UM polls declared proper, Penggerak camp wins
By RICHARD LIM
4 FEBRUARY 2010(THURSDAY)
educate@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: The official results of Universiti Malaya’s (UM) campus election are finally in after a week of protracted uncertainties.
This comes after IT consultant Ng Hoong Ern, a final-year Computer Science student at Harvard University, declared the UM e-voting system foolproof: “As an electronic system, the e-voting system is reliable and secure.”
Engaged by the pro-Mahasiswa front which raised integrity concerns about e-voting, Ng found no obvious discrepancies with UM’s e-voting source code and confirmed that the flow of the system was smooth with no glitches.
The official results handed the Penggerak Mahasiswa, formerly known as pro-Aspirasi, camp the victory with 21 seats, compared with the 17 won by the pro-Mahasiswa front.
Three seats were won by independent candidates.
The Penggerak Mahasiswa candidates now have a week to form their student Cabinet.
The official results were announced by vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon at 5pm yesterday.
Addressing student representatives and the media at UM’s Institute of Graduate Studies, Prof Ghauth declared that the campus election results obtained on Jan 28 were valid.
“As there are no problems with the university’s e-voting system, the unofficial results obtained last Thursday stand,” he said.
“UM’s Centre for Information Technology has developed the e-voting system to the best of their abilities, and the outcome is a highly professional product. I also understand from Ng that campus elections at Harvard are also done via e-voting.”
The brouhaha regarding e-voting had been going on for some time, with students doubting the system’s credibility long before the campus elections.
The unofficial results obtained last Thursday were put on hold after Prof Ghauth met 10 pro-Mahasiswa representatives and gave them the green light to enlist the services of an independent IT consultant to test the system.
The representatives also complained about abuse of power by various staff in UM’s Student Affairs’ Department which could have influenced the outcome of the election.
Investigations into the latter are still on-going, and Prof Ghauth confirmed that appropriate action would be taken if the claims were true
Winners against fresh polls
By RICHARD LIM
3 FEBRUARY 2010(WEDNESDAY)
educate@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: The winning team in the recent Universiti Malaya student polls has called on the university not to accede to call for fresh elections.
“We support e-voting, we are against re-voting,’’ says a banner as 20-odd undergraduates from the Penggerak Mahasiswa camp handed over a memorandum to UM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon at his office yesterday.
One voice: Penggerak Mahasiswa supporters making a stand yesterday against pro-Mahasiswa's attempts to push for fresh elections.The group dispersed as soon as their representatives came out.
During the meeting, the representatives had brought to Prof Ghauth’s attention that rumour mongers had gone ahead to unleash an SMS spam and taking advantage of the varsity’s political quagmire despite his calls for sense and sensibility.
Circulated over the weekend, the SMS claimed that the unofficial election results had been put on hold in favour of fresh polls.
The unofficial results gave the Penggerak Mahasiswa, formerly known as pro-Aspirasi, camp the victory with 21 seats compared with 17 for the pro-Mahasiswa front.
Three seats were won by independent candidates.
Prof Ghauth said that the claims were half true.
“I promised to investigate their complaints but I did not promise fresh elections,” he said.
He added that no decision had been made in regards to fresh elections and much depended on the report of the independent IT consultant which was enlisted by the pro-Mahasiswa front to test the varsity’s e-voting system.
“The unofficial results are put on hold until the report is out,” he said.
“The IT expert has evaluated our system and I understand that he’s a Harvard University graduate.
“If there are problems, I will see how serious they are and decide accordingly.
“If there is no issue with the IT system, last week’s unofficial results will stand,” he added.
Prof Ghauth met pro-Mahasiswa representatives last Friday and the unofficial results were put on hold indefinitely following a three-hour negotiation.
After the meeting, several pro-Mahasiswa supporters made claims similar to the content of the SMS but Prof Ghauth denied them in an interview with The Star last Friday.
“The complaints are not solely made by the students,” he said.
“These complaints will be investigated but they will only bring about changes in future campus elections.
“They will not affect the election results,” he said.
He confirmed that he would announce the official verdict at UM’s Dewan Tunku Canselor at 4pm today.
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