RRF to PPSP: Ep. 3: Brush with the authorities!

Damocles (a courtier in the royal court of the

tyrant Dionysius) exclaimed that, as a great man

of power and authority surrounded by

magnificence Dionysius was truly extremely

fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places

with Damocles, so that Damocles could taste

that very fortune first hand. Damocles quickly

and eagerly accepted the King's proposal.

Damocles sat down in the king's throne

surrounded by every luxury, but Dionysius

arranged that a huge sword should hang

above the throne, held at the pommel only

by a single hair of a horse's tail. Damocles

finally begged the tyrant that he be allowed

to depart because he no longer wanted to

be so fortunate! (Wikipedia)

 The University Act was drafted in 1971 to keep a check on university students' opinion on current events after a spate of the ugly showdown between these young punks and the authorities. With that looming in the background like having a sword Damocles hanging above our necks, university students of the mid-70s onward were just toothless castrated tigers.

Many inequalities were happening right under our noses but we were just too aloof to say anything. We were just pretending to be too busy buried in our book till that day when a lecturer in Chemical Pathology (NAW) walked in on that fateful day.
That was the beginning of his second lecture. Rumours were circulating around the school that he was a disgruntled medical student sent on a government scholarship but had flunked his papers and had a bone to pick with us, medical students. Listening to his lectures we could understand why he flunked - he was clueless about his topics.

At the start of the lecture, he decreed that as from his next lecture, he wanted gender segregation to be practised in the hall. There should not be any male student sitting beside a female student as their concentration would not be 100%! We were aghast by such an order at such time of human civilization.
Then started the master planning late that evening in the hostel by all non-Muslim students. We did not involve Muslim Malay students as they decided to stay away so as not provoke the sensitivity of fellow Muslims. The sequence of events was masterly planned over the few days preceding the next lecture date. The Dean (an open-minded man) and a few students-friendly lecturers were informed on the decree and our course of action.

And the big day arrived without much pomp...

The front two rows of the lecture were occupied by pre-planned sitting arrangements, alternating non-Muslim male and female students. Of all days, yours truly was fashionably late that day. So there it was my empty seat right in the centre of the first row. NAW came in. After seeing the seating arrangement, he told sternly (in Bahasa Malaysia), "I am giving you 2 minutes to change your seats after which I will need to chase out of my class." And the time ticked ... And he said, "1 minute left..." Guess who walks in and like putting a cherry on the icing takes the centre seat right smack in the front row, (ME!), much to the amusement of the hall.

Furious, NAW chased each of us out, "You get out! you, you,...." to all 16 of us!

As planned we all marched to the Dean's office to put forward our predicament. Life went on. NAW's behaviour was discussed at the Senate level and was barred from lecturing for a period of time. He never lectured us for the rest of the year, anyway!