KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — The vice-chancellor of Universiti Malaya must be clear with his remarks about student protesters attacked by Umno supporters last week, said the UMANY coalition of student groups.
Pointing out Education Minister Maszlee Malik’s remarks telling university administrations to come out strongly and clearly against the assault, UMANY said the vice-chancellor’s response to the incident appeared to blame the victims instead.
“We regret the ambiguous statement from the vice-chancellor. His claim that students’ right to expression must not breach the law implies that the seven students did so.
“He also called the display of ‘Clown Najib’ caricatures as a provocation. Caricatures have been used in protest for a very long time,” the group said in a statement.
They told the vice-chancellor that parody images were an accepted form of reasonable criticism across the world.
UMANY then reminded the university administration that the key issue here was that supporters of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak used physical force to silence a group of students protesting against him.
“This matter does not only concern the seven UM students but is about protecting the fundamental rights to free expression and assembly as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.”
Yesterday, Maszlee said all public university administrators should have condemned the attack against the students, criticising those that responded vaguely to the incident.
On Friday, a group including Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam confronted around seven tertiary students protesting against Najib near the university grounds.
The students held up placards and an image of Najib dressed as a clown. When the students refused to put away the items, the Najib supporters became physically aggressive.
The confrontation was recorded and the clip subsequently shared online.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim said at least 12 reports were made over the Friday incident, with statements recorded from 10 witnesses to assist in investigations under Section 160 of the Penal Code.
