A signature campaign, led by a group of students, has been launched to urge Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) to reconsider terminating the services of political science lecturer Prof P Ramasamy.

"We the undersigned below request UKM to reconsider his contract termination and accept Prof Ramasamy as a lecturer," read the petition, which has been inked by 150 people so far.

The students have been collecting the signatures since last week and will submit them to UKM vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mohd Salleh Mohd Yasin on Monday.

"We want to know the real reason for the termination of Ramasamy's contract," said one of the students, who declined to be named, when met yesterday.

Ramasamy, a lecturer in UKM for more than two decades, was recently given a one-month termination notice to his contract, effective Aug 27. No reason was cited.

Since his retirement three months ago, Ramasamy has been given a monthly contract by the university to continue lecturing and to supervise a number of post-graduate students.

Initially, he claimed that he was victimised for being critical of the government and its policies, a charge which the university had denied.

Yesterday, the academic said he learnt from a reliable source that he was axed for being present at the peace talks between the Indonesian government and separatist group Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) in Helsinki, Finland.

'Big loss'

Meanwhile, the student said their lecturers have also failed to provide them with concrete reasons as to why Ramasamy's contract was terminated.

"We hope UKM will let us know what is going on. Students, especially in the department of political science, want him to stay.

"We are really lacking in lecturers. It's a big loss (that he is leaving)," she said.

The students are also worried that they may get into trouble for organising the signature campaign.

"We are unsure how to present the petition (to the vice-chancellor) but we are going to do it," they said.

They also revealed that it was difficult to get students to sign the petition because they fear the consequences of their action.