PETALING JAYA: Classical dance legend Ramli Ibrahim said there was some form of “religious thuggery” occurring in the country, in the wake of a talk he was due to give to students at a local university being cancelled at the last minute.
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He felt it was difficult to rectify the situation as those in power, including those in schools and institutions of higher education, had been indoctrinated.
“Everyone is in this flow, and that is why the situation cannot be stopped anymore,” he said.
Ramli also took a dig at the former Pakatan Harapan administration for failing to reset and reform a system “which is a kind of cancer” that has infected the education system, among others.
“It is all a kind of religious thuggery that is happening at the moment.
“People are telling me that I cannot change the system. Even my board of trustees tell me it is a dangerous thing,” he said, referring to the Sutra Foundation.
He was speaking at a forum organised by Maju, an NGO. Also present were academic Tajuddin Rasdi and lawyer-activist Siti Kasim.
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Last Saturday, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) confirmed it had cancelled Ramli’s talk on how dance transcended race on the advice of its Islamic centre, as the university did not want to “offend any party”.
The centre had advised against holding the talk, citing its “suitability factor”.
In opening up more on his cancelled talk, Ramli said he did not expect the matter to explode.
However, he said he had forewarned his office about the possibility of his talk courting issues especially when one deals with government or quasi-government bodies.
Ramli said the outcry it sparked went beyond the cancellation of the talk.
“People are really fed up. This was a higher education (institution) where students are supposed to be more open to prepare them for the onslaught of the world,” he said, adding he felt sorry for the student body that had invited him.-FMT