After a five-year-long legal battle, the Kuala Lumpur High Court has rejected the application by a Universiti Sains Malaysia graduate to declare the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 unconstitutional.

Judge Mohd Zawawi Salleh dismissed the application on the grounds that Section 15 of the Act, which limits the political rights of students, had been amended by Parliament in February.

The judgement was made in chambers after listening to submissions.

NONE The application was brought by Soh Sook Hwa ( left ), who campaigned for PKR during the 2004 general elections.

A few months later, a USM disciplinary proceeding found her guilty of breaching Section 15 of the Act and fined her RM200.

After her appeal to the Higher Education Ministry was rejected, Soh brought the matter to court and also applied for a judicial review of USM's decision to penalise her.

Soh was represented by M Lavendran, while the Higher Education Ministry was represented by federal counsel Shamsul Bulhassan and Nizam Zakaria.

Dismissed on a technicality

On the judicial review application, Mohd Zawawi ruled that it was rejected because he found no "procedural unfairness".

"Since she (Soh) is aware of the charges, the judge thinks there is no procedural unfairness," Lavendran told reporters.

Her applications were dismissed with cost of RM3,000.

Soh told reporters that she was disappointed with the judgement because it was dismissed based on technicalities.

"The judge didn't look at UUCA in the perspective of basic human and student rights... I will discuss with my lawyer first before I decide on whether to appeal."