Kit Siang wants UM to withdraw report against student protester

DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang says vengeful action will put Universiti Malaya in more adverse light.

PETALING JAYA: DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang today called on Universiti Malaya to withdraw a police report against one of its students who held a placard protest against its vice-chancellor at the university’s convocation ceremony on Monday.

Lim said vice-chancellor Abdul Rahim Hashim should address grouses raised by students instead of targeting student activists for their protests.

UM lodged a police report against Wong Yan Ke, an engineering graduate, saying he had shown disrespect to the convocation ceremony and disrupted its protocol.

Police are investigating him under the Penal Code for intentional insult to break the public peace.

“It is in this spirit that the protest at the university’s graduation ceremony and other related matters should be addressed – not in a high-handed and vengeful manner which would put UM in more adverse light,” Lim said in a statement.

He said that based on a statement by UM’s Academic Staff Association, the lone protest was not only due to Rahim’s speech or attendance at the Malay Dignity Congress, but also because of existing dissatisfaction as well.

“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,” he said.

Wong told FMT his protest against Rahim was carried out because the university’s name had been used for racial and political reasons as one of the four universities which organised the congress.

He said Rahim’s remarks at the event had led other academics and students to question the academic validity of the demands Rahim had made.

Wong was called to give a statement at the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters yesterday. His legal representative said more than 10 police reports had been made against him.

Another graduand, Edan Kon, was barred from receiving his scroll at the convocation ceremony on Tuesday. He said he was “thoroughly aggrieved” at such “unfair targeting”. - FMT