STUDENT activists have taken to task an International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) lecturer, who called them “cows” for staging a protest against Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik’s appointment as president.

Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi, spokesman for the Coalition for Academic Freedom-Institutions of Higher Learning, said the lecturer never spoke up when academics were “used” by the government and politicians previously.

“Why do you mock us for sticking to our principles? Why did you not mock the lecturers who just followed political orders and the education minister?

“Why did you not mock politicians who only heeded their political needs?” the final-year student at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia told The Malaysian Insight.

He was commenting on a statement by IIUM critical thinking studies lecturer Abdul Naser Abdul Rahman, who labelled the student activists protesting against Maszlee’s IIUM appointment as “cows”.

In a Facebook comment on Saturday, titled “Jangan Jadi Lemboo Protes Demo”, Naser said the protest was an “emotional act” that did not reflect a healthy culture of critical thinking.

“Hold a philosophical debate at universities, and use the speaker’s corner instead,” said Naser, who also claimed that the students involved did not know the meaning of politics and the philosophy of university autonomy.

Asheeq said the student activists were not sorry for having held the protest.

“The protest itself was to show emotions. We were emotional… we were definitely angry.

“If he (Naser) is talking about a debate stage, where is the stage? If a lecturer himself mocks those who sat in front of the ministry (to protest), what is there to stop him from hitting out at us when we criticise Maszlee in the speaker’s corner?”

In a statement on Sunday, Naser invited the student activists involved in Friday’s protest to participate in a debate with him at IIUM.

Asked about this, Asheeq said he was ready to face off with the lecturer.

At 1.30am on Saturday, Asheeq, 23, and Siti Nurizzah Mohamad Tazali, 23, were arrested for refusing to leave the main entrance of Parcel E, where several ministries, including the Education Ministry, are located.

The duo were released after being held for six hours at the Putrajaya police headquarters.

Asheeq said he and his fellow student activists were simply acting on Maszlee’s call to reprimand him should he do something wrong.

“That was what we did (by holding the protest). We are telling him as an act of love.”

Asheeq and the students previously claimed that Maszlee did not respond to the issue raised regarding his IIUM appointment, and instead, tried to divert attention to the arrests last weekend.

The minister has said he will meet with the students involved tomorrow. – September 11, 2018.