FORMER student activist Wong Yan Ke was fined RM5,000 by a magistrate’s court in Kuala Lumpur for insulting a Universiti Malaya (UM) vice-chancellor by staging a protest during a convocation ceremony in 2019.

In her verdict, magistrate Illi Marisqa Khalizan said the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case.

Lawyer Chong Kar Yan said Wong, who graduated as a civil engineer from UM, would pay the fine, but would appeal against the decision.

The former Universiti Malaya Association of New Youth president was accused of humiliating vice-chancellor Abdul Rahim Hashim when he carried a protest placard on stage, demanding Rahim’s resignation after his speech at the Malay Dignity conference, which was alleged to be incendiary and racist.

Following the protest, UM criticised Wong’s actions, and subsequently lodged a police report against him.

Wong was charged in February 2020 for intentionally humiliating and provoking the anger of Rahim, who was UM vice-chancellor at the time of the offence, during the institution’s 59th convocation at Dewan Tunku Canselor on October 14, 2019.

The charge comes under under section 504 of the penal code, which carries a maximum two years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both, upon conviction. – October 9, 2023.