PETALING JAYA, Nov 20 — Social activist Hishamuddin Rais expressed regret at Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia (UKM) for disallowing him from delivering a lecture on contemporary Malaysian politics tonight organised by fellow students and lecturers.

Hishamuddin said he was only informed of the restriction by the organisers that the academic and intellectual discussion was disallowed by the university’s administration at 8.30pm.

"Therefore, I express regret that there are still restrictions and discrimination against me in exchanging opinions in this New Malaysia.

"To me, the university is a place where all sorts of knowledge are presented and discussed before they are rejected or accepted,” he said in a statement here.

Hishamuddin then urged the Education Ministry to scrutinise and revise obsolete guidelines such as those used in UKM which he faced.

He pointed out that the event was organised by a group of students and lecturers who called themselves Diskope, with today’s talk being the third series planned by the group.

"I salute them for their bravery in conducting discussion programmes intellectually and I hope my experience will not be felt by others,” he said.