| On the contrary, the deputy minister says, he only gave his views on “the best way to deal with the issue”.
Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah clarified today that he had not ordered Universiti Putra Malaysia authorities to reverse their earlier decision to annul the victories of 11 pro-Mahasiswa (pro-M) candidates in its recently-held student body election.
On the contrary, said Saifuddin, he had only given his views to the university on “the best way to deal with the issue”.
The deputy minister said it was reported yesterday that he had expressed regret over the annulment of the winners and pledged to “contact the university to look into the matter”.
Explaining why he believed the annulment of the victories of the 11 in the UPM student body election was inappropriate, Saifuddin said the complaint that they had campaigned as a group, rather than as individuals, came from the rival group.
“This was admitted to me by a member (of the pro-Aspirasi) group in my meeting with them today,” Saifuddin added.
He was referring to separate meetings he held with UPM students from the opposing camps earlier today.
Saifuddin had met the pro-establishment pro-A group as well as representatives from the university's Islamic students association (PMIUPM), one of the factions in the pro-M front, in two separate meetings.
He also wanted to meet with the other representatives from the pro-M group, but decided to defer the meeting as the students felt that the issue was still “too hot”.
His meeting with this group has been rescheduled for tomorrow at one of UPM's residential colleges.
'No chance to defend themselves'
Secondly, Saifuddin said, the authorities had also not given the pro-M students a chance to defend themselves against the accusations levelled at them.
The 11 had their victories suddenly nullified on Tuesday night, without being given any notice.
Thirdly, he said, the annulment of the results of the 11 winners would expose the government to accusations that it was sanctioning the actions similar to that which had been taken by the military junta in Burma against National Democratic League for Democracy leader Aun San Suu Kyi, whose victory in her country's general election in 1990 was thrown out.
Saifuddin said the higher education ministry was not choosing sides in the campus polls issue, but that he wanted the process to be conducted in a fair and transparent manner, and build idealism in students.
The deputy minister praised UPM vice-chancellor Radin Umar Radin Sohadi for his openness and readiness in meeting and discussing the matter with the students. He said Radin Umar's openness has solved the issue amicably.
However, Saifuddin said, he regretted that some university officials were aloof to complaints from students, which had led to the altercation yesterday evening that saw the glass door to the UPM administration building being broken.
He is also of the view that such a ruckus would not have been ignited had the officials been more attentive to the students.
“Campus elections are the best arena for educating students about politics and democracy, though all the democracy learned must be channelled towards building a more mature democracy in the country,” Saifuddin added.
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