PAS Youth today called for the upcoming campus elections to be postponed and urged the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to probe the allegation that 'pro-government' candidates were being backed by their respective undergraduates affairs department.

In a memorandum to Suhakam, its chief Mahfuz Omar claimed that the backing ranged from assisting in campaigns to monetary contributions for next Thursday's elections.

He alleged that in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), undergraduate affairs department deputy vice-chancellor Prof Dr Abdullah Al-Hadi Mohamed was leading a campaign committee for these candidates, dubbed the 'Putra Gemilang group'.

The Youth wing also submitted an organisational chart of this campaign committee, a full list of the candidates and their details to the commission.

Mahfuz said it was inappropriate for the deputy vice-chancellor to head the committee since the latter was also the campus election commission chief who handles the election process.

Nomination forms

In Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara (Uitm), the PAS leader alleged that, the authorities had openly hindered the so-called 'anti-establishment' students from contesting.

"(The university) had publicly told the students that they want their candidates to contest and had prevented others from obtaining copies of the nomination form," he said in the 14-page memorandum.

Mahfuz also criticised university authorities for allegedly attempting to strike fear among the 'anti-establishment' students.

The Pokok Sena MP was referring to the recent raids carried out by UPM on students' rooms and the student council representative's office.

He also claimed that a similar raid had been carried out in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

"The raids were immoral and contradict religious ethics, it could be carried out during daytime or office hours, not at midnight," he said.

He added that he received complaints from students who claimed to have been threatened with expulsion if they voted for the 'anti-establishment' candidates as the voters can now be identified via the new electronic voting system.

'Illegitimate elections'

Meanwhile, PAS Youth legal and human rights bureau head Ahmad Sabki Yusof touched on the early elections for this year which he said could be illegal.

The elections were usually held at the end of the year but last year the Education Ministry said a standardised date would be fixed for simultaneous elections in order to prevent 'campaigning among different campus students'.

Citing Section 48 of the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA), Ahmad Sabki said this year's campus polls could be an "illegitimate election".

"This is because under the Act, the elected student council office-bearers should hold their post for one year before the council is dissolved for fresh elections.

"Therefore the council should only be dissolved at the mid of December," he told reporters.

Lodge complaint

Suhakam commissioner Prof Mohd Hamdan Adnan, who received the memorandum, said the commission will write to all university vice-chancellors to seek clarification regarding the allegations.

Commenting on the raids, he said it was an invasion of privacy because "even if it is a residential house, (the police) cannot go in raid as they like".

He also urged those who had their rooms raided to lodge a complaint with the commission and assured them that they will be protected from any disciplinary action from the university.

"Those who come to Suhakam cannot be penalised because they have come to the right authority to lodge their complaint, we will take the proper steps to assure that," he stressed.

Despite this guarantee, six Universisti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) students were fined RM200 by their university last year for complaining to Suhakam about irregularities in their campus election.

Yesterday, Education Minister Musa Mohamed said the campus election is ' clean enough '.