YeinJee's M'sian Voices

UPM in confrontation with its students again. [Malaysiakini]

Lee Song Yong, a second-year computer science student is in a battle with Universiti Putra Malaysia to get back a notebook that security personnel confiscated on Aug 22.

UPM on the other hand is seeking disciplinary action against Lee for not cooperating with the varsity officers during the confiscation.

This is not the 1st time UPM is involved with similar confrontation; another student had his laptop confiscated in September but his issue is settled sooner with the involvement of some opposition politicians.

I don’t like seeing lawyers and politicians involving in university affairs, but the lack of transparency from UPM in handling these disciplinary issues has left me no choice but to believe that the student is being victimized instead of some political agendas.

The disciplinary proceeding is a really bad joke as Lee’s lawyer mentioned. Do UPM authorities really expect the students to just hand over their expensive belongings when told to do so without questions asked? Besides, do they have enough reasons to do so?

Update Nov 23 - Lee is suspended for one semester for ‘obstructing campus officers from performing their duty’. [MP Lim]

University Putra Malaysia security personnel allegedly broke into a student’s room and illegally confiscated a laptop computer and other electrical items and documents. [Malaysiakini]

Friday night, 4 staff members of the student affairs department (HEP) in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, raided the room of Yee Yang Yang, a first-year student in Hostel 13 who is a member of a pro-student grouping.

He was interrogated from 11pm to 1am, and his laptop, handphone, MP4 player, 2 pendrives, leaflets and personal documents were confiscated. [Jeff Ooi]

Read the rest of this post »