UNIVERSITI Malaya should withdraw its police report against sole protester Wong Yan Ke and stop targeting student activists for their protests, said DAP leader Lim Kit Siang.
UM vice-chancellor Abdul Rahim Hashim must ensure the university does not act in a high-handed and vengeful light that will only put it in even more adverse light, said the Iskandar Puteri MP.
He also reminded the university of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s view on Wong’s protest against Rahim during a convocation ceremony on Monday.
Lim said Dr Mahathir had upheld the right of students to demonstrate but disagreed that a convocation ceremony was the right time and place to carry out the action.
“It is in this spirit that the protest at the university’s graduation ceremony and other related matters should be addressed,” Lim said.
Rahim ias to be blamed for the situation, he said, pointing out Universiti Malaya Academic Staff Association’s statement yesterday that protests by student activists are linked to existing dissatisfaction over various alleged “misacts” by the vice-chancellor.
“Rahim’s failure to promote racial tolerance and unity among the many diverse ethnic groups in UM by engaging in the organisation of the Malay Dignity Congress is a major blemish on his leadership of the university,” said Lim.
Wong, a 23-year-old civil engineering graduate, flashed a placard demanding Rahim’s resignation when receiving his scroll at the convocation ceremony on Monday.
The university later lodged a police report against Wong, who said he was making a stand against racism.
UM accused Wong of not showing any respect for the convocation and disrupting protocol, charges which he denied.
At the Malay congress, Rahim allegedly said the change in government after the 14th general election had eliminated Malay political dominance and asserted that Malay privileges were being questioned.
Rahim was also alleged to have warned others not to challenge the social contract.
The police took Wong’s statement yesterday and are investigating him under Section 504 of the Penal Code for intentional insult to break the public peace.
He told reporters yesterday that his one-man protest was to democratise and inspire the campus.
He said he would do it again despite the trouble it brought him, claiming that Rahim has never been held accountable to students and academics. – October 17, 2019.
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Comments
He might be a billionaire already
Posted 6 years ago by S L · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by James Wong · Reply
A man with balls like Karpal Singh would have done precisely that.
Posted 6 years ago by Arul Inthirarajah · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by Wei Kuan Tan · Reply
I am finally beginning to see the light. And that is, why MCA politicians became apologists for UMNO.
Just nvr thought you'd live to see the day when Kit Siang himself does it.
Posted 6 years ago by Rock Hensem · Reply