Universiti Sains Malaysia's Chinese Language Society is caught in a bind as it is barred from holding its annual general meeting unless it abides by the conditions set by the university authorities.

A report in this week's Berita Kampus, the student-run campus paper, said that USM will only allow the society to hold its AGM and thus run as a legitimate campus body if it signs the agreement spelling out the conditions.

A source who insisted on anonymity told malaysiakini today that the current society leadership are against signing the agreement.

They will not sign because they felt that it is the right of every society to hold an AGM and it was wrong of the university to deny them the right by setting the conditions, the source said.

Unreasonable conditions

The conditions set were also said to be 'unreasonable' though the source would not divulge more details until the society's out-campus support group holds a press conference on the issue tomorrow.

However, the Berita Kampus report quoted USM assistant registrar Mohamed Maliki Mohamed Rapiee as saying that the agreement conditions are still under review by the university authority.

He described the conditions as being "not very different from those stipulated in the Universities and University's Colleges Act".

The society is still engaged in a nearly two-year-old standoff with the university after some of its members were said to have gone against a directive to participate in an inter-varsity Chinese language debate competition in Singapore.

The university took disciplinary actions against the participants. It has also punished students who took part in the protests against the introduction of vision schools and for distributing anti-Internal Security Act leaflets in the campus.

Subsequently, it also clamped down on the students for speaking to the press, in particular, malaysiakini.

The students have also approached the Malaysia Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) for help to their plight.