With noisy chants, more than 150 undergraduates this morning gave a rousing start to the three-day Universiti Malaya campus elections to select representatives to the student council.
About 100 Pro-Mahasiswa (Pro-M) supporters escorted their candidates to the nomination centre as early as 9am, holding up orange-coloured banners.
They chanted Tolak Umno di Kampus(Reject Umno in the campus), Tolak Politik Kotor (Reject gutter politics) and Hidup Mahasiswa (Long live students) as they marched.
The Penggerak Mahasiswa group was smaller, with 80 members marching from the main library as they shouted Tolak Fitnah (Reject slander) and Tolak Pro-M.
The nomination process ended at 11am and the candidacy list is due to be announced at 5pm today. The campaign will then begin and voting will be held on Thursday.
About 100 Pro-Mahasiswa (Pro-M) supporters escorted their candidates to the nomination centre as early as 9am, holding up orange-coloured banners.
They chanted Tolak Umno di Kampus(Reject Umno in the campus), Tolak Politik Kotor (Reject gutter politics) and Hidup Mahasiswa (Long live students) as they marched.The Penggerak Mahasiswa group was smaller, with 80 members marching from the main library as they shouted Tolak Fitnah (Reject slander) and Tolak Pro-M.
The nomination process ended at 11am and the candidacy list is due to be announced at 5pm today. The campaign will then begin and voting will be held on Thursday.
As at 5.30pm, it has been confirmed that a total of 89 candidates are vying for 43 seats, including four independent candidates.
There are 41 candidates fielded by the Pro-M coalition, which is currently in the lead because they have won three seats uncontested.
As for Penggerak Mahasiswa, who are represented by 39 candidates, they have won two seats uncontested.
Some pro-M candidates are upset with a ruling that allows final-year students to contest for the 43 seats.
Pro-M candidate Fahmi Zainol (right), who dubbed them “old candidates”, claimed that the campus authorities had announced this at a briefing session last week, but without explaining the decision.
Apart from seats on the council being left vacant by those graduating during their year-long tenure, there is also the issue of students not being adequately represented, Fahmi said.
Asked about this, student affairs department executive committee chairperson K Puniamurthy (right) said these candidates must have at least two more semesters - covering a year of studies - to complete.
“The first semester will be counted from now, not the semester following the election,” he told Malaysiakini at the nomination centre.
Puniamurthy conceded that there was no provision to deal with the issue of vacant seats and that these will not be filled until the next campus polls.
“Just let the students decide. Some don’t like voting for final-year students… they will be the judge,” he added.
Last year, Pro-M candidates bagged 21 of the 43 seats, as well as obtained support from two Independents.
The Penggerak Mahasiswa student movement is deemed to be ‘friendly’ with the university administration.
Council for postgrad students?
UM's deputy vice-chancellor of student affairs Rohana Yusof told a press conference today that the university is considering a proposal to set up a separate council for post-graduate students.
If this succeeds, she said, it would be the first such student council in the country’s history.
Rohana (left) said the idea was mooted after considering the rising number of post-graduate sudents, now standing at 11,384, compared with 12,230 undergraduates in the campus.
“The post-graduate students now have only three representatives, which we see as an imbalance,” Rohana said.
“(Last year, this) resulted in a low turnout rate of one percent among post-graduate students, since they feel that campus elections are only for undergraduates.”
The proposal will be forwarded to the Education Ministry, she added, as many technical and legal issues were involved.
There are 41 candidates fielded by the Pro-M coalition, which is currently in the lead because they have won three seats uncontested.
As for Penggerak Mahasiswa, who are represented by 39 candidates, they have won two seats uncontested.
Some pro-M candidates are upset with a ruling that allows final-year students to contest for the 43 seats.Pro-M candidate Fahmi Zainol (right), who dubbed them “old candidates”, claimed that the campus authorities had announced this at a briefing session last week, but without explaining the decision.
Apart from seats on the council being left vacant by those graduating during their year-long tenure, there is also the issue of students not being adequately represented, Fahmi said.
Asked about this, student affairs department executive committee chairperson K Puniamurthy (right) said these candidates must have at least two more semesters - covering a year of studies - to complete.“The first semester will be counted from now, not the semester following the election,” he told Malaysiakini at the nomination centre.
Puniamurthy conceded that there was no provision to deal with the issue of vacant seats and that these will not be filled until the next campus polls.
“Just let the students decide. Some don’t like voting for final-year students… they will be the judge,” he added.
Last year, Pro-M candidates bagged 21 of the 43 seats, as well as obtained support from two Independents.
The Penggerak Mahasiswa student movement is deemed to be ‘friendly’ with the university administration.
Council for postgrad students?
UM's deputy vice-chancellor of student affairs Rohana Yusof told a press conference today that the university is considering a proposal to set up a separate council for post-graduate students.
If this succeeds, she said, it would be the first such student council in the country’s history.Rohana (left) said the idea was mooted after considering the rising number of post-graduate sudents, now standing at 11,384, compared with 12,230 undergraduates in the campus.
“The post-graduate students now have only three representatives, which we see as an imbalance,” Rohana said.
“(Last year, this) resulted in a low turnout rate of one percent among post-graduate students, since they feel that campus elections are only for undergraduates.”
The proposal will be forwarded to the Education Ministry, she added, as many technical and legal issues were involved.
Boycott in UTM
Meanwhile, Pro-M had lost the fight for Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Johor because the pro-establishment front won 33 faculty seats uncontested.
The remaining three faculty seats saw multi-cornered fights between pro-establishment candidates and independent candidates.
This is a result of boycott by Pro-M members, as they are opposed to the previous appointment of a faculty representative as the student council president.
According to independent candidate Ho Zhang Neng, Pro-M fielded only 11 candidates for 10 campus seats.
The polling day for UTM campus polls falls on Nov 28, which will mark another successive victory for the establishment faction.
The remaining three faculty seats saw multi-cornered fights between pro-establishment candidates and independent candidates.
This is a result of boycott by Pro-M members, as they are opposed to the previous appointment of a faculty representative as the student council president.
According to independent candidate Ho Zhang Neng, Pro-M fielded only 11 candidates for 10 campus seats.
The polling day for UTM campus polls falls on Nov 28, which will mark another successive victory for the establishment faction.
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