A group of university students today slammed the Malaysian Human Rights Commission or Suhakam for its indifference concerning their plight over the enforced signing of the Akujanji (good conduct) pledge.

"We were very disappointed with the discussion today as there was no clear idea presented after our discussions with them, there was no positive outcome," said Chang Lih Kang from Universiti Putra Malaysia.

The 22-year-old engineering student was among a group of 10 students who went to the Suhakam headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to follow up on their protest memorandum handed to commissioner Ramon Navaratnam on May 24.

The group are against signing the government-issued letter of undertaking which stipulates that students comply with the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971 that bars them from a wide-ranging spectrum of political, trade union and societal activities.

Chang said he made a total of 20 telephone calls to the commission to follow up on the memorandum but was disappointed with the response.

"The officers would always tell us that they were busy and that they have many other matters to attend to," said the student when met at the commission's office.

A washout

Earlier, the students met with three Suhakam investigation officers, Mohamad Taib Hampden, Jamaludin Othman and M Kamalabhaie.

However, 23-year-old law student Shazeera Ahmad Zawawi described the 45-minute meeting as a washout.

"The officers said they could not make a stand on the issue as there had been no particular case on the issue.

"However I don't think the issue here is about a particular case but about the infringement of our rights where we have to sign something which makes us obey future rules and we do not know what those rules are," said Shazeera who requested that her university not be named.

The law student added if they were made to sign the Akujanji pledge, it would be akin to recognising the UUCA which the group is against.

In their protest memorandum, the students had said the pledge restricts their freedom of expression and binds them to future provisions which are yet to exist.

Both Chang and Shazeera said they were disappointed when they learned that their future memorandums and complaints will be handled by officials and not the commissioners.

According to Chang a Suhakam staff told him that the commission's deputy chairperson Harun Hashim set the new ruling on Monday.

The student added the ruling states that only officials will handle their case and that they could meet commissioners only if they were present in the office.

"They should not keep saying things like 'no comment' because if they continue to do so they will only end up becoming a place where records of complaints are kept," said Chang.

One-sided discussions

Shazeera also mirrored his view. "For Suhakam to fight for human rights they should avoid one-sided discussions and make the process more mutual, today they were not effective in that sense," she said.

Asked what their next course of action would be should the commission not respond, she said they would have to monitor the situation.

"But if there are cases where the rights of students are violated in this instance we would have to take action," stressed the law student.

The protest memorandum was endorsed by 16 student groups, including the National Association of Muslim Students (PKPIM), Chinese Language Societies of Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia and the New Era College student union.

They urged the Education Ministry and university authorities to allow students to sign the pledge on their free will.

They also claimed that university authorities had not properly briefed them about the pledge and its implications.

Deputy Education Minister Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin had reportedly said those who refused to sign the good conduct pledge may not be allowed to continue their studies.

The government compelled all 200,000 undergraduates at public universities, along with staff and lecturers, to sign the pledge when the new academic session began in May.

The Akujanji undertaking was mooted by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad earlier this year.