Statement by The Student Freedom Fund – An Initiative to Support and Promote Student Freedom & Liberty in Malaysia. The fund was born out of a LoyarBurok idea and set up to aid the financial needs for legal proceedings of the UKM 4 to continue challenging the constitutionality of the UUCA/AUKU.

UKM 4 UUCA

The Student Freedom Fund or Tabung Kebebasan Mahasiswa is an initiative born out of the idea by LoyarBurok to set up funds to aid the financial needs for court disbursements for the four Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) students, dubbed the “UKM 4” charged under Section 15(5)(a) Akta Universiti & Kolej Universiti (AUKU) 1971 for allegedly campaigning in the Hulu Selangor by-election in April 2010.

The UKM 4 are: Muhammad Hilman bin Idham, Muhammad Ismail bin Aminuddin, Woon King Chai and Azlin Shafina. All are currently final year Political Science students in UKM (as of October 2010).

Appointed in October 2010, the Pro-Tem Committee Members of the fund consists of Lingswaran Singh, Izmil Amri Ismail and Karl Rafiq Nadzarin. They are tasked with maintaining transparency of the funds that were generously donated by the public to aid the four UKM students in their legal battles and also for all the future students in Malaysia, who might face the same predicament as the UKM 4.

Being embroiled in a long court battle have put the four UKM students under great financial strains, even with the counsels and solicitors (Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Haris Ibrahim, and Ashok Kandiah) providing legal assistance pro-bono. This fund has been created to appeal to the public for financial assistance to pay for the court disbursements and administrative fees to allow the UKM 4 to continue their challenge against the constitutionality of Section 15(5)(a) of AUKU 1971 through legal procedures. Costs of appeal and disbursements are expected to reach upwards of RM10,000 and that amount is exclusive of the costs ordered by the court against the four UKM students.

Looking at the big picture, these four UKM students are not the first students in Malaysia to have their rights, supposedly guaranteed under the Federal Constitution blatantly abused and disregarded by the university, they will certainly not be the last. Therefore, this fund is also aimed to help any students in the future who may go through a similar predicament as the UKM 4.

Any financial contributions can be made to the following CIMB Account at the following details:

CIMB Account No.: 12490098507528
Account Holder: Lingswaran Singh

The blog studentfreedomfund2010.wordpress.com aims to keep a transparent public record of all the financial contributions made by the general public and expenses incurred towards furthering the cause of Student Freedom and Liberty in Malaysia.

You may view the the list of donations made to the Student Freedom Fund here.

You may view the amount spent from the fund here.

Thank you for your support.

The Pro-Tem Committee

(The Student Freedom Fund)