Suaram strongly condemns the one-semester suspension of second-year computer science student Lee Song Yong by the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) authority for allegedly obstructing a security guard from confiscating his personal belongings in August 2007.
On November 14, Lee received a letter to attend proceeding by UPM authority, two months after he had refused UPM security guards to search his bag without giving him any reasonable reason. Moreover, the security guards snatched Lee’s bag to search and confiscated his student identification card and notebook without Lee’s permission. Lee had lodged a police report on August 22 and made a complaint to Security Division against the security guard on August 27, but the UPM authority did not take any action against the security guard. Instead Lee is charged flimsy grounds.
The student initially refused to cooperate because the campus officers were not in their uniforms which led to the university accusing him of obstructing its officers from executing their duty.
Even the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) sets out clearly that the police need to obtain a search warrant and strictly follow procedures to search one’s properties. That the university security guards had searched the student’s bag without any proper procedures shows the blatant high-handedness and abuse of powers by the security guards.
Suaram condemns the security guard’s action which shows no respect to students’ rights and privacy. Instead of holding the authorities involved in abuse of powers accountable, the university has suspended a victim of blatant power abuse.
Suaram also views with grave concerns over several previous cases in UPM, including midnight raid on the rooms of four women undergraduates and subsequently interrogated them for allegedly planning ‘underground activities’ in 2003; the infamous brawl in college café happened in July 2006; and the seizure of Yee Yang Yang’s belongings by security guards in September 2007. All these cases clearly show that there is indeed a serious problem of abuse of powers by authorities in UPM.
The decision of yesterday’s proceedings shows that UPM consents to the abuses of power by the university’s security guards and violations of students’ rights. This inevitably breeds a culture of power abuse and impunity – a growing problem which has plagued the country at all levels – amongst authorities and security personnel in the university. The decision also cultivates a culture of fear among university students.
We call on the UPM authority to immediately revert its decision to suspend Lee for one semester. We also demand the university to immediately set strict procedures for searches, investigations and confiscation for university authorities and security personnel.
Released by,
Wong Chai Yi
Coordinator
This is why our university is not listed in the world ranking as the university staff are more concern about searching, confiscating and then suspension!!!!