Law student Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi said he was taking UKM to court because his suspension was without basis and went against the Federal Constitution.
“It goes against Article 10 of the Federal Constitution and the UKM disciplinary board also failed to prove their case against me to justify the disciplinary actions taken against me,” he said in a statement.
“I am taking legal action as UKM’s internal appeal process takes too long,” he said, adding it has been a month since the appeal process started.
Article 10 of the Federal Constitution guarantees Malaysian citizens the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association. But Parliament can restrict this when national security is at stake.
Last month, Asheeq was suspended for one semester by UKM and fined RM200 for his involvement in the rally.
Then, Asheeq said the board’s reasoning for his suspension was that he had embarrassed the university and that he had committed an offence under the Peaceful Assembly Act (2012) by taking part in an illegal rally.
Asheeq said in his defence that he had in no way embarrassed the university as his participation was as a Malaysian citizen.
He added that he never mentioned UKM’s name in his speech and that although he had been investigated by the police, he was not charged in court.
The #TangkapMO1 rally was organised by a coalition of students and youth groups calling for the arrest of the MO1 named in the United States’ Department of Justice’s recent civil suit linked to state fund 1MDB. MO1 was the acronym used in the suit to stand for Malaysian Official Number 1, which was later said by an Umno leader to be Prime Minister Najib Razak.