TASEK UTARA 1974: STUDENT-SQUATTER SOLIDARITY

Whatever meagre support they had initially had diminished with each passing day with the exposure of their schemes.

Their support only came from members of the Silat Gayong, the ViceChancellor, the Chairman of the University Council, the Education Minister, other government leaders, the FRU and the police force!

All this is proof of how `popular' these fanatics, who called themselves nationalists and claimed to struggle for student unity, really were.

Myth of Democracy

One interesting question has popped up: The authorities have been boasting that they are democratic, that people support them, etc.

When their misdeeds, such as corruption and other crimes against the people are exposed, they arbitrarily arrest their critics.

Thus, the election becomes a cynical exercise to demonstrate the viability of their brand of "parliamentary democracy". In contrast, the UMSU election till then had all the while been fair and democratic.

Now we have a supposedly democratically elected clique going all out to suppress a popularly and democratically elected student representative body.

This throws light on what they mean by "democracy" - their privilege to oppress and suppress the people who rise up to challenge their misrule.

Rich experiences in arduous struggles have taught the masses that the oppressors enact the law to suit their own interests. In order to achieve total liberation from their oppression, it is not possible to play the game according to their rules.

The masses are fast learning to play the game according to the people's rules, and NOT the rules of the oppressors.

In Whose Interest?

At this point, it may be appropriate to discuss whose interests the NEC served - the vast majority of the people or the oppressors?

The landless people's just struggles against the oppressors, who have a well-organised bureaucracy and an oppressive state apparatus, require the support of the vast majority of the people, including the students.

When the students' support reached a higher level, they were usurped by the NEC. Aware of the popular student support for the UMSU role in helping the oppressed masses, the NEC clique used steel chains, clubs, iron nails, sticks and other weapons to try to terrorise the students.

The abuse of silat gayong (an art based on strict codes of conduct) on the UMSU Exco was particularly repugnant.