KUALA LUMPUR: The Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM) and Gerakan Menuntut Kebebasan Akedemik have been urged to apologise to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for lowering a flag with his image at the Umno headquarters on Saturday.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the action by the student activists is uncalled for and in bad taste. “I would like to urge the students to apologise. I am all for freedom of expression. I also believe in undergraduate idealism but not in this sense,” Saifuddin told the press at the parliament lobby yesterday.

“The action of lowering the flag is not a part of the democracy which I believe in and subscribe to,” he said.

During the incident, some 500 protesters, mostly students, had marched to the Putra World Trade Centre, demanding for greater academic freedom.

They also submitted a memorandum to Saifuddin on the proposed amendments to the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA).

Shortly afterwards, they pulled down the flag hanging outside the building and replaced it with a banner which reads “Liberate Academic Freedom” for about a minute, then hoisted the flag again.

Meanwhile, the students activists remain unapologetic over the case. SMM president Ahmad Syukri Abdul Razeb told a press conference yesterday: “Our response to what had happened last Saturday is, we see it as symbolic to our losing trust of our prime minister.”