Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang has received appeals from four students it suspended for taking part in purported anti-establishment activities and the case has been referred to the education ministry.
USM assistant registrar Mohamad Abdullah said this today after receiving a memorandum on the matter from a delegation of nine USM alumni at his office.
The delegation, led by Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Lihua Graduates Association secretary Lee Sek Hor, had earlier requested to meet vice-chancellor Dzulkifli Abdul Razak but the latter was not present in his office today.
Mohamad said he appreciated the alumni's effort and he would convey their concern to the vice-chancellor.
Reiterating points raised during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, the memorandum urged USM to rescind the disciplinary action it took against the students and allow them to sit for their finals examinations.
It also urged the university to allow the USM Chinese Language Society to hold its annual general meeting. The society was barred from holding its AGM after it was slapped with a show-cause letter last year.
Harsh action
USM had last week suspended four students and fined two others for carrying out what it deemed 'offensive activities'. Three of the four suspended students are CLS members.
Among others, the students were accused of being involved in an 'illegal assembly' to protest against the governments Vision School concept and for wearing anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) badges.
The four suspended are Lee Yen Ting, Choo Chon Kai, Loke Chee Hoe and Fatin Norsuhana Abdul Khalid. YapYih Chyuan and Ng Hui Yee were fined RM150 each for having anti-ISA campaign material.
The four, all final-year students, have also been barred from taking their final examinations this semester.
"This is the first time such a thing (suspensions) have occurred," Sek Hor said, adding that they always had the impression that USM was liberal.
He added a lot of USM graduates who were prominent individuals would not be where they were today if they had been suppressed during their campus days.
USM is the alma mater of many politicians in Malaysia, both in the ruling parties and the opposition.
Tomorrow, 33 students, mostly members of the CLS, have been ordered by the university to turn up for a hearing where they will be charged with 'illegally gathering' in a show of support for Lee and Choo during the duos hearing last August.
