Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) authorities have requested the newly elected student council representatives, who belong to the 'anti-establishment' faction, to state their political stand.

The students claimed today that they were told to ink a document which gave them two options, to declare themselves 'pro-government/aspirant' or 'pro-opposition/idealist'.

They were also required to state their identity card and student card numbers on the document, which did not bear the university's letterhead or logo.

At the bottom of the document, there was a sentence that read: "All my actions in the future will follow the stand I make today".

Of the 25 newly-elected USM student representatives in last Tuesday's campus poll, 13 belong to the so-called 'anti-establishment' faction.

No disciplinary action

The students said12 of them were called by students affairs department vice-chancellor Assoc Prof Dr Jamaluddin Mohaiadin to his office yesterday while he had met the other student leaders earlier.

According to the students, Jamaluddin said the declaration was to make "our (the authorities) work easier".

"He also said that this was to let him know about the student council's 'next development' as to whether it would be pro-or anti-government," said one of them, who declined to be named.

The students added that the vice-chancellor had also assured them that no disciplinary action would be taken if they signed the declaration.

Despite this, several of them chose not to sign.

Informal meeting

"We don't know whether our vice-chancellor (Prof Dr Dzulkifli Abd Razak) was aware of yesterday's meeting since it was an informal one," said one of them.

He added that this was because Jamaluddin did not issue a formal letter to call for the meeting but had relayed his request to the students. He also did not inform them of the meeting's agenda.

The students said they were "shocked" when they were required to make the declaration since this was the first such case in the university.

Despite numerous attempts, Jamaluddin could not be reached for comment.

Campus elections is normally tainted with partisan politics. In the run-up to this year's contest, 'anti-establishment' candidates from several universities claimed that the university authorities were aiding their rivals.