Is there an ISA for university students?

According to representatives from Malaysia Youth and Students Movement (Dema), there is. This act is known as the Universities and University College Act (UUCA) or Akta Universiti and Kolej Universiti (Auku).

Last week, three students from University Utara Malaysia (UUM) were charged by the university authority under the UUCA.

However, the action has been condemned by Dema and three other organisations – Kami, Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit) and Human Rights Commission (Suaram).

The three are Choo Kok Wei, Medecci Lineil Repong and Tengku Mohd Hasrul.

uum discipline action against student 230209 choo kok wei Choo ( pic, left ) and Medecci were charged because they were planning an online petition to protest the bus fare issue in UUM and also releasing statements regarding it. Hasrul was charged for criticising the deputy vice-chancellor, Nordin Kardi, on his personal blog.

Choo and Medecci with the assistance of a few friends decided to set up an online petition to gather support from the students when the bus company in UUM decided to increase the bus fare.

The rise in fare created a lot of unhappiness among the students. Within a few hours, the online petition collected 200 signatures.

However, their website was blocked by the university later.

Choo and Medecci then met up with Nordin, and handed in a memorandum on the bus fare issue. The deputy vice-chancellor then agreed to look into the situation and consider the feelings of the students on the issue.

The two was also appointed as committee members of the Bus Service Improvement Board.

'UUCA same category with ISA'

However, to their disbelief, the two was later charged under UUCA for “planning a protest in an online media and releasing press statements regarding the bus fare issue in UUM”.

universiti utara malaysia uum auku charges 270209 low wai seng Dema representative, Low Wai Seng, urged the university authorities to drop the charges against the three UUM students as they were upholding “the principles of campus democracy by raising issues among the students and providing them a platform to voice their opinions.”

A representative from Suaram, Wong Chai Yi, expressed her disgust about UUCA. “What is the difference between UUCA and ISA? They are in the same category.

“They are acting very cruel to the students and UUCA should be abolished. This is not the first time UUCA was used on the students,” said Wong.

According to Jerit representative Bairani Kaniapan, the UUCA is unfair and it also shows that universities do not allow their students to voice their opinions.

universiti utara malaysia uum auku charges 270209 bairani kaniapan “Everyone should have the freedom of expression,” said Bairani, adding that UUCA is making the students feel like they are puppets and have to dance to UUCA’s tune.

She added that the university should talk to the students and listen to their opinions instead of charging them.

Meanwhile, Low said that they have contacted the Higher Education Ministry regarding this matter. However, the ministry’s position was that they did not want to be involved in the matter.

In a move to help the three students charged, urgent appeals have been sent out to other universities to collect signatures for a petition to urge the UUM authorities to drop the charges against the three.

The appeal which started two days ago has been getting a good response and will continue until this Sunday before the petition is sent to Nordin.