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PRESS STATEMENT 

MALAYSIAN STUDENTS AGAINST MAHATHIR - Ma.S.A.M

Ed. Declaration October 2000

Ma.S.A.M(Malaysian Students Against Mahathir) is a coalition of independent groups of Malaysian students studying all over the world which believes that the Reformasi movement initiated by Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 must be upheld by the students despite the threat and oppression imposed on them by the various laws and scholarship agreements. We believe that the power and influence of students movement must be unlocked and unleashed immediately to lend our much needed help to the Reformasi movement.

We call upon our brothers and sisters all over the world to take up this challenge and join our struggle - to reignite the idealism as upheld by our predecessors in the 70s and to reinvent the students movement to become more constructive and open-minded.

Mahathir has to be removed as he has become a great obstacle to any attempt to reform the Malaysian society, and until this paranoid authoritarian is removed from public life, the different races in Malaysia will always be used as pawns in his political games to stay in power. The office of Prime Minister has been reduced to nothing but a subject of sarcasm and ridicule.

Anwar Ibrahim represents the future of Malaysia - a dynamic leader whose values and character is unquestionable, a liberal modeniser who understands the need of the multi-racial society to interact and mutually benefit from each other's existence, and a statesman whose international stature is unsurpassable by any other politicians in Malaysia.

Therefore, we call all students groups to join our fight for a better future, for a modern country in which religious and moral values are promulgated and upheld. A country where freedom, justice, tolerance and prosperity are paramount.

All great struggles begin with the smallest steps. More often than not, it is the vigorious valour of the students which assists so many countries in this world to dispose its dictatorial ruler. Suharto in Indonesia, Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo in South Korea, Marcos in Philippines, the Vietnam War in the USA, the anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary in 1956, anti-Mobuto uprising in Zaire in 1969, Tiannanmen Square in 1989 - these are all events engraved in history in which students have played great triumphant roles.

We are the future, and the task to set right all the mistakes our country has made so far is onerous. Let's begin here.

Join our struggle for the future - the future for all, not just the privileged few!

For more information, visit our website at ma.s.a.m.tripod.com

Ahmad Kamal Mustapha

Chairman of Ma.S.A.M

United States of America, 3 October 2000