Yoges Palaniappan
Malaysiakini
First-year Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) student Yee Yang Yang is considering legal action to get back his laptop which was seized by the campus security on Friday night.
In addition to his laptop, the security officers also carted away Yee’s mobile phone, MP3 player and 10 other items valued at RM6,000 during a spot check of his hostel room. Documents were also confiscated.
Yee, who is studying timber technology, was also interrogated about his involvement in student politics.
Although he was told that the items would be returned last Saturday, this did not happen - and a 75-minute meeting with unit director Mej Othman Jailani today did not produce results either.
“They (security officials) wanted me to give them the password for my phone and laptop so that they could check the contents,” he told reporters outside the campus security’s office this afternoon.
“I refused. I want them to return my things and to apologise to me publicly because they did not follow proper procedures when they took away my belongings.
“Not only were they not in uniform, but they were also rude when I asked questions.”
The press conference was closely monitored by some 25 security guards who stood in front of the office.
They refused to allow reporters to enter the office afterwards to obtain comments.
A few students, who appeared to be on good terms with the personnel, were seen mingling with them and taking photographs of the reporters and about 20 of Yee’s supporters.
Yee belongs to the ‘anti-establishment’ camp and the incident is suspected to be connected to impending campus elections.
Rival students groups - mostly between anti-establishment and pro-government factions - are already in the midst of campaign preparations as polls are widely tipped to be announced soon.
Last year, the anti-establishment group - who are generally regarded to be pro-opposition - has boycotted the students election, claiming that the rules are heavily stacked against them.
In recent years, student groups not aligned to the government-backed Aspirasi faction are often subjected to harassment from campus authorities.
Letter issued
At the press conference, Yee described what had transpired on Saturday morning when he went to the security unit office to retrive his belongings.
“No one entertained my questions. They did not even let me in,” he said, adding that he had to wait until noon for the officers to meet him.
“Then they gave me a letter stating the list of things they had taken, but this did not state the reasons for their action.
“I continued to demand that my things be returned, so they printed another letter for me and promised that I could collect my belongings today (Monday).”
Yee’s effort on Saturday was recorded in a nine-minute video by one of his friends.
It included a tense stand-off between the students and Zamali Samsi, the head of the university’s Special Task Unit, a student-monitoring outfit which is part of the campus security.
The students stood in front and the back of the vehicle carrying Zamali to stop him from leaving until they got their letter of acknowlegement.
Yee also said two attempts to lodge a police report against the security unit had failed on Saturday because Sri Serdang police personnel had contacted the security personnel and were told that he would get back his belongings.
As at the time of writing, about 7pm, Yee was at the police station to make another attempt at lodging the report.
If the police cannot do anything about his predicament, Yee intends to serve the university a legal notice.
