Cops question students over Oct protest at Parliament

Police today questioned three student activists over a protest they held outside Parliament last month.

The trio from Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) had led a group of 40 to demonstrate outside Parliament over exorbitant fees.

MJIIT is a faculty under the supervision of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). It was established in 2010 by the Malaysian and Japanese governments, in line with the then government's Look East Policy.

Two of those questioned were UTM-MJIIT Voices student group chairperson Tan Cheng Siong and committee member Salehuddin Abdul Latiff. Also questioned was the group's adviser Sharan Raj (photo), who is also Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) committee member.

They were accompanied by lawyer Y Kohila from PSM's legal bureau.

The trio were questioned at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters by officers from both Dang Wangi and Sentul. The road leading to Parliament's gates is at the border of the two police jurisdictions.

Sharan told Malaysiakini police questioned them for about 45 minutes and were let off by 1pm.

In a statement, he said police should not waste their resources investigating activists over "civil incidents", and focus instead on crime.

Last December, students from MJIIT began questioning special fees of RM2,855 imposed on first-year students, and demanding its removal.

They said total fees paid were RM5,000, compared with RM945 paid by other UTM students.

In June, UTM (Academic and International) deputy vice-chancellor Zainuddin Abd Manan had said that the students were informed that the actual cost of pursuing non-subsidised studies at MJIIT was RM79,868 for four years or eight semesters.

"However, the university has agreed to cover 49 percent of the fees, thereby reducing the fees charged to MJIIT students to RM40,000 for four years or eight semesters," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.