A pro-government student group has issued an ultimatum to Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah to take responsibility for the Najib flag incident and to extract an apology from the perpetrators, or face a petition for his resignation.

NONE The students calling themselves Aspirasi Alumni Association demonstrated outside the ministry in Putrajaya on Dec 21 demanding action over the incident where student demonstrators had lowered a flag depicting Umno president Najib Abdul Razak.

"Today is Day 10. We hope to receive good news from him in four days.

"If he refuses, we will send a letter on Day 15, meet with all stakeholders in higher education... and we will gather signatures as a sign of protest, and demand that he (Saifuddin) step down," said Aspirasi president Mohd Shahar Abdullah in a press conference today.

He added that a demonstration being organised tomorrow to show support for Adam Adli - the student responsible for briefly swapping ‘Najib’s flag’ for a banner that read ‘Liberate academic freedom’ on Dec 17 - is “a terrible omen for democracy in Malaysia”.

“We should encourage them to focus on their studies and their examinations, not make provocations or demonstrations, and lose out (in their studies),” said Mohd Shahar.

Rally for prime minister

He was also announcing a ‘Peace Campus Roadshow’ to preserve “peace and harmony” on campus to allow students to focus on their personal and academic development.

The roadshow would run for two to three weeks beginning mid-February when university classes resume after an examination period, pending approval from the Ministry of Higher Education.

NONE Mohd Shahar said Aspirasi would lead 15 other NGOs to visit 20 public and five private institutions of higher education, and involves 1,000 students in each campus.

The NGOs include the Gagasan Pendidikan Melayu Malaysia, Gagasan Pelajar India 1Malaysia, and Jaringan Melayu Malaysia.

The roadshow is slated to include forums and talks from ministers, prominent politicians, artists, religious figures to talk about “peace, prosperity, and history of Malaysia,” he said.

The groups also hope to instil patriotism in the students, help students understand government policy and current affairs, and translate Prime Minister Najib’s majority support through another signature campaign.

Mohd Shahar explained that discussions would be held during the roadshow, and its resolutions would be forwarded to Najib.

In addition, he said a gathering of 5,000 people would be held in support of the prime minister after the roadshow ends.

“We have prepared a proposal that will be sent to the prime minister to finalise the date, so that he can join the youths from universities, NGOs, and former university students. We call it the ‘Youth’s Mammoth Rally with the Prime Minister’,” said Mohd Shahar.

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