Malaysian Digest caught up with outspoken student activist Adam Adli to check up on what his life has been like since the flag-lowering incident.

Malaysian Digest: When was the first time you join the student movement? What made you join it?

Adam Adli: The first time I joined the student movement was the first day I attended university. I wanted to be in a movement but somehow I couldn’t find a place or space since Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) is not that strong and vocal. So in 2009, a bunch of my friends and I launched Legasi Mahasiswa Progresif (LMP). It is a very leftist movement and of course vocal. That is how we started. Our first involvement… the first action from LMP was to take part in the demonstration against water privatization in Selangor. That was the first demonstration that I attended.

And for attending the demonstration, I was charged under AUKU (Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti)… Section 15 was used because the UPSI administration associated me with a political party due to my involvement in the water demonstration. But I was acquitted with no action because UPSI didn’t want it to be an issue. But still, I was barred from student elections… but it’s okay.


MD: At the rate you are going now, how far you think you can go? And how far you want to go?

AA: I can go as far as I want, but how about them students? Do they want to go as far as I’m going? Actually the question depends much on the students themselves… I cannot go alone, obviously. This is a movement; it is impossible to be done alone. This is not a one-man show.

So, looking at how far I can go and how far I want to go, Of course I want to go as far as I could. Looking back at everything, we want to relive the history (of student activism) that happened during 60s and 70s. Everyone who joins a movement always want to go far.

 
In your opinion, what do you think of current senitments of students in the struggle to abolish AUKU?

They are still in a dilemma. There’s a question in their mind thinking how many are willing to do this together? What issues are we fighting for? Are we going to get involved in students issues or maybe national interests issues? 

A year ago it was not like today. Today even though it is still the same faces (you see in demonstrations), you can see people who has never heard about AUKU starting to discuss about this issue. People are talking about it, some are condemning… some are supporting. Well, the awareness is there. It is good for us. We have done some surveys and we found out that our supporters have increased by 50 to 60 percent compared to before all these things happened.
 

Many associate you with partisan politics. Please tell us about your links with certain political parties.

Looking at the issue of me being partisan or being associated to any political party, in Malaysia, we don’t have any pure civil society movements or pure student movements. Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam Malaysia (GAMIS) is strongly linked to PAS. We can’t say that students can work alone, no. At first I was curious, it’s education in politics since we don’t learn politics in school. Whenever I was given a chance to meet politicians, I would grab the chance, and this is when they started to associate me with partisan politics.

Well, as a citizen, I do vote… I will vote. When I throw my vote in the future, that would be a move of support to political parties, how do you judge that? Do you want to call me partisan because I vote?

This is beyond politics. The truth is, no political party will ever fight the same struggle we are fighting today because the abolishment of AUKU and the academic freedom will never benefit political parties. Not the government or even the opposition. So that will be it. That would be my response.

 
How are your relationships with your university mates and lecturers at the moment?

When I attended the examinations, I met two of my lecturers. One of them is really concerned about my health and my safety. She did not comment on the issue per se but she was concerned about my wellbeing. That is one, then another one, he simply smiled and I know he has something in his mind… I think he supports me.

Between course mates, I cannot say that everyone supports me, but so far, everyone is pretty supportive. They tweets and text me, so I think I don’t have any problems with my peers as far as I’m concerned.

 
How would you picture your future after all the commotion?

I don’t know about the future, but of course I always dream big. Me and my friends, we always dream big. I want to see myself being part of the change, because we are doing something here at the moment. So I want to be part of it. That’s all.

In 30 and 40 years from now, I don’t know, but within these five to 10 years I would still be doing whatever I’m doing right now. Involve myself in civil society and still be an activist for social causes.


What is your political stand?

Back in UPSI, I have always been pictured by student groups as a leftist and a radical. Even some who met me commented like “Adam, we can see that you and your guys are bringing back the legacy of Ahmad Boestamam… Are you guys communists?” and stuff like that. And I always reply back to them “well communism is cool.” So I would say that my political view leans to the left.


What is your opinion on the leftist movement in Malaysia?

Well in Malaysia, the leftist movement has lost its plot. I don’t know what happened to them… I don’t know what mistakes they had made. They have a great history in the 1940s. The first political party that was formed in Malaysia is leftist party. They used to be very strong, very influential and systematic. They used to have agenda and they were very pure. But what had happened to those?

They have great history but nowadays I don’t know how they could survive the mainstream. Because it looks like there’s no room at all. Not that they have been suppressed or anything. Of course we have youngsters who have leftist tendencies, but how far can they go?
 

Since you said that your political view leans to the left, what would you do to correct the misunderstanding regarding the left movement?

Well, so far what I can do is to tell students and youths of my age that you guys have been cheated and all. By thinking that communism will kill you and all, but come to think of it, how about the soldiers? They too will kill you once they received the order.  Well some awareness like that. Maybe, I won’t be involved directly, but you know, I will help with the awareness.

 
If you can go back to 17 December, would you still perform the flag-lowering stunt given that it caused such a huge controversy as what we can see right now?

If I can go back to the December 17^, I will still do the same thing. I don’t see anything wrong in that… It’s a good thing actually.

It is a positive effort in the fight to abolish AUKU. Actually, we are lacking of something. We lack of publicity especially awareness among student. Maybe around 10 percent to 20 percent are talking about AUKU before this, but now the number has increased. Students are beginning to talk about AUKU. Condemning or supporting it is not the issue. So, in short, I have no regrets.

 
What would you say justifies your action of lowering the flag bearing the image of Prime Minister Najib Razak?

The message is clear. You fight argument with argument, and you respond to issue with issue. What I had done was not driven by any political will, or to gain monetary prizes. It was driven by an issue, because we want to be heard. We want everyone to listen to what we want to say.

The flag-lowering incident is an eye-opener for the public. It is not meant to discredit or offend anyone, and it’s far from provoking the public sensitivity. So the message is clear, we want the act to be abolished. If they cannot fulfill our demands, this kind of things follows.


What would you say to those who constantly threaten you?

There is no need for barbaric threats because you bring the image of political parties while we are championing the students’ movement. It’s a whole different concept. You are the one who is in power, who works to retain the power, who is striving to get votes from the public in elections. So when you take to such vulgar actions and threats, think about your reputation that will be tattered over it. As a political party, threats and all is never your job. Be decent while carrying your party’s image especially since you are talking about implementing Malaysian culture and mixing it up with democratic system. So it will be better if you fulfill your promises. No need to go to go to extremes to the extent of killing me and my family over rage. There is no room for such vulgarity.

  
There are still many who still not understand the struggle for academic freedom. Could you please explain why it is so important?

Academic freedom is an autonomy power that gives space for the students and academicians to challenge the knowledge. It means that the universities would have immunity as long as it does not come with bad intentions. This is needed so that knowledge can be developed. Without academic freedom we are going to be dragged back just like what had happened during Europe’s dark ages. Our country is going backwards because the knowledge cannot be developed due to the obstruction in the academic freedom.

 
What are your comments regarding the issue of campus politics that is leaning towards the partisan politics?

I don’t think that it is wrong to absorb partisan politics into campus politics. It is never a problem to bring in policies and ideologies from outside into campus, as long as it is suitable. That is why we have Islamic Students Movement and Socialist Club in universities, because there is nothing wrong with ideologies. But let’s just take the good and suitable ideologies policy and approaches and leave out politics of slander and defamation. As a student, if you subscribe to such negative political agenda you should be ashamed of yourself… let them old folks commit to such practice.

We cannot avoid this thing. Like it or not, our exposure to politics comes from the political parties as we can’t get it from schools. Anyhow, I think academic freedom and partisan politics must be separated in terms of direction. We need different temperaments for it. Same ideologies would not be a problem. After all, political parties have no interest in campus politics. If a political party is supporting campus politics affairs, I would see it more like an endorsement. They have their own rights to support.

 
Have you ever been invited to join any political party?

There has been no official invitation. I can tell you that much.
 

Will you join any if there’s an invitation?

Well, I’m not fond of it. It depends on the situation actually, but maybe not now. I still cannot see that the thing that I’m fighting for can be included in any political party’s manifesto. Academic freedom cannot have barriers, and political party is actually a barrier towards the academic freedom, as we will be bound by party rules and policies.

It is true that academic freedom can only be achieved with the help of political parties as the Act needs to be amended and debated in Dewan Rakyat and all… That we cannot deny, it’s the reality. But just let the struggle be fought by the students.

People are wrong to think that the fight to dethrone regimes should be taken up by political parties. Actually to overthrow the government or regimes is up to the people to do it. The political parties should only strengthen their lineup, their politicians, their manifesto and their members in order to be a better government that would replace the dethroned regime. Political parties can never overthrow regimes. Leave it to the people. To me, it is more sincere that way.

 

- mD