Final semester commerce student, Aslam Abd Jalil, was a panellist during the Race, Religion and Royalty in Malaysia forum held in the Manning Clark Lecture hall on April 22, along with ANU academic John Funston and Malaysian Parliament opposition member Tony Pua.

On June 18, Mr Aslam was issued with a show cause notice by the Malaysian Public Service Department Office in Sydney for breaching clause 5.5 of his scholarship agreement and allegedly “being seditious in a way that may harm Malaysia and the interests of my educational institution”.

The formal letter left the student bewildered given the nature of the public forum, despite his history of involvement with student politics and activism.

“I was invited as a forum panellist by the Canberra organisers, the Malaysian Interest Group and ANU Malaysian Students' Organisation, to represent the students and young generation,” he said.

“I advocated for everyone to stop racial and religious hatred and discrimination, but I did not promote any specific political party or opposition.”

Mr Aslam said he could see no basis for accusations of sedition, let along giving harm to the ANU, Malaysia or the world.

“In fact, I tried hard to be politically neutral so as not to promote or defame any political party or propagate extremism,” he said.

Midway through his speech to the full lecture hall, Mr Asma paused to question whether the presentation was being recorded.

“I’m just checking, I’m a bit worried if it will be used as evidence for action against me afterwards,” he said.

Mr Aslam said he responded to the show cause notice within the required 24-hour period, but the Malaysian authorities have since demanded he supply the entire transcript of his speech by the end of Monday.

“I’m not really sure about what will happen as my scholarship ends in July and they have already paid all my fees,” he said.

“But maybe if they take action against me that will make my life much harder when I go home.”

Mr Aslam said this is the second time in as many years he has been issued a show cause notice by Malaysian authorities for involvement in public forums held on the university campus.

He was first issued a show cause notice after creating a Facebook group and booking a room for friend and founder of non-profit group the National Oversight and Whistleblower Centre, Akmal Nasir.

Mr Aslam said he was issued with the notice in November and was asked to detail the circumstances in which Mr Nasir came to the university and delivered his speech.

Mr Aslam also attended a public forum at the university that hosted Haris Ibrahim, one of Malaysia’s most prominent social activists who founded the ABU (Anything But UMNO) group which aims to expose fraud and corruption of the Malaysian coalition government.

“Not satisfied by my explanation about my involvement in a forum which was held last year and, without due consultation, two special branch officers came to my aunt's house in Penang, Malaysia, with the intention of meeting my parents to discuss ‘scholarship matters’,” he said.

“I think this was a blatant attempt at intimidation and breach of the privacy of myself and my immediate family, especially as it was timed to occur during my exam period.”

Mr Aslam said he has attended forums and talks from politicians from Malaysian ruling party the Barisan Nasional and opposition organisation the people's alliance coalition Pakatan Rakyat.

He raised the issue with Chief Minister Katy Gallagher following the 2014 National Republican Lecture at the ACT Legislative Assembly on June 13.

“After the lecture I met her in person and she said she couldn’t do much about it but she was sympathetic,” he said.

“I told her that I would like her to know about these issues of academic freedom.”

Mr Aslam said Malaysian students come to Australia for more than qualifications, but also to learn and experience the democratic principles and values in Australia to improve Malaysia on their return.

“Indeed, why would Malaysia send us here if not to gain experience that we could not gain at home?” he said.

“Part of what we learn in Australia is to always be constructively critical about what is happening around us, and this includes Malaysia.”

Mr Aslam’s story has made headlines in Malaysia with opposition politician Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad speaking out in the student’s defence and criticising the Malaysian authorities.

“I am of course not surprised at these actions because it follows a long pattern of Malaysian officials attempting to intimidate our students abroad into avoiding events featuring opposition politicians,” he told reporters.

In October 2013, a Malaysian official threatened to take “stern action” against Malaysian students in Australia who attended the Adelaide Festival of Ideas, which hosted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

An ANU spokesperson said the university held 'no views on the issues the Race, Religion and Royalty in Malaysia student forum explored.

“However, academic freedom means that researchers and students at ANU have the right to challenge and discuss issues in their areas of expertise."