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.

NONE “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 (left) .

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 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 would therefore not issue an apology.

Instead, he issued an ultimatum to Najib: “Abolish the Universities and University Colleges Act completely and return autonomy to universities (before the next general election), or students will muster all their strength to push for change from whatever democratic space that is left.”

Umno Youth should focus on issue

In addition, Ahmad Syukri called on Umno Youth, which demanded for the apology, to focus on the issue and not dwell over the flag-lowering incident.

“If we were to argue over sentiments like ‘kurang ajar’ (disrespectful) ‘tak beradab’ (uncivilised), we can make many arguments that this incident was very civil.

“But we do not want to be trapped in such lowly sentiments. We need to return to the focus of the issue, which is the university students’ demand for academic freedom,” he said.

student handing memo to umno on academic freedom crowd 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 hoisting again the Najib 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.

‘Table the Magna Carta instead’

Meanwhile, former students who drafted an alternative Bill to replace UUCA in 2008 reiterated their call for it to be tabled at parliament for debate.

“This ‘ Magna Carta for Student Rights Bill’ is suitable to be thoroughly debated and become the new law to replace the ancient UUCA,” said former students Against UUCA Movement (GMMA) coordinator Teh Yee Keong.

           

He characterised the draft Bill as being “protective” of student's rights unlike the restrictions under UUCA, and suggested that administrative rules should be drawn by the university senate instead.

Teh explained that it was necessary to abolish UUCA outright because it had been amended four times in the past, with each amendment making the Act more oppressive.

The draft Bill covers all aspects of student development in tertiary

institutes. It is inspired by the ‘Magna Carta’, a historical document

drawn up in 1215 in England for separation of powers between the monarchy and its subjects.

It lists guidelines for activism by university and college students,

promotion of social consciousness on campus and participation in the democratic process.

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