Ramli Ibrahim reams out ‘bigoted’ UTM Islamic centre after talk scrapped

KUALA LUMPUR – Sutra Dance Theatre artistic director Datuk Ramli Ibrahim has called out the decision-makers at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s (UTM) Islamic centre for having a “narrow mindset” and being “bigoted”.

In a statement today, he said the only party who would deem a talk by him offensive “would most likely be the bigoted persons at the Islamic centre”.

“It is vital that students are prepared to encounter multiculturalism when they leave, as opposed to the starkly monocultural environment at UTM. As part of exposure, it would be good for students to be familiar with the cultural diversity of the real world.

“This is clearly an unacceptable and weak excuse of a narrow mindset, one that is clearly out of step with the prevailing worldview and should never be allowed to be in charge of educating our youth.”

Ramli’s response comes after the university last night said his scheduled talk was cancelled on the advice of its Islamic centre.

The national cultural icon, world-renowned for his art form, said dialogues that transcend racial and cultural barriers should be encouraged by all education institutions.

Ramli had been invited to the “Perkongsian Seni Tarian Merentas Bangsa” talk organised by UTM students.

In a statement reported by Free Malaysia Today, the varsity said it did not want to “offend any party”, and that its Islamic centre advised against the talk citing the “suitability factor”.

It added that UTM guidelines stipulate that any cultural and arts programme must be referred to and approved by the said centre.

“The decision by UTM’s Islamic centre represents the university’s stance, which places great importance on programmes that do not offend any party and balance several aspects, including harmony and spirituality.”

The institution said it has apologised to Ramli if the cancellation caused him inconvenience.

Yesterday, The Vibes reported that Ramli’s office had received a formal notification on the cancellation with a statement that said: “The organisers have been instructed by the UTM Islamic centre to cancel the programme over undisclosed reasons.”

He said the cancellation reminds him of a past incident, where a similar co-curricular activity at a different university was called off without any clarification given.

“Nothing has changed in the system, and that is why we are where we are.

“The (Islamic centre) is the moral policing body for many government and quasi-government institutions.

“They effectively represent an arm of Jakim (Malaysian Islamic Development Department) to control or define what is permitted to be ‘fed’ to the populists, students and staff.

“By the time they realise what has happened, they are completely indoctrinated, stifled and ensconced in (a) deep state, and are now receiving a reality check in the form of a raging pandemic.”

In a call with The Vibes to further clarify his claim, Ramli said it is not the cancellation of the event that irritates him, but the censorship that has been going on for decades without clear reasoning.

“Occurrences such as this are not new for me. They may hope that I will just keep quiet and let it go, but I could not – not this time.

“It is as if we are another kind of casualty in the pursuit of freedom in the arts.

“I mean, even if it is not a performance, but a talk, my team did prepare for the sharing and have equipped themselves for the session with video materials of previous performances, so that students could be better engaged.

“I was very excited to be able to reach out to the Malays to encourage them to explore the art form outside of what they already know.”

He stressed that he was participating voluntarily, without payment, as he wanted to take the opportunity to educate students.

“The (Islamic centre) has always been a subterranean vigilante of many government organisations, including public education bodies, where a lot of activities have to be kind of vetted by them.

“(It is) about time we start to question what exactly is ‘sebab-sebab tertentu’.

“It is already bad enough that Mak Yong is banned and Kelantan has lost its identity as a ‘gedung seni’.” – The Vibes, June 6, 2021