More flak for students who took down 'Najib flag'
Umno leaders and supporters have continued to blast students who had taken down a flag bearing the image of premier Najib Abdul Razak outside the Umno headquarters on Saturday.
Umno leaders and supporters have continued to blast students who had taken down a flag bearing the image of premier Najib Abdul Razak outside the Umno headquarters on Saturday.
Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin
(left)
said the action was
biadap
(rude) and irresponsible, and that they should be investigated.
"This is rude.. if the demonstration had involved damage to public property, the students would have been held responsible and action would be taken against them,” Utusan Malaysia quoted him as saying in a report today.
"We advise the student group involved not to do anything that can hurt the feelings of other people.”
Perkasa Youth chief Irwan Fahmi Ideris claimed that the students had taken down the flag and stepped on it.
"This action by the Malay university students brings shame to their race and to their families. The government has announced that it will amend the Universities and University Colleges Act, so what else do they want? Was someone behind them?” he posed in a statement.
"They should have (instead) burnt and stepped on the images of leaders who sell out Islam for political purpose, (as well as the image) of a leader who is immoral.
"These students are cowardly, rude and uncivilised for disgracing their status in the universities. They don't represent the majority of students... These kids are rude and uncivilised, and lack religious teaching by their families.”
Yesterday Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had demanded and apology from the protest organisers Solidarity Mahasiswa Malaysia and Gerakan Kebebasan Akademik.
During the two-hour march to demand greater academic freedom, some 500 protesters, most of them students,
marched
to the Umno headquarters at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, to submit a memorandum to Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.
Shortly afterwards, the students pulled down the flag that was hanging outside the building, as part of a series that depicts the seven Umno presidents to date.
They replaced it with a banner reading ‘Bebaskan (Liberate) Academic Freedom’ for about a minute, after which the flag was hoisted again.
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