Ignorance and apathy reign as undergraduates at the country's premier university braces for the student elections which are conducted under new restrictive rules imposed by campus authorities.

Universiti Malaya students will vote in their representatives in 16 general constituencies and two representatives for each faculty tomorrow.

However, the campaigning period for this year's student council elections has been slashed to only two days from seven last year.

There is also a noticeable absence of 'election pacts' - where candidates contest as a team - since this has been banned by the university administrators.

A few students told malaysiakini that they were not even aware that a campus election was impending.

G Shirley, a second-year economics student, said she and her friends realised that an election was going to be held only when they found out that one of their faculty mates was standing for election.

"We don't know about it. It's very, very quiet," she said.

A coursemate, R Kasthuri, said last year's elections were more exciting. "Sometimes, you can see the influence from outside," she said, referring to the banners that had a "white crescent with a green background" carried last year.

Asked if students cared about the campus elections, the economics undergraduates said that nothing changes no matter who is elected.

"It's the same thing again and again every year," Kasthuri said, adding that many candidates were wasting a lot of money making banners for the election campaign.

However, she conceded there is a positive aspect to the elections as they build up the confidence of candidates and help prepare students for "the real world".

Chinese voice

Final-year science student Dawn Seng ( photo ) also expressed similar sentiments about campus elections. She said she did not really care about campus politics, which are like "preparing students to become politicians".

Her friend claimed not to have voted once during all her three years in UM. Seng said she will vote although she does not take a personal interest in the elections.

"What we care about is we must have a Chinese in the council so they can fight for Chinese students' rights," she said. Seng explained that the reality in campus was that most Chinese students would generally vote for Chinese candidates.

"It's not about race but we want to see a fair representation (of all races) in the council," she said, citing the example of Barisan Nasional which consisted of all major races.

She added that they need a Chinese representative to help Chinese students in matters pertaining to their society's activities, communication between Chinese students and the student affairs department and to solve the problems caused by the online registration system.

One of Seng's friends said Chinese students tend to be more vocal about student welfare.

Problematic online registration

The "hottest issue" being debated in the campaign is the problematic online registration, implemented mid-year, that left many students waiting in frustration for the inefficient system to register their courses.

Kasthuri said the online system is not available in every faculty. What's more, in those that have it, the system did not work properly.

"Our registration system is bad news, totally bad news," lamented another student, J Bhavani.

Two candidates who are vying for seats in the general constituencies told malaysiakini that improving the online registration system will be on their agenda if elected.

"UM is a good university but the administration can be improved," one candidate who requested anonymity said.

The candidate said he will do a survey to obtain students' feedback on the matter and push for online registration to replace the existing intranet system.

Note:

The students election has been postponed to next Monday due to the demise of the Agong.