Students in major public universities go to the polls today to elect their representatives for next year under new election rules that are expected to give the dominant anti-establishment groups a tough time in repeating their win last year.

The election rules implemented this year have been criticised by students as a further restriction on campus democracy and transparency.

In Universiti Malaya (UM), for instance, seats have been cut down from 16 to seven. A student who declined to be named claimed that this was an attempt by the school administration to help the pro-establishment faction.

Observers appointed

"The pro-establishment group did not have enough candidates for nomination. So this was the only way the school could dilute the victory of the anti-establishment group," he said.

Attempts to reach UM deputy vice chancellor Dr Hashim Yaacob for comment were unsuccessful.

In Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), election observers are now appointed by the campus authority.

"This only encourages irregularities in the election as we don't know who the university will appoint and whether these people are aligned to certain factions," a UTM student leader told malaysiakini.

He said that previously, all students had a chance of observing the election by applying for the post through forms.

The student also revealed that the ballot paper now does not have photos of candidates.

"We are worried that students might not remember the names of candidates without their photos for confirmation. This is also made more difficult because the campaign period lasts only two days," he said.

In addition, candidates are not allowed to watch over the ballot box, and this may lead to the recurrence of "irregularities" which happened last year, such as the alleged tampering of ballot boxes, he said.

However, the student added, the university has at least conceded to having the votes counted on the same day of polling.

Student rights

Critical student leaders have dominated major universities such as UM, UTM, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Sains Malaysia for a few years now, especially since the height of the reformasi movement in 1998.

Labeled as pro-opposition by the government, these students however deny any links with opposition parties and claim to be concerned about campus affairs and student rights.

Some of them have close ties with vocal Muslim student organisations such as the Muslim Undergraduates Association (PMI) which is linked to the Council of Muslim Undergraduates Conference (MPMI). The council is formerly known as the Peninsular Muslim Undergraduates Coalition (Gamis) which was said to be linked to opposition party PAS.

Other such students are associated with the Malaysia Youth and Students Democratic Movement (Dema).

The pro-establishment group is allegedly sponsored by the student affairs department of its respective universities.