Cohabitation, gangsterism and drug abuse are among the reasons cited by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) for its controversial decision to make it compulsory for students to stay on campus from July onwards.

Contacted by malaysiakini , UTM deputy vice-chancellor Prof Dr Alias Mohd Noor said the new policy is aimed at tackling social ills, prevent undesirable incidents and enhance racial integration.

"The Malay students are found to be influenced by drugs and loitering frequently when they stay outside campus, whereas a majority of Chinese students cohabit and for Indian students, of course, it is gangsterism," he said.

Alias, who oversees the students affairs department, claimed that these problems are at a 'serious' level hence prompting the new ruling.

Asked for statistics to back his claim, the deputy vice-chancellor could only say that over the past five years, the university has recorded six cases of students being threatened.

"We feel more comfortable when all the students are residing in campus. We have wardens, clinics and good facilities here," he noted, adding that racial integration will also flourish if the students are under one roof.

Alias also dismissed the claim by students that the real motive behind the ruling is to use the hostel fee collected from them to fund the construction of 10 new residential colleges. There are currently seven.

However, he conceded that the fee ranging from RM105-165 per month will help with the high maintenance fees. There are some 4,000 students living off campus at present.

Alias said the new residential colleges would cost RM16 million but when questioned, he refused to divulge the amount of loan the university had acquired from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for this purpose.

In a circular issued by him last month, it was stated that out of the total 17 colleges, 21 blocks are named 'EPF Block'.

Disappointing dialogue

On the claim by students that it is cheaper for them to rent rooms or houses off campus, the deputy vice-chancellor pointed out that on campus there is free electricity and water supply.

As for compensation on things such as furniture, household appliances, Internet facilities and other items which the students would not be able to bring into the hostel, Alias said they should write in to the university administration and register their protest.

"The university will value their assets and determine the amount of compensation. Students who willingly come and stay in the hostels are not entitled to compensation," he said, adding that no specific allocation has been fixed for compensation.

Alias also refuted the estimation by the affected students that their total loses would be somewhere in the region of RM3 million.

"My house, a bungalow, has everything and these amount to only about RM500,000. That (RM3 million) is a stupid figure," he said.

An ad-hoc 'hostel crisis team' initiated a survey and obtained feedback from 760 students. The loss incurred by each student was placed at RM780 and this included the cancellation of tenancy agreements.

"Hence, the total sum of losses for the 4,000 affected students is estimated at RM3 million," said one of the team members, Kuek Ser Kuang Keng.

On the dialogue held between Alias and 600 students on Saturday, he said students were disappointed with the outcome as the university failed to convince them about the ruling.

Ministerial support

Meanwhile, Deputy Higher Education Minister Fu Ah Kiow said there is no need to implement the ruling.

"There is no necessity to ask students who have been staying off-campus to move back to the university, as the students suggest, it will lead to problems like the tenancy agreements and others," he said when contacted.

The deputy minister added that he would look into the matter.

This is not the first time that the Johor-based university has ruffled feathers with its policies. Last November, a new directive spelt out what students must wear every Monday, which was classified as 'smart day'.