If UM truly values freedom of speech, retract police report against me - Yan Ke

Wong Yan Ke has urged his alma mater Universiti Malaya (UM) to retract its police report against him to prove the institution’s commitment to freedom of speech.

He has also called upon the university’s vice-chancellor (VC) Abdul Rahim Hashim to come forth and explain the racial comments he made at the Malay Dignity Congress to the public.

Earlier today, UM chairperson Tengku Mohd Azzman Shariffadeen Tengku Ibrahim issued a statement criticising Wong’s protest against Rahim during his convocation ceremony on Monday.

The university repeatedly stressed that it valued students’ freedom of expression but maintained that Wong had disrespected other students and parents through his actions.

In response, Wong urged UM to walk the talk.

“I think they should not just talk or release such statements but take action by retracting their police report against me.

“That is what they should do to show that they are sincere in defending our rights to freedom of speech,” he said during a press conference at the university today.

The police are probing Wong under Section 504 of the Penal Code for intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.

The engineering graduate further disagreed with UM’s assessment that he had disrupted the convocation ceremony, contending that his onstage protest lasted merely several seconds.

“If everyone looks at the live video (of my convocation ceremony), I stood there and yelled slogans for only five seconds. After that, the (convocation) process went on and people still sang along when there was a performance, the environment was still in a happy mood.

“[...] I feel like they are trying to divert attention from what I said to the method I used to say it,” Wong opined.

Upon receiving his convocation scroll onstage, Wong had unfurled a placard calling for Abdul Rahim’s resignation and yelled “Tolak rasis. Undur VC. Ini Tanah Malaysia” (Reject racists. VC withdraw. This is Tanah Malaysia).

A video of this has since been shared widely on social media, eliciting expressions of support and criticism towards Wong.

VC urged to 'explain himself'

The reason for Wong's protest was an Oct 6 speech by the VC, who reportedly claimed Malay political dominance had been eliminated and that Malay special privileges had been questioned since the 14th general election.

Rahim had also warned people against challenging the “social contract” of the nation.

Today, Wong noted that the VC had yet to personally explain his racial speech to the public, especially to his critics.

“He (has) just been standing behind the other units, such as the Corporate Communications Unit (of the university) and behind the staff.

“Because you can see he only shows himself when there are people supporting him [...] but he did not respond to what academic staff and the UM Law Society and others (have said).

“[...] He should explain and clarify (himself) if he does not think what I am saying and accusing him (of) is right,” he said.

Wong was speaking to the press after collecting his graduation certificate from the university, which had been delayed for two days.

With him today was his lawyer Asheeq Ali Sethi Alvi, who branded UM “liars” for saying it had not withheld his client’s certificate.

Asheeq is also a former student activist, noted for being one of several students who leaked the executive summary of a paper by four academics pertaining to the Rome Statute in April.

Wong later claimed that the university had barred him from his UM student account, and that he was thus unable to access his academic transcript.

“I tried to log into my account and I was denied access while my friends were allowed (to access their own accounts),” he said.  - Mkini