After convocation stir, Umno veep calls for UM to clear its name

Updated 4 years ago · Published on 15 Oct 2019 4:05PM · 4 Comments

UNIVERSITI Malaya (UM) must move quickly to shore up its image after a student activist carried a protest placard on stage during his convocation ceremony yesterday to demand the resignation of its vice-chancellor, said Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

He said Wong Yan Ke’s act is a fallout from what he had lamented about in the run-up to the Malay Dignity Congress a few weeks ago.

“I have from the outset said UM and the other Institutions of higher learning that the organising the congress would put these institutions in an indefensible spot.

“UM’s action has invited protest, objection and tarnished its good name. It will continue to haunt the university unless something is done quickly to clear its name,” he said in a statement today.

Khaled, a former UM Malaya alumni, urged the university’s leadership to quickly assure the public that its mission to provide excellence in education will be strengthened.

He said Wong’s behaviour is a disgrace and should be condemned.

“It goes against our Asian values and any protest against the vice-chancellor should be carried out using proper channels.

Wong created a stir while receiving his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at UM yesterday when he carried a protest placard on stage, demanding the resignation of the vice-chancellor.

Vice-chancellor Abdul Rahim Hashim was seated at the front row of the hall where the convocation ceremony was held.

Wong later told news portal Free Malaysia Today that his protest against Rahim was carried out because the university’s name had been used for racial and political reasons as one of four universities who organised the Malay Dignity Congress in Shah Alam.

Rahim was reported to have made a racially-charged speech at the congress, which made headlines after chief organiser Zainal Kling said Malaysia was for Malays as Thailand was for Thais, China for Chinese, and India for Indians. – October 15, 2019.

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Comments

  • To bring credibility back to the University, the VC must resign or be removed.

    Posted 4 years ago by Elyse Gim · Reply

  • Asian values is to tolerate blatant racism?? What the fish

    Posted 4 years ago by Kinetica Cho · Reply

  • Why did universities organise such a congress in the first place? What were they trying to achieve? All they succeeded in doing is spread hate and play on insecurities when there are no facts to support it. I mean it is the non-malays who have accepted the second class citizenship in this country and yet, it is us that are to made the scapegoats? I believe any reasonable Malay would not agree with the direction the congress took.

    Posted 4 years ago by Sunita petrus · Reply

  • Rubbish...

    Posted 4 years ago by Lan Lan · Reply