Hari ni saya menerima sepucuk email daripada kenalan saya semasa universiti,
Ya, email yang berkaitan "UUM Student Kok Wei who is being charged under UUCA over the bus Issue of UUM",
beginilah kandungannya...


今天我收到了一封电邮，
是来自我一位大学时候的朋友，
一封有关“北大采取纪律行动对付朱国伟”的事件！
以下是电邮的内容 ...

URGENT APPEAL

22 February 2009

To all,

Withdraw Disciplinary Charge on UUM Students Immediately

Choo Kok Wei and Medecci Linell Repong, two final semester student from University Utara Malaysia (UUM) has been charged by university authority with the reason that he has planned a protest in online media and released press statement regarding bus fare issue in UUM.And Tengku Mohd Hasrul Bin Tengku Malek, a young blogger and diploma student from University Utara Malaysia (UUM) had been charged by university authority with the reason that he has critisized Deputy Vice Causellor (DVC) UUM on his blog.

They were asked to attend disciplinary proceeding on 1/3 (Monday), 2.30pm at Bilik Mesyuarat Sri Delima, Tingkat 5, Bangunan Canselori.

We strongly feel that the UUCA charge should be withdrawn because:

a) Choo Kok Wei and Medecci Linell Repong have done nothing wrong. They were trying to help the students to voice out their unsatisfaction towards the policy and showed it to the authority.

b) Freedom of expression should be preserved in a democratic campus as stated in Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 10 of Federal Constitution in Malaysia.

c) They have shown a role model by concerning in campus policy and tried to gather the opinions of students to help improve the university.


Background of the incident:

On 3/1/09, a bus company in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) named Unic Symbol Business Sdn. Bhd. had released a notice about the upgrading of E-bus System and increment in bus fare starting from 17/01/09. Under the new system, two plans will be introduced:

1. RM90 plan: Unlimited times of bus riding for the whole semester. But a matric card can only be used once in 15 minutes to avoid students from sharing the same matric card.

2. RM22 plan: Contains 40 points, which means 40 bus rides. This is equal to RM0.55 per ride (one way). In this way, the bus fare has increased 37.5%, from RM0.40 to RM0.55 per ride (one way).

3. The remaining credits for both plans cannot be transferred to the next semester.

The news spread fast and students were unhappy with the changes made.

On 12/1/09, Choo Kok Wei, Medecci Linell Repong and friends had set up an online petition specifically for UUM students at www.petitiononline. com/20090112/ petition. html to gather students’ support as a protest towards the bus issue. So far 509 signatures had been collected.

On 19/1/09, Choo Kok Wei, Medecci Linell Repong and friends have met with Deputy Vice Chancellor and he has promised to fulfill some of their demands. Deputy Vice Chancellor has agreed to reduce the bus fare to RM0.40 but university will review the rate from time to time. Remaining of the credits can be brought forward to the next semester. Deputy Vice Chancellor also ensured that voices of students will be taken into consideration in the future. But he refused to open the contract with UNIC to the public because it is confidential. Later on, both of them are being appointed by Deputy Vice Chancellor as the Division Head of Complaint and committe member of Bus service improvement committee.

A month later, on 19/2/09, Choo and Med received a letter from the Disciplinary Board of UUM, charging them for planning a protest in online media and released press statement regarding bus fare issue in UUM.

After that, 25/2/09, Tengku Mohd Hasrul Bin Tengku Malek which is the Deputy President of Bus service improvement committee received a letter from the Disciplinary Board of UUM,charging with reason that he has critisized Deputy Vice Causellor (DVC) UUM on his blog.



Democracy in UUM

Students as one of the stakeholders of a university should be given opportunity to monitor every contract or affairs that are related to the campus and especially to the students. The bus fare issue in UUM will definitely affect the students because they are the ones who are using the service and they need to pay for it. Thus, any changes in the service should involve students’ opinion and thoughts so that the policy will do good to the students.

In this case, Choo Kok Wei and Med were trying to uphold the principles of campus democracy by raising the issue amongst the students so that they have a platform to voice out their opinion. 509 signatures of UUM students have been collected in a short period has shown that students are unsatisfied with the change in bus service. The authority should therefore take into account the students’ consideration, not charging three of them to create fear among the students as a warning to them.

All contracts and trading should be transparency so that everyone can monitor it. Students should be encouraged to show concern about the university policy and give their opinion freely. The charging of Choo Kok Wei is a retrogression of democracy in UUM.


Demands

Hence, DEMA calls upon authority of UUM to withdraw disciplinary charge from them immediately. DEMA also urges the authority of UUM to open the contract between UUM and UNIC to the public to show that there is no conflict of interest in this issue.


What Can You Do?

1. Fax the sample letter below to UUM authority immediately.

Pejabat Naib Canselor:
No. Fax: 04-9283180

2. Call UUM authority to ask about the case and protest towards the UUCA charge on Choo Kok Wei.


Pejabat HEP:

Dato Dr Ahmad Faiz(DVC UUM)
Tel:012-4102487/ 04-9284070/3224

Pejabat Naib Canselor:
Tel: 04-9283001

Released by,
Malaysia Youth and Student Democratic Movement (DEMA)
Tan Sze Ming (UUM Coordinator)
012-4046310
sze_min310@hotmail. com

Dema's Blog: demamalaysia.wordpress.com
Chronology of UUM student Kok Wei’s case: demamalaysia.wordpress.com
Support Kok Wei: www.facebook.com/group

Sample Letter

Please state your protest by sending a letter to the Vice Chancellor of University Utara Malaysia (UUM).

To:

Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Dr. Nordin Kardi, Ph.D
Vice Chancellor

Pejabat NC,

Bagunan Canselori
Universiti Utara Malaysia

06010, UUM Sintok

Kedah Darul Aman.

Tel: 04-9283001

No. Fax: 04-9283180


Withdraw Disciplinary Charge on UUM Students Immediately


We/I from _______________ , oppose the action of UUM authority for charging three students, for practising his rights as student and a Malaysia citizen, to set up an online petition to gather students’ voices on the UUM bus fare issue and giving his opinion on somemone at his blog. .

2. We/I strongly feel that the disciplinary charge should be withdrawn because:

a) Choo Kok Wei and Medecci Linell Repong have done nothing wrong. They were trying to help the students to voice out their unsatisfaction towards the policy and showed it to the authority.

b) Freedom of expression should be preserved in a democratic campus as stated in Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 10 of Federal Constitution in Malaysia.

c) They have shown a role model by concerning in campus policy and tried to gather the opinions of students to help improve the university.

3. Students as one of the stakeholders of a university should be given opportunity to monitor every contract or affairs that are related to the campus and especially to the students. Thus, any changes in the service should involve students’ opinion and thoughts so that the policy will do good to the students. Students should be encouraged to show concern about the university policy and give their opinion freely. The charging of the three students is a retrogression of democracy in UUM.

4. We/I urge that UUM authority:

a) to withdraw disciplinary charge from the three student immediately.

b) to open the contract between UUM and UNIC to the public to show that there is no conflict of interest in this issue.

c) to preserve the freedom of expression of the students as stated in Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 10 of Federal Constitution in Malaysia, and uphold campus democracy.


Yours faithfully,



________________________

( )

CC:

Y.B. DATO' SERI MOHAMED KHALED BIN NORDIN
Menteri Pengajian Tinggi,
Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi,
Aras 7, Blok E3, Parcel E,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62505 PUTRAJAYA.

Tel : +603-8883 5010
Faks : +603-8889 1952
Emel : menteri@mohe.gov.my