KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — The political pressure that allegedly led to the sacking of Professor Datuk Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman from Universiti Malaya amounts to a suppression of free discourse for clean elections, polls watchdog Bersih 2.0 said today.

The coalition of rights groups noted that Redzuan had contributed significantly to the fight for a free and fair election through his work with UM’s Centre for Democracy and Election (Umcedel), which had conducted several key surveys on electoral issues during the run up to last year’s federal polls.

“The ministry’s action amounts to suppression of a healthy debate on clean and fair elections.

“All Malaysians must value the contribution made by Umcedel’s surveys, led by Dr Redzuan, or for that matter, any reform survey by other institutions or groups,” Bersih 2.0’s steering committee said in a statement.

The group added that the surveys were crucial to affect democratic changes to the electoral system and to improve the expression of public will via elections.

Bersih 2.0 said it was appalled by Redzuan’s sacking and condemned the Education Ministry, which has been accused of arm-twisting UM into terminating the former UMcedel’s director’s contract as the dean of its Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

It said the move was clearly made out of spite over UMcedel’s past surveys that cast a bad light on the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, and an attempt to silence dissent.

“The action taken by the ministry of education is an attempt to stifle freedom of expression and is a severe infringement on academic freedom”.

Redzuan was also allegedly directed by the Education Ministry to resign from the research unit over survey results that were not well received by its officials.

Among others, it was reported that UMcedel’s surveys on the state of local politics that portrayed BN as trailing in some areas to rival Pakatan Rakyat (PR) displeased some in the government.

Redzuan’s removal sparked uproar among the academic circle, with some claiming it clearly signalled the lack of independence in Malaysia’s education system.

It has also led to former deputy minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah resigning as a fellow of University Malaya in protest.

Political interference in education has been a hot button topic lately.

It has been attributed as one of the major factors behind the global and regional drop in rankings of Malaysian universities.