Ibn Amir : Pen Mightier Than Sword

Ibnu Amir Al-Pendangi...a young writer with great talent in writing. We are not talking about writing a great novel or saga, but still he is among the very few university students who dare to take the risk to write what he thinks and spread the message to public. Now, when you are a university student, it is not easy to write what you think. Take doing an assignment for instance, are you graded excellently or penalized dearly if you write something that goes beyond the syllabus? I think this is not a good example. I give another example. let say you have some burning questions and also points to share with others in campus or the public at large over ISA, OSA, NEP, UMNO, PAS , etc, you cant simply put your thoughts to writing and send it off to the media. Worst case scenario: you could be expelled from the university for "disreputing" the uni by writing that. you could think, definitely. and that is even because the Uni doesnt invent a "mind-reader' machine yet. Apart from that, your silence and obedient self is much appreciated. Thank you.

So, this Ibnu Amir has this cool idea of writing down what he thinks. He thinks the Unis are undemocratic. he wrote that down. He feels partisan politics in Unis are killing student `s struggle for progressive intellectualism. He poured his ideas onto the paper. He got even better. He organize a writer `s alliance, he put up a website so public could access his articles. Ibnu Amir is on his way to be a self-learned socially conscious great writer. The next MGG Pillai. Move over, Hishamuddin Rais. Here comes the "big thing". ( sorry Amir, for the exaggeration! )

Except for: his Uni doesnt think so. Ibnu Amir is like a tiny sharp thorn that `s stuck in the Uni `s flesh. His writings could be dangerous. No, that `s not the big deal here. The big deal is he does not write all this with any legitimate permission from the Uni. He even collected tokens for his writing. That is also illegal.

But, this person who knows Ibnu Amir thinks that `s not the case. I have come across writings by students in UMNO websites, mainstream medias etc. They did not get into trouble like Ibnu Amir. Not at all. Ibu Amir was rendered guilty because he decided to put his thoughts into writing and also decided that his thoughts should be independent, critical and fair. He must, in his writing call a spade a spade. This is where his writing contrasted with other young undrgraduate writers who escaped the wrath of their Unis.

I am not saying that I agree with all of Ibnu Amir `s writing. I got some problems with some of his articles too. But that `s just the normal clash of ideas you face in your life. Our minds work differently. But still, he has the right to write his ideas. Or else "Freedom of Expression" would not be part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Being a university student or the so-called intellectual with vast knowledge on various fields of academic, freedom of expression is even crucial. University students are equipped with skills and theories not just to excel in their pursuit for carreer and wealth. It is meant to be their tool in becoming one of the society `s strongest momentum in maintaining good and justice or preventing injustice. The ultra-right spectrum of the human rights discourse will always draw our attention towards the importance of being responsible in exercising our rights. True, very true. I mean we don't want our neighbours to publish our bad habits in the media just because they have the "knowledge". But what happens when you denies one `s repsonsibility to exercise his right? I believe it is two different things, totally.

Ibnu Amir is not violating his responsibilty to write ethically. He is not discrediting someone or anything with the intention to humiliate. He is exercising his right in order to ensure that Unis respect democracy. His critiques are his efforts to improve the present situation in our local campus. The perpetrator of human rights violation here is the University, not Ibnu Amir.

It is not shocking for me to hear quite frequently how people associate freedom of expression with western value. The association, by a lot of people are mostly not due to government or radical religious group`s propaganda. Our customs is also at fault. "Budi bahasa" and "sopan-santun" have evolved into restraining our self from saying what we should say. A direct import of culture from the sultanate era in a modern form would be dissent amounts to ingratitude. I will not even go into the darker realm of modern-day feudalism that exist in our society. Call me a "Melayu mudah Lupa". These examples are some of the striking points that I will always remember about our culture.

And as I write this and as other people read this ( or not,please refer to my comment section, nil responses), Ibnu Amir is still under the constant pressure and control of his Unis for merely speaking out or rather writing down his pieces of minds. But I guess being an educated person, Ibnu Amir will find this pretty normal in the daily lives of independent writers. History has shown us how great writers were shown the exit ( read: death penalty ) because of their writings. But like we all are aware off, it is mostly because of what these writers believed.