Suara Siswa UM said the campus election committee (UMCEC) had on two separate occasions postponed the supposedly annual UM campus election.

It said this indefinite postponement was the result of intervention from the higher education ministry.

“According to sources from UMCEC and the Universiti Malaya Students’ Union, the ministry proposed that campus elections in the first academic semester be standardised across all public universities.

“A member from the higher education ministry sitting on the board later directed UMCEC to adhere to the suggestion,” it said.

Suara Siswa UM said this interference from the ministry and the UM management overrode the rights of UMCEC in organising the election and infringed on the autonomy of UM students.

“The purpose of a campus election is to vote for a new student union leadership. The campus election plays a vital role in promoting campus democracy as well as incorporating checks and balances,” it said.

“If external political forces interfere in the campus election, the institutional reforms carried out in UM over the past few years will be in peril while the rights and autonomy of UM students will be deprived once more,” it said.

In turn, Suara Siswa UM said it opposed and condemned the interference of the ministry and UM management in postponing the election. It urged the management to publicly explain the truth behind this issue.

“Suara Siswa also calls upon all UM students to defend student autonomy, oppose political interference, stand in solidarity with UMCEC and support their petition,” it said.

Suara Siswa UM component members include Angkatan Mahasiswa UM, Demokrat UM and the UM Association of New Youth (Umany).