Six months after the conclusion of nationwide campus polls, Universiti Malaya (UM) continues with its witch-hunt with 17 more students about to face the rap.

The 17 have to attend a disciplinary hearing tomorrow. They are being charged for allegedly participating in an illegal rally in front of Parliament building on Sept 21 last year, in violation of university regulations and the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971.

In an unprecedented move, all 17 received disciplinary letters signed by university vice-chancellor Hashim Yaakob dated March 13. Normally, disciplinary letters issued are signed by the assistant registrar or other officers in the student affairs department.

According to the UUCA, students are not allowed to be involved in activities outside the campus without the written permission of the university's vice-chancellor.

Hearing postponed

Student poll candidates are usually divided into 'pro-establishment' and 'anti-establishment' camps. During the Sept 4 campus elections last year, the 'pro-establishment' camp made a historic clean sweep of student posts in all 17 public universities, amidst boycotts from their rivals.

Many students involved in the boycotts were faced with disciplinary actions after the boycotts, prompting their symphatisers to launch a series of campaigns and demonstrations calling for their charges to be dropped.

Following this, the group manage to draw support from Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz and civil society groups. No student have been penalised thus far and all disciplinary hearings have been postponed.

Most recently, the disciplinary hearings for five Universiti Sains Malaysia students were postponed last month.

Freedom of assembly

Meanwhile, student body UM Association of New Youth (Umany) has condemned the university authorities move as a violation of student rights.

"The Federal Constitution guarantees the freedom to assembly and expression hence the charges against UM students are unfounded," said Foo Hou Thek, vice-president of Umany in a press statement.

While urging the authorities to drop the charges against the 17, they also called on concerned students and members of the public to attend the hearing to show their support for the affected students.