I refer to your report General election campaign: Student found guilty .

Soh Sook Hwa is not the only university student who has had to face the music. She is, in fact, the latest victim of the state apparatus lurking in the universities to clamp down on student activists.

The constant attacks by universities on students who are vocal and concerned with issues outside their campus are nothing new. Believe me, as long as there are students who are willing to stand up to injustice, the state disguising themselves as university authorities, will continue to ensure that students remain apolitical and apathetic.

The students' ongoing battle with the university authorities actually reflects the state's great fear that an uprising of young intellectuals who are determined to push for social and political reform will someday threaten their interests and the status quo.

The analysis is as simple as that. All regimes, if we recall, tried their best to eliminate any signs of student resistance, either as individuals or large movements - the SNCC in the US, the Burschenschaften in Germany and the Union Nationale des Etudiants de France in France.

They all suffered during their years of struggle due to state control.

Just as important as the workers' movement and other layers of social movement, student movements served as one of the biggest obstacles to these regimes' objective of sustaining their power and influence. This was due to the dynamism and progressive approach adopted by student movements to social and political problems in their society.

In Malaysia, the student movement is equipped with courage and passion to reform society and this is definitely an anti-thesis to the state's systemic policy to secure power. Take the draconian Acts which are controlling our universities- the University and University Colleges Act 1971.

The UUCA is a remarkable duplicate of various other Acts founded in the history of other regimented states which aimed to topple student activism. This Act which the Education Ministry justified as being a legitimate creation of Parliament, is the tool used by the state to rampantly punish student activists as part of its campaign to strike down the student movement.

In the context of the Malaysian society, the public has been programmed to look upon dissent as ingratitude, especially if it is directed towards the state. As this idea becomes normalised and integrated into our culture, society at large sees any attempt by the student to resist or dissent as impolite and unwarranted.

In the light of this misguided perception, UUCA could be viewed by some as necessary to restore discipline and order in universities. The portrayal of young people or 'anak muda' as a hot- blooded bunch capable of causing chaos is repeatedly propagandised by the media and important figures in the government.

Taking into account all these factors, it is therefore not surprising that Sok Hwa and the others before her are not receiving enough support from the public in the course of their struggle for a better Malaysia.

Judging from public's lack of response (even in malaysiakini's Letters section) I get the impression that this issue is not that important enough for most members of the society to leave their comfort zones and make a stand.

Understand that Sok Hwa will not be the last victim so let us support her so that the suppression forced upon her by USM will not destroy her determination and struggle for justice.

Let us also support her to show the powers-that-be that we, as members of society, are concerned and for her and the others who shared a similar fate.

We must openly disagree with the universities' constant attack on students who are vocal and courageous enough to express themselves. Let us prove to the state that even though Sok Hwa and the other young freedom fighters are complete strangers to us, we join them in their hope for a just and fair society.