Bouquets for Bawani, brickbats for Sharifah

Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) law student and Jerit coordinator KS Bawani continues to receive bouquets of praise after her bruising verbal encounter with Suara Wanita 1Malaysia (SW1M) chairperson Sharifah Zohra Jabeen Syed Shah Miskin, who, on the other hand, is receiving brickbats all round.

A 24-minute video of Sharifah trying to browbeat Bawani during a forum at UUM last month went viral on Youtube last week, causing uproar amongst netizens and opening a floodgate of online jokes, as well as photos and videos poking fun at the SW1M chairperson.

Despite Bawani being from a PSM-linked NGO, support came from BN parties while Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin responded with tweets distancing the ruling coalition from Sharifah.

Higher Education Deputy Minister Saifuddin Abdullah also rushed to Bawani's defence, saying that Sharifah should not have talked down to the student.

Enterprising netizens have proposed that T-shirts be made featuring what has now become Sharifah's catchphrase "listen, listen, listen..." which was repeated 11 times in her rant against Bawani.

Some alleged that such incidents are happening due to the sorry state of Malaysian universities, like former Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin who lamented on micro-blog Twitter:

"(The) listen, listen, listen (incident) calls upon free souls to know that the situation must be changed immediately for the sake of intellectual independence."

Even Universiti Malaya's pro-establishment Aspirasi-dominated student council hit out at Sharifah, stating that while she spoke about respect, she forgot about not insulting others.

"I believe, if she wants to open the eyes of students, she needs to learn to open her own eyes and respect us," said its president Izham Ismail.

"I also believe, if animals like cats, sharks, cows and others can talk, they would ask her to stop acting like that," he said referring to Sharifah's argument that people should not complain so much as even animals have problems.

Izham cautioned that all must learn from the incident.

"Do not point the finger only at Sharifah. Maybe we all have weaknesses which require introspection. Our real enemy is not Sharifah, but the diminishing feel of respect and rational thought in ourselves."
'Arrogant attack'

MIC Youth labelled it as an "arrogant attack against a varsity student".

"She (Sharifah) is not fit, nor deserves to be a panelist, because of her unethical and improper actions," said its secretary C Sivarajah.

"First of all, Sharifah should be able to answer the questions posed by Bawani, and not attack her unnecessarily. She can talk about human rights but the big question is why she forgot about the student's rights.

"Just a reminder to Sharifah that students have their rights especially to express their views because they are also human beings and not like the animals she spoke on in the forum," continued Sivarajah.

The Malaysian Indian Progressive Association (Mipas) noted that Bawani had a right to freedom of speech and expression, and Sharifah should have allowed Bawani to express her views at the forum.

"Sharifah's retaliation at Bawani by asking her to get out of the country was childish and altogether avoided a discussion on the weaknesses of the government's administration," said its secretary-general S Barathidasan in a statement.

PAS Youth deputy chief Raja Ahmad Iskandar Raja Yaacob praised Bawani's courage which he said should be emulated by all students who intended to be future leaders.

"At the same time, we regret that the forum organisers were not open to criticism. A panelist that only talks but does not want to listen only shows arrogance which is embarrassing to all."

Independent student group Kami, in a statement issued by president Khalid Ismath, echoed the sentiments of most groups, urging that Sharifah to openly apologise to Bawani.