A former Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) student is taking the Education Ministry to court for the penalties imposed over her involvement in the 2004 general election campaign.

In her application with the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Soh Sook Hwa (right) is seeking for a review of the ministry's decision to reject her appeal against penalties imposed by the USM disciplinary board.

The Education Ministry rejected her appeal through a letter dated April 26, 2005, according to the application which was made on Aug 17, 2005.

Soh is also seeking for the High Court to declare Section 15 of the University and University Colleges Act (UUCA) and Regulation 3 and 13 Universiti Sains Malaysia (Student discipline) as unlawful and call for them to be repealed.

Section 15 of the UUCA bars students from any form of affiliation with political parties of associations.

Hearing next year

At the High Court this morning, Justice Wan Afrah Wan Ibrahim set Jan 16 next year for mention.

Senior Federal Counsel Osman Effendi, acting on behalf the Attorney-General (AG), informed the court that the AG will submit a written objection to the leave application within a month.

In December 2004, the university found Soh guilty of breaching Section 15 of the UUCA.

She was fined RM200 and issued a stern warning.

The former student representative was a final-semester journalism undergraduate at the time.

A photograph of her clad in a tee-shirt bearing an opposition party logo had appeared in a vernacular paper.

The university then accused her of campaigning for Parti Keadilan Rakyat candidate Tian Chua in the Batu parliamentary seat.

Several months later, Soh received a letter stating she had breached Section 15 of the UUCA. She was also accused of tarnishing the university's image.