KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — The University of Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany) accused the police of engaging in a “witch hunt” after investigators called in the group’s president and vice-president for further questioning over a social media post on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The group said its lawyer was also informed by the police that other UM students would be called in for questioning.
“There is no question that this is a witch-hunt. The political motive behind the police’s actions is crystal clear.
“They have become the hitmen of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, with their crosshair aimed at Umany in an attempt to create white terror and silence university students,” the student group said in a statement today.
Umany reiterated that the social media post in question, a Facebook entry titled “Yang di-Pertuan Agong should not intervene in national affairs” on October 30, was academic in nature and not tantamount to sedition.
The post was made following the Agong’s decision not to proclaim a state of emergency after Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin proposed one due to the country’s political stability alongside the Covid-19 pandemic.
Today, the group also accused the police of a double standard, noting that Senate president Tan Sri Rais Yatim was not called in for questioning despite reports made against him over comments related to the Agong’s decision.
Umany called the investigation against its leaders a waste of police resources, and claimed that there were other matters being ignored.
The police previously questioned Umany’s president and vice president on November 5.
They searched the president’s home two days later, during which they arrested a former Umany president for obstruction after he recorded their activities.
On November 9, another six Umany committee members were summoned for questioning along with the president of Universiti of Malaya Students’ Union.
Umany published an apology over the post on November 12 and deleted the entry.
