A GROUP of Universiti Malaya student activists have expressed disappointment with their vice-chancellor, Abdul Rahim Hashim, over his censure of their protest against Najib Razak last week.

UM Association of New Youth (Umany), Angkatan Mahasiswa UM, and Demokrat UM said in a joint statement that Rahim’s statement made after seven students were roughed up by Najib supporters on Friday implied that the students had broken the law when they were merely exercising their freedom of expression.

“We are disappointed with the vague statement from the vice-chancellor. His claim that students’ right to freedom of expression should not exceed boundaries set by the law implies that we have broken the law.

“Najib’s supporters had used violence to silence UM students because they could not accept criticism.

“We have to oppose the use of violence to suppress criticism and differing opinions, not just for us as students but to defend this fundamental right in the federal constitution,” the groups said in a statement.

They also said Rahim was wrong in calling their use of a clown caricature of Najib a “provocation”, as the use of satirical art and caricatures was accepted as a form of criticism around the world.

“This caricature has been used for some time in demonstrations. Further, the students gathered peacefully and did not use any harsh words in the protest.

“The vice-chancellor should be able to accept differences of opinion and allow the use of irony (and art) in criticism.”

Seven students were protesting Najib at a meet-and-greet session opposite the UM campus last Friday when a group of the former prime minister’s supporters broke up their demonstration.

In the melee, student and Umany president Wong Yan Ke, who was holding a cardboard clown caricature of Najib’s face, was grabbed by the neck in a reverse chokehold by one of Najib’s supporters who tried to pull him over the railing separating the pavement and road.

The incident, captured in a video clip, also shows others pulling at his hair and attacking him.

Wong has lodged a police report.

Education Minister Maszlee Malik has released a statement supporting the students and asking the UM vice-chancellor to uphold their freedom of expression. – March 25, 2019.