have taken a statement from Malaysiakini columnist Andrew Sia over his article calling Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) an “apartheid academy.”
At 6.27pm, Sia, who is currently warded in a hospital, updated an earlier post on Facebook to state that police had taken his statement and that he still had his phone.
“They asked me some questions politely. I answered politely. Praise God all went smoothly and they didn’t take away my phone.”
Earlier today, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said Sia was still receiving treatment at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.
Before taking his statement, police had recorded statements from 65 other individuals, to date. Of this, 63 are those who filed police reports over Sia’s opinion piece that was published on May 22.
Two others are individuals working at Malaysiakini.
Sia is being investigated under Section 504 of the Penal Code, Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act 1955 and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
His piece, titled “Our apartheid academy, UiTM,” was related to a protest by UiTM students over suggestions to purportedly open the university to non-Bumiputera.
The protest led by UiTM’s student council from earlier this month called on students to wear black and to use the hashtag #MahasiswaUiTMBantah on social media.
It was in response to an appeal by the Malaysian Medical Association for UiTM to consider public interest by opening its postgraduate cardiothoracic surgery programme to non-Bumiputera doctors, amid a shortage of specialists in the field. – May 31, 2024