Universiti Malaya should not dismiss a student activist on the excuse that he is an Internal Security Act detainee, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today.

Abdullah said the student, Mohamad Fuad Mohd Ikwan, was not detained under the ISA.

"He was arrested, questioned and released without being detained," he told reporters at the parliament lobby today.

"I am leaving it to the University to take disciplinary action on the student, but it should not be based on the excuse that he was an ISA detainee, which he isn't," he added.

Mohamad Fuad was arrested under section 73 (1) on July 6 for allegedly being involved in reformasi activities which threatened national security. He was released 10 days later.

Anuar Zaini Mohamad Zain, Universiti Malaya vice-chancellor, was quoted on Monday by Malay daily Utusan Malaysia as saying that Mohamad Fuad was expelled because he had been held under the ISA.

However, a source told malaysiakini that Mohamad Fuad has been 'suspended' pending a report from the Education Ministry.

The ministry will decide whether the student, who is president of the UM student council, will be permitted to continue his studies.

The law student is expected to continue his studies two days ago after a two-week semester break.

The university was reported to have requested him to report to the student affairs department to "explain himself before punishment is meted out".

Meritocracy system

On a separate matter, Abdullah said the cabinet has agreed in principle to implement the meritocracy system for the coming university intake.

He said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will explain to all Umno leaders on the necessity of the system.

"Mahathir is not satisfied with the performance of Malay students. We need to do this to make sure they perform in the education field," he said.

"This is an important issue for Umno. If Malay students are nor performing well, we'll have to do something and this may not be the only way we are going to handle the problem," he added.

Last Sunday, Mahathir said the government will implement a system based on meritocracy for the next university intake despite protest from local academics.

He said the move was necessary as there were many students who obtained places with low academic results and were more interested in political activities.

He added that students who had been reprimanded by university authorities had threatened to campaign for the opposition in rural areas during general elections in retaliation.