Offences under this Act

All offences under this Act are made seizable i.e. an offence for which one can be arrested. As a general rule for such arrestable offences an accused may be arrested without a warrant if he has committed, or there is reasonable cause for suspecting that he has committed, an arrestable offence.

Thus a pre-condition of becoming a student is the [unclear: forfeiture] of the normal rights accorded to the citizenry. Why this heavy handed discrimination? Could it be because the students, by virtue of their relatively [unclear: greaer] literacy, will be able to analyse actions according their causes, motives and hidden intentions, that, in a country where the press is severely proscribed if not voluntarily submissive, the students constitute an effective stratum of society ready and able to expose government machinations and maladministration? It is also an offence for students organisations to even promote money collections, as an expression of their interest in, say, the problems of the less privileged members of the society. Thus, for promoting a collection for hungry squatters, or peasants facing an acute drop in earnings, a student could be liable for a fine of $1000 or a 6 month imprisonment or both.

But the most pernicious of the provisions against students relate to the operation of automatic suspension and dismissal procedures. A student is to immediately cease being a student of the university is he is so much as charged in court for any criminal offence. On a conviction, he is automatically expelled and will be prevented from pursuing his higher education in Malaysia, as well as, because of the requirement for Ministerial sponsorship, any- page 11 [unclear: Where] in the world.

[unclear: btedly], the most jarring of these provisions is [unclear: e] that anyone detained under the Internal [unclear: ity] Act will cease to be a student further. A [unclear: sory] glance at the ISA itself, makes evident the [unclear: angerous] implication of this provision. Detention [unclear: der] the ISA is without warrant and is usually for [unclear: in] initial 60-day investigative period. In the recent [unclear: dent] demonstrations, it is reliably believed that [unclear: instructions] to the Special Branch were not only [unclear: detain] named personalities, but also anyone else [unclear: th] appeared suspicious!

[unclear: The] ISA provides for detention without trial. The [unclear: mnatrative] body which reviews the detention [unclear: rder is] appointed by the Minister of Home Affairs, [unclear: ho] is, uniquely, not bound to follow their advice, [unclear: hus] student detained on executive orders will [unclear: e] dismissed without any proper recourse to the [unclear: dicail] system. The Minister need not wait for [unclear: e] final adjudication by the judicial process to [unclear: uspend]/dismiss the student; indeed, he is empow[unclear: ed to] disregard any reversal of a conviction on [unclear: ppeal] and still dismiss the student.; alternatively [unclear: can] impose conditions on which the student [unclear: be] reinstated in the university.

[unclear: he] consequences of such actions are debilitating, [unclear: ot] only is the student barred physically from [unclear: fring] the campus, he is further denied the [unclear: ght] to even pursue his university education. [unclear: is] noted that the students cease automatically [unclear: be] members of the university. The Act totally [unclear: ies] Withe students a right to be heard.

In addition, a disciplinary authority, under the [unclear: nister's] nominee, the Deputy V.C. is vested with [unclear: ide] powers to proceed under disciplinary rules yet [unclear: be] promulgated. The Act allows rules which can [unclear: pel] the students. Appeal from him lies to the Minister 'who may, if he deems fit, summarily reject the appeal', Otherwise he can appoint a committee of 2 or more persons whether from inside or outside the University; the Minister is at liberty to disregard the recommendations pur forward by this committee.