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Midnight raid on UPM students' rooms: DAPSY calls on the Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad to make an immediate investigation and clarify the matter publicly within a week, failing which DAPSY will consider lodging a report with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia in the interest of the students' rights Press Statement by Loke Siew Fook (Petaling Jaya, Saturday): According to a Malaysiakini news report yesterday, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) authorities carried out a midnight raid on the rooms of four women undergraduates and subsequently interrogated them for allegedly planning "underground activities". It was learnt from a source that the residential college authorities searched the two rooms between 12 midnight to 3 am last Thursday.  The source revealed that the six-member raiding team comprising four Men and two women was led by residential college head Assoc Prof Dr Azali Mohamed.   It was also said that the team had even searched the student's personal files on their computers and confiscated several documents, including leaflets from opposition party PAS.   It was not clear what regulations that the students had breached but it was alleged that the four were brought to Dr Azali's room at about 2am and were "interrogated" by UPM student affairs department deputy vice-chancellor Prof Dr Abdullah Al-Hadi Mohamed.   The allegation of the midnight raid on women undergraduates' rooms by university authorities is a very serious one and warrants the immediate attention of the Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamed. It is unbecoming for the university authorities to misuse their powers to raid students' rooms as they like and it is nothing short of a violation of students' privacy.   By raiding the students' rooms in the middle of the night, it is an act of intimidating the students and in the process brought shame to them as they were just treated like criminals who have committed serious crime. In any event, the authorities should not be granted any policing powers as even the police needs warrants from the magistrate before they can raid a house.   Who are they to interrogate the students in the middle of the night?   It is quite clear that the UPM authorities were trying to clamp down on  dissenting views among the students and particularly tried to wipe out those voices, which is sympathetic towards the opposition in the run-up to the yearly campus election. It is another example of university authorities not putting their priorities right.   The UPM highest authorities should place all their emphasis to improve the academic standards of the university which is not at a reputable level. Instead they are trying to clamp down on students' activism which should be encouraged.   In view of the seriousness of the incident, DAPSY calls on the Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad to make an immediate investigation and clarify the matter publicly within a week, failing which DAPSY will consider lodging a report with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia in the interest of the students' rights.   (23/8/2003) * Loke Siew Fook, DAPSY National Secretary