Students not apologising for 'Najib flag' incident

Organisers of Saturday’s protest march to Umno's headquarters will not apologise for the act of briefly swapping Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s flag with a protest banner, claiming it is their right of expression in making a statement.

"The move to lower the (flag depicting) the prime minister is symbolic to the youth's loss of faith to Najib's leadership as the head of government," said Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM) president Ahmad Syukri Abdul Razab.

He explained that this was because the prime minister's concept of transformation had "failed to convince the people", citing several flip-flops in government policies including the Internal Security Act (ISA) arrests that were made after shortly after promising to abolish the draconian law.

Speaking at a press conference at KL Selangor Assembly Hall today, Ahmad Syukri said the coalition of student organisations that held the protest will therefore not issue an apology.

During the march for academic freedom last weekend some student protestors made a symbolic gesture of lowering Najib’s flag amongst a row of flags honouring all past and present Umno presidents.

They replaced the flag with a banner reading "Bebaskan(Liberate) Academic Freedom" for about a minute before restoring the original flag.

The act has angered Umno members, with both Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah demanding the students apologise.

[More to follow]