The Limkokwing University of Creative Technology has sparked intense furore online over a controversial billboard placed at its Cyberjaya campus.
The billboard illustrated the founder, Lim Kok Wing, standing in front of a cheetah next to another photo of Lim in the middle of a crowd of African students in Sierra Leone, all reaching out to touch him. The billboard depicted Lim looking like a ''saviour'' in the middle of a mob.
Malaysian netizens posted their dismay about the distasteful billboard — especially considering what's happening right now with the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
A petition on Change.org was kickstarted on June 7 by Sam Chin to have the billboard taken down and for an apology from Limkokwing University to its African students.
"The BLM movement has been a wake up call from our world of privilege to see that Malaysia is NOT exempted from being racist," wrote Chin in its description. "We have work to do Malaysians."
Chin also provided salient points on why the execution of the billboard has been widely condemned.
''It is incredibly condescending as it portrays him as a saviour. This perpetuates the notion that black people need saving, taking away their power and psychologically placing them in an inferior role.
''The use of a jungle animal and reference to 'king' perpetuates ideas of Africa as one big jungle and adds to the (wrongful) animalistic characterization of the students.''
Chin points out the photo has been edited to increase the amount of black students surrounding Lim, further painting him as some sort of hero.
Depicting the students in Sierra Leone pressing up against Lim is a common photo used by the media to portray black people as "savage" and "animalistic", Chin says, even if that may not have been his intention.
''They have a beautiful history of Grace, of Power, of Kings & Queens and it is a shame that people do not use photos like that to advertise the culture and lineages that Africa truly has.
''What it does portray is how absolutely narcissistic he is and how he DEHUMANIZES his students in these campuses whilst profiting off of them.
''If he is profiting off of Black people, he should make an effort to also stand up for them in this #BlackLivesMatter movement and show his many students a decent amount of RESPECT.''
This was not the first time Limkokwing University students of African descent have become the target of racial discrimination in Malaysia. In 2019, a postgraduate student named Thomas Orhions Ewansiha from Nigeria died while being detained by the authorities, who were in the middle of verifying the validity of his student visa, Chin added in the petition.
The petition has since garnered more than 6,000 signatures. Following the backlash on social media, Limkokwing University tweeted on June 10 that the billboard has already been taken down and they apologised for ''any misunderstanding''.
However, many netizens aren't very convinced by the sincerity of the apology, asserting that the university needs to do more to reform itself and stop being discriminatory towards students of different races.
melinamoey@asiaone.com