Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) authorities carried out another midnight raid at the student representatives council office and the room of women undergraduates last Saturday.

According to sources, three UPM officials from its undergraduate affairs department raided the council's office at about 11pm when several council leaders were preparing the official bulletin for distribution.

About 2,000 copies of the bulletin were confiscated. A student representatives council, registered with the university, is considered a body with clout in handling student affairs.

Three hours later, a raiding party went to the room of Farrah Fuaddah Puteh at the Kolej Tun Perak hostel.

No written notice

The raiding team, comprising seven men and three women, ransacked Farrah's room and searched all her personal documents and that of her three other friends who were in the room.

Farrah is a student representative who was also at the scene of the raid in the council office.

Saturday's raid followed a similar incident two weeks ago when four women undergraduates were interrogated after their rooms were raided in an operation lasting about three hours. They were alleged to be planning "underground activities".

Despite requests, the officials did not provide any written notice or explanation but merely told the students they were abiding by a directive from undergraduate affairs department deputy vice-chancellor Prof Dr Abdullah Al-Hadi Mohamed.

Abdullah, when contacted later, refused to comment. Another deputy vice-chancellor, Prof Dr Makhdzir Mardan, also declined to talk about the incidents when met in his office today.

Among the 10 who raided Farrah's room were two women students who stay in the same hostel. They have been described as "student SB (special branch)".

"Farrah had repeatedly requested the officials to show a written notice for their search as she felt that the raid was an invasion of her privacy. However they replied in a threatening manner, saying "Why you are scared? Why you need to worry?'," said sources who requested for anonymity.

(Students are not allowed to make media statements under the Universities and University Colleges Act without a written approval from the vice-chancellor.)

The team left at about 3am and did not seize any personal belongings of the female students.

A woman undergraduate told malaysiakini when met at the university today that she was upset because the raid was carried out at ungodly hours and not during office hours.

Memorandum published

Council leaders believed that the bulletins were seized because the memorandum to UPM vice-chancellor Prof Mohd Zohadie Bardaie crying foul over the university's denial on the council's right to organise campus activities was published in the edition.

The memorandum said several new policies imposed since March had usurped the council's power, including prohibiting the council from meeting with campus associations and clubs.

The council was also prevented from being involved in the orientation programmes with new undergraduates in early May.

The memorandum was handed over to the vice-chancellor personally by the council's president Mohd Razif Abdullah last Thursday.

Mohd Zohadie could not be reached for comment today.

In a statement on Saturday, DAP Youth national secretary Loke Siew Fook said the raids were believed to be an operation against students suspected of being sympathetic towards the opposition in the run-up to the annual campus election.

Nomination day for this year's election is Saturday while the elections are scheduled for Sept 4.

Loke called on Education Minister Musa Mohamed to investigate and clarify the matter publicly within a week.