As an Australian and an ardent advocate of freedom and human rights, I’m outraged by Monash University’s proposed awarding of an honorary doctorate this Friday at its Melbourne campus to Malaysia’s Prime Minister, or as my old mate Antares more accurately characterises him, Crime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

This man and his Umno/BN colleagues and cronies are as big a burden and blight on Malaysia as the Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali clan was on Tunisia, the Mubarak regime on Egypt, and the Gaddafi gang on Libya.