http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/09/ugm-rector-cancels-manji-s-yogyakarta-book-discussion.html UGM rector cancels Manji’s Yogyakarta book discussion The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 05/09/2012 12:52 PM Freedom of speech: Irshad Manji, author of Allah, Liberty and Love autographs her book on the sidelines of a discussion at the office of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in Jakarta on May 5. Police had previously dispersed a similar discussion at the Salihara building in South Jakarta. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University UGM) rector canceled liberal Muslim activist Irshad Manji’s book discussion, which was slated for today at the university, following the forceful disruption of the Canadian author’s Salihara event last Friday.
UGM political expert Ari Dwipayana quoted the rector as saying that the cancellation was necessary “for security reasons”. The rector also demanded the discussion be relocated to another venue. Ari lamented the rector’s decision, saying that the university should not have canceled such an academic forum because UGM is not a political institution. He said that there was a discussion talking about rejecting Manji’s campus visit. “If a discussion to reject Manji can be held, why can’t discussion about Manji be held?” Ari said, as quoted by tempo.co. The discussion about Manji’s book “Allah, Liberty and Love” was slated to be held at 9 a.m. at the UGM master’s degree programs building. Manji was also scheduled to speak at a similar event at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University at 1 p.m. Yogyakarta governor Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X told the Tribun Jogja daily that there was no need to worry about today’s event with Manji because it was merely an academic discussion. “The rejection was unnecessary. Maybe some mass organizations thought that they had the right [to reject Manji], but can’t they just talk to the rector?” he said as quoted by Tribun Jogja on Wednesday. The governor referred to the groups that staged protests against Manji’s visit to the province. Last Friday evening, Manji’s book discussion at Salihara in Jakarta was disrupted by local authorities who questioned the event’s permit. A group of residents staging protests during the event also said that they rejected the author because she openly declared that she was a lesbian. However, the following day, Manji managed to speak at a discussion hosted by the Alliance of Independence Journalists’s (AJI) Jakarta branch and secured by Banser NU, a youth wing of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama. (swd) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
