PETALING JAYA: Academics have come to the defence of university professor and columnist Tajuddin Rasdi who had faced calls to renounce his citizenship after he defended Sin Chew Daily over its Jalur Gemilang snafu.

The Malaysian academic movement Gerak said it supported Tajuddin’s stand, and criticised the “punitive impulse” that has dominated public sentiment on the issue.

“We are alarmed by extremist voices, among both the Muslim majority and beyond, calling for disproportionate sanctions, even citizenship revocation, over an honest mistake,” Gerak said in a statement.

Tajuddin, a professor at UCSI university, had defended Sin Chew against calls for heavier punitive action over the gaffe, and voiced concern over the arrest of two of the daily’s top editors.

The Umno Veterans Club and Malay rights group Perkasa then challenged Tajuddin to give up his Malaysian citizenship, accusing him of being unpatriotic, according to Malaysiakini.

In response, Gerak said: “Such xenophobic demands betray a paucity of reason and an inflation of emotion. They undermine academic freedom, poison civic trust and drive us ever further from the ideals that ought to bind us together.”

The group said it did not condone disrespect of the national flag, but said the response to human error as in Sin Chew’s case must be rational and humane. The public uproar over the issue, despite Sin Chew’s swift apology, reflected “a failure of moral education”.