TASEK UTARA 1974: STUDENT-SQUATTER SOLIDARITY

Some Analysis

The exploitation of the people engenders mounting opposition by the oppressed against the the ruling circles, who have become increasingly reliant upon suppression and repression to maintain power.

The masses have been taking up various forms of struggle to advance the cause of genuine national liberation. This situation accounts for the rise of the student movement as part of this mass movement.

The FEER (Oct. 4) acknowldged: "(The students) are highly critical of the corruption which they claim is evident in Malaysian society and the rise of a privileged class of politicians from the ruling National Front.

They claim that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer in the process." Earlier,. the same FEER article noted that: "Students have now become more outspoken and ready to take to the streets to prove their point."

All this while, the Special Branch has been using aIl sorts of subversive activities and threats to frustrate student struggles.

However, the necessity to do so clearly indicates the students' discontent with the present system. Student activism is an expression of more general popular discontent.

With a eampus takeover, how could the authorities boast of political stability? Moreover, the recent Thai student struggle was too recent a lesson to forget.

The timing of the crushing of the squatters in Johore Bahru after the campus coup d'etat was too good to be coincidental.

Furthermore, the generous praise for the NEC's subversive efforts by the authorities left no doubts as to who the real culprits behind the NEC and the coup d'etat were.

Even the FEER (Oct. 4) commented : "While the university authorities have regained control of the Kuala Lumpur eampus, they appear to have lost a degree of creditability in the process, particularly in the case of Acting ViceChancellor (Ahmad) Ibrahim.

And it has not been explained why Education Minister Mahathir Mohamed closed the university indefinitely . . . and reversed the decision a few hours later . . .".