(AFP) All 200,000 undergraduates at public universities will be required to sign a pledge of good conduct when the new academic session begins in May, a government minister said in remarks published today.

University staff and lecturers would also have to sign the "Akujanji" (I Pledge) agreement to remind them of their role, Education Minister Musa Mohamad was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

"The agreement requires them to, among others, be loyal to the king, government and university, and to heed orders," he said.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said the signing of the pledge was to check "poisoning of the minds" of students so they "stick to the original purpose of entering universities to gain knowledge and not to indulge in anti-government activities".

Students have played a prominent role in a series of reformasi protests which followed the sacking and detention of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim in 1998.

In October last year, 61 university lecturers allegedly involved in anti-government activities were sacked, transferred or issued with warnings.

The daily said the cabinet had also recently made it compulsory for all civil servants to sign the pledge.