As part of orientation week activities the whole of last week, four public universities organised lectures warning incoming undergraduates against getting involved in campus politics.

These anti-campus politics sessions were held by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) according to several students.

They said the lectures session were conducted by senior students from the universities' pro-government students councils or better known as the 'Aspirasi' groups, which swept student council elections at all public universities last year following a boycott by independent student groups.

Only two campuses - Universiti Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - were not affected by the boycotts. Nevertheless, the 'pro-establishment' students trounced their opposition at both these varsities.

The students said that during the lectures, they were warned against participating in 'underground political groups' or in 'anti-establishment' students group. They were further told that getting involved in these groups was 'illegal' and they would end up 'ruining their future'.

The freshies also revealed that they were warned that they would face penalties if they were caught getting involved in 'illegal activities'. They said they were shown media reports as well as photographs of students who allegedly had gotten involved in campus politics and told of the penalties they had to face.

Several of the undergraduates expressed their uneasiness over the lecture sessions which they termed as 'brainwashing'. "Why did they (the speakers) keep criticising the opposition, why not Umno?" one student said when contacted.