BAWANI: Free education can only lead to progress, open up the eyes of the students and give rise to a breed of scholars who are critical-thinking by nature. Pic: SM AminKUALA LUMPUR: "If I were Prime Minister, I would provide free education for all!"

This was the pledge by Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) second year law student KS Bawani, when asked on what she would do if she was given the opportunity to lead the country.

Bawani said, by providing free education, it can improve the quality of education in the country, as well as provide ample freedom to scholars and the universities.

"There has to an avenue for students to make their voices heard. Independence and autonomy must also be given to universities.

"Free education can only lead to progress, open up the eyes of the students and give rise to a breed of scholars who are critical-thinking by nature.

"I feel that if all this is given, our problems will be solved. The quality of education will rise in our country," she told the audience at the forum titled "Kebebasan Akademik dan Hak Asasi" (Academic Freedom and Rights) at the KL-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall here, last night.

Bawani explained that universities cannot be controlled by only one side, which is only out to fulfil their specific agendas.

The student leapt to fame when her verbal sparring session with Suara Wanita 1Malaysia (SW1M) president Sharofah Zohra Jabeen Syed Shah Miskin at a recent forum was posted on video-sharing site YouTube.

Bawani's tirade on the necessity of free education, coupled with Sharifah Zohra's retort, quickly garnered attention and the video soon went viral.

The SW1M president's "Listen, listen, listen" statement quickly became a catchphrase, and soon became the receiving end of numerous parody videos.

Meanwhile, Bawani launched an attack on SW1M, claiming that it was an example of efforts by certain efforts to 'brainwash' students, and used the method of putting down others to canvass support.

"We encourage forums, but universities must be independent. They cannot become tools of anyone.

"I checked on Facebook to find out who exactly SW1M is. I found out that they don't even have a website, just a Facebook page.

"They created the Facebook page on Sept 2, 2012. Their first programme was in Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), at a forum concerning students and politics.

"Their next one was in October last year at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and then in December, at UUM.

"This shows that they are going to all universities to brainwash the students. Why? For what? Students should be given room to choose, to judge for themselves," she stressed.

Sharifah Zohra did not attend yesterday's forum, which was organized by Segmentasi Mahasiswa Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM).

Apart from Bawani, other panellists included constitutional law expert Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari and Dr Maszlee Malik from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).

Around 200 people, the majority of whom are students from institutes of higher learning in the Klang Valley, attended the forum.

The organizers opened the question and answer session to the floor, which led to the forum ending at almost midnight.

- mD

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