The last-minute decision by Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) to postpone the disciplinary hearing for three of its students scheduled for today drew flak from a students' group.

In a statement, Malaysian Youth and Democratic Movement (Dema) said UUM’s decision to postpone the hearing without justifying the reasons was unacceptable.

"We view this decision as inefficient and has caused much inconvenience to the three. The university administration did not provide a new time frame for the hearing.

"(Furthermore), the postponement should have been announced earlier and the university should provide a reasonable excuse for the decision," read the statement.

Two of the three students, Choo Kok Wei and Medecci Lineil Repong, have been accused of breaching university laws when they issued statements to the media criticising UUM for hiking its bus fares from RM0.40 sen to RM0.55.

The third student, Tengku Mohd Hasrul Tengku Malek, has been accused of criticising UUM’s vice chancellor on the same issue on his personal blog.

Drop the charges

Meanwhile, Dema also called on the university to drop the charges against the three.

Speculation is rife that UUM decided to postpone the hearing due to heavy pressure from NGOs and various students groups.

However, this was dismissed by the university’s disciplinary unit and special tasks deputy director Shahidan Shafie

"Why would we feel pressured?" he asked when contacted. "It's not like I punched the three. I am just doing my job. I am just following orders."

Shahhidan also said that no formal complaints have been received regarding the postponement of the hearing.

He also claimed that the university has strong evidence and there is solid grounds to take action against the three.

Meanwhile, Tengku Mohd Hasrul appeared unperturbed by the latest development. "I don't really care. Like I said before, I will give my fullest cooperation," he said.

The other two students could not be reached for comment.