Fourteen non-governmental organisations today issued a joint statement urging Universiti Sains Malaysia to rescind the disciplinary action it took against six students for involvement in purported anti-establishment activities.

They also called on the university to allow its Chinese Language Society (CLS) to hold its annual general meeting to elect new office bearers and proceed with planned activities next semester.

The call was spearheaded by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Lihua Graduates Association, an alumni body comprising USM graduates who were members of the CLS.

Other NGOs who endorsed the move were the influential Chinese schools committees association (Dong Zong), the Chinese schools teachers association (Jiao Zong), human rights group Suaram, the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) and the Selangor Chinese Assembly Halls civil rights committee.

We feel USMs disciplinary action has impeded the students education and freedom to organise and take part in activities, said Lihua alumni secretary Lee Sek Hor, at a press conference held at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

Barred from exams

USM had last week suspended four students and fined two others for their involvement in activities deemed by the university as offensive. CLS president Lee Yen Ting and secretary Choo Chon Kai were among those suspended.

The students were punished for their involvement last year in, among others, protests against the vision schools concept and the controversial Internal Security Act.

We understand that the four students who were suspended from their studies for one semester only have several weeks of classes left before they finish their courses, Sek Hor added.

All four students suspended are final-year students. The university has also barred these four from taking their final-year exams.

Sek Hor said the students awareness of current issues was not something out of the ordinary.

Its a common feature among the students worldwide, he said, adding that the university should be proud of such a positive trait.

Show-cause letter

The Lihua alumni also expressed its worry over the fate of the CLS as it has yet to hold its AGM with the end of the current semester approaching fast.

Sek Hor said the USM student affairs department would not allow CLS to proceed with the meeting as the university had yet to consider the societys reply to a show-cause letter issued to it last year. CLS had responded to the nine charges made against it in October last year.

The nine allegations included issuing statements to the press, protesting disciplinary action by the university against the societys debating team and possessing anti-ISA campaigning material.

Sek Hor said that the alumni was worried as USM requires all campus societies to renew their registration by the next semester. Who is going to register the CLS when there is no new committee?

The alumni will send its representatives to meet USM vice-chancellor Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak and submit a memorandum to him tomorrow.

They are also appealing to all USM alumnus and concerned members of the public to write to the university on the matter.

Last year, USM fined the CLS debating team for taking part in a competition in Singapore without prior consent from the university authorities. Relationship between the two have been strained ever since.

CLS is one of the biggest student organisations in USM with thousands of Chinese students taking part in its activities. There are smaller units within the main body to better cater for the students diverse interests from music to politics.