KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — Malaysians studying in Australia under government scholarships were purportedly cautioned against joining an event featuring Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim this weekend, PKR mouthpiece Keadilan Daily reported.

Citing an unsubstantiated email it received, Keadilan Daily alleged the government had “warned” Public Service Department (PSD) scholars against attending the PKR de-facto leader’s session at Adelaide’s Festival of Ideas, as it would then expose them to “stern action”.

A screenshot of the purported email that bore the subject, “Gentle Reminder: Adelaide Festival of Ideas, Dissent and Democracy: An Audience with Anwar Ibrahim”, and carrying the same content quoted was also available on the Facebook page of PKR lawmaker Elizabeth Wong.

The email, shown as sent out on October 14, said that “fellow scholars” should not join the event that could allegedly hinder Malaysian students from keeping up their academic performance.

“Please refrain yourself from further joining this activity. You are smarter to think and focus on what matters rather than joining this activity that could make your hardship in maintaining good grades and earning the scholarship goes down the drain [sic].

“I wouldn’t hesitate to take stern action to those (JPA scholars) who involved [sic]. You know really well what you’ve signed into,” read the brief email that was purportedly signed off by a Shahrezan Md Sheriff, with the designation of student advisor at the PSD.

In the same Facebook post, Wong, the Bukit Lanjan state assemblyman, commented: “Poor Malaysian students in Australia get weird warning notes in incomprehensible English from Malaysian consulate officers. Poor things”.

When contacted, PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil described the purported email as intimidation against students as he highlighted what appeared to be a restriction of academic freedom.

“If this is true, the Najib administration must answer why such an ‘advice’ - read: direct threat - from this student advisor is done.

“Where is the respect for intellectual and academic freedom? What do the so-called ‘moderates’ and ‘progressives’ in Umno have to say about this?” he asked.

Checks by The Malay Mail Online showed that a Shahrezan Md Sheriff is listed as a student advisor under the JPA Students Advisor section on the Education Malaysia Australia (EMA) website.

The EMA’s website states that it was formerly the Malaysian Students Department Australia (MSDA) and is now known to the Australian government as the Consulate of Malaysia (Education section).

In the JPA’s online directory of its officers stationed in Australia, the list as of September 25, 2012 did not include a Shahrezan Md Sheriff but showed another officer as using the same official email address.

At the time of writing, the JPA Advisor Office in Australia has not responded to The Malay Mail Online’s request for verification and clarification over the email cited by the report.

A search on the Adelaide Festival of Ideas website showed that Anwar is scheduled to appear there this Saturday morning, under the listing “Dissent and Democracy: An Audience with Anwar Ibrahim” .

During the session, Anwar will be introduced by Australian senator Nick Xenophon and is expected to discuss his “stubborn” resolve to stay in politics with Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) broadcaster Waleed Aly.

According to an ABC report yesterday that confirmed Anwar’s expected appearance, the festival’s focus this year is on political institutions and where they had gone wrong.

The festival, running for four days from October 17 until 20, was started 14 years ago and is now being held for the eighth time.