Freedom of Speech

The Malaysian High Commissioner, Mr Jack De Silva, by his outburst against New Zealand University Students' Associations is attempting to suppress the freedom of speech among Malaysian students in this country which the majority of New Zealanders enjoy in far greater measure than is the case for Malays, let alone Chinese, in Malaysia.

Such interference in the internal politics of New Zealand, interference of a particularly vicious type, is both unnecessary and undesirable, and must not be tolerated by Students' Associations or by the Government.

As the Acting Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University recently said: "If the Malaysian Government wishes Malaysian students to be sheltered from...exposure... to political views of all shades....it cannot look to the universities of this country to provide higher education for their students."