By MATILDA BOSELEY

 With MONSU elections well and truly over, the 2016 president has responded to many of the accusations levelled at his group Stand Up throughout their term.

Ziyang (Tony) Zhang was the first  Chinese student to be elected MONSU president, with both his campaign tactics and incumbency proving divisive.

Mr Zhang was accused of spending $908 of union money on a banquet for Stand Up members.

Mr Zhang said the meal a welcome dinner for a group of student representatives from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

“We had a bit of networking, and formed a relationship with a group of student representatives from overseas … They raised the issue that they feel it’s very hard to engage their international students on campus. We said ‘oh, we feel it’s hard to engage our local students’,” he said.

Mr Zhang said this was not the first time a party had used union money to host a dinner or event.

“I know last year [the previous union] spent a significant amount of money on the cohort to celebrate a successful year … they spent much more money on catering and food and drinks,” Mr Zhang said.

The 2015 MONSU welfare committee member Georgia Denham said this was for a Christmas party that did not unfairly use money from the Student Services and Amenities Fee.

“We made a profit that year so even if we spent money it wouldn’t have been student fees,” Ms Denham said.

Several days before the 2016 election, Fintan Dowling, who was activities committee member for Reps For You in 2015, criticised the Stand Up administration on the Facebook group Monash Stalkerspace.

Mr Dowling’s post said Stand Up was to be blamed for this year's drop in attendance at university-organised events by as much as 80 per cent.

Mr Zhang said decreased attendance at the first-year orientation event, Beach Day 2016, was due to a change in the university’s enrolment structure.

“Before, all the students came to enrol at the same time so you can grab all the students to buy the tickets, now it's very flexible. That’s good for the university, good for the student but bad for us with selling tickets,” Mr Zhang said.

The after-exams party, held in June by MONSU, attracted considerable criticism from the opposing party, Reps for You, for a drop in attendance.

“Around 200 people attended this year. If 80 per cent was the case, then that means the previous party must have had at least 1000 people. That is not a fair comment,” Mr Zhang said.

These claims have been a dampener to the party’s reputation, Mr Zhang said.

Race has also played a part in the blame Stand Up has received, he said.

Both Stand Up and Unite have faced criticism for campaigning in languages other than English, an action prohibited by MONSU rules.

“I’ve never heard of people being banned from speaking their own languages, that’s ridiculous,” Mr Zhang said.

“You know people put a poster on my face; last year during the campaign they put a yellow flag on it,” he said.

The colour yellow has long been used as a slur against Asian and particularly Chinese people.

Mr Zhang said this might also be the reason people believed the Fetish Party, an annual MONSU event where people come dressed in costumes representing sexual fetishes, would not go ahead.

“All elected council members for 2016 are from an international background or Asian background. People might be thinking, ‘the Fetish Party is not your culture' or something, because your culture is so conservative,” he said.

Despite the heated controversy, Mr Zhang said he was most proud of the integration of international students to campus life.

“In my first year when I went to class, it would be a bunch of local studenst on one table, bunch of international students on one table. Now, at least people around me say, they are changing, we are getting there,” he said.