Students staying at a Universiti Malaya campus hostel are said to have been threatened with expulsion from their rooms if they are caught attending Kita Lawan rallies.

UM Students Union (PMUM) deputy president Teh Wei Loon said the threat was made on March 12, during a dialogue session between the students and the residential college management.

“Having said that, he, the master of (the college) as well as a lecturer at the UM Engineering Faculty, displayed a Kita Lawan rally poster during the dialogue.

“He directly warned all students, saying that if he found out that any one of them had taken part in the rally, or take part in future rallies, he or she would have no chance of remaining in the residential college in the next semester,” Teh said yesterday.

Contacted by Malaysiakini late yesterday, he said the lecturer had abused his powers by infringing on the students' right to assemble, as provided for in the Federal Constitution.

“I urge the university authorities to look into this issue and ask the lecturer to apologise to the students,” Teh ( left ) said.

He also questioned the college’s admission policy, saying the lecturer’s statement implied that the person in charge of a hostel had the final say on whether a student could be provided or denied accommodation in the UM hostels.

This is in contrast to the requirement that they should meet certain criteria, such as filling up an application form, attending the hostel’s events and accumulating the necessary merit points as university had told them, Teh said.

Called to give statement to Students Affairs Dept

"Moreover, students will need to pay an accommodation fee of RM1,000 per semester, with three students sharing a room," Teh added.     

A UM spokesperson told Malaysiakini when contacted late yesterday that the university would conduct an investigation into the matter.

“So far, nothing to report. The vice-chancellor wants to hear from both sides,” the spokesperson told Malaysiakini .

He confirmed that investigations into the dialogue session were still going on.

Meanwhile, in a related development Teh told Malaysiakini that he has been called in to give a statement on the matter by a Students Affairs Department officer.

“I told the officer what happened and also the demands of the students and the Students Union for action to be taken against the lecturer,” he said

The Kita Lawan rally in Kuala Lumpur on March 7 - held in protest against the jailing of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy - drew some 10,000 people onto the streets.

Following the rally, police cracked down on the protest organisers, with nine of them being arrested so far.

The latest was Anwar’s eldest daughter and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, who was arrested and detained at the Dang Wangi district police station yesterday.