| A Malaysian policeman stands in front of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s portrait during the 69th United Malays National Organisation’s (UMNO) general assembly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec 8, 2015. Photo: AP |
KUALA LUMPUR — When Ms Cassandra Chung posted a petition for Nottingham University in the United Kingdom to remove its poster of Mr Najib Razak over his silence on the RM2.6 billion (S$877 million) donation, she was counting on getting 100 signatures at most.
But in three days, the law student received almost 4,000 signatures to back her motion to be submitted to the University of Nottingham Malaysian Society.
“We’ve already submitted the motion and as of now, we will not be withdrawing it,” Ms Chung told The Malaysian Insider, when asked on the status of her motion.
“Right now, we are waiting on the Malaysian Society to approve the motion for debate at next week’s AGM (annual general meeting).”
But Ms Chung said while the Malaysian Society was “incredibly open to most of the members’ suggestions for most times”, she was unsure whether it would accept the motion, given the pressure that it must be under to remain neutral.
She added that she was only a regular member of the society, although she tried to run for welfare secretary once.
Nevertheless, the undergraduate was ecstatic over the overwhelming response to the petition uploaded on March 8.
“When the petition was in the drafting stage, I was told a couple of times that the petition may not get a lot of support. So when it was started, the hope was for at least a 100 signatures.
“So imagine everybody’s surprise (including Justin and I) when we reached 1,000 in less than 24 hours and when various press portals picked up on the petition,” said Ms Chung, referring to the motion’s seconder, Justin Ong.
