KUALA LUMPUR: The upcoming campus election in Universiti Malaya - slotted for March 4 - is set to make history by being the first ever in a public university to be run fully by a committee comprising solely students.
The pioneering Campus Election Committee (CEC) 2019, which consists of 19 student leaders from various backgrounds and fields of study, were mandated by UM's vice-chancellor in November last year to reform the campus election rules and to conduct the upcoming campus election.
CEC will have full autonomy to administer the upcoming campus election as a check and balance for the university.
Its president Vanessa Eunice Scully, a final year student from the Faculty of Law, said the main reason behind the establishment of CEC is to engage more student participation in democracy, empowering students to take on the lead and be more responsible, as well as advocate healthy competition among students when campaigning.
"Besides the operational aspects of the campus election, we looked into students' concerns and opinions in past elections, to draft out new electoral rules and regulations for the purpose of the upcoming election,” she said.
"We have made efforts to ensure the clauses in the electoral rules and regulations were properly amended and to be improvised in ways that we can. Most improvisations have been channeled to benefit students who plan to participate in the upcoming campus elections.
"Our preliminary preparations include workshops, student engagement both online and offline, a townhall session, recruitment of secretariats and engaging with the administrators," said Vanessa.
All in all, she said the committee is confident to make the campus election a successful one - "one that upholds the students as the paramount consideration in the spirit of democracy".
For the campus election at Universiti Malaya, nomination day will fall on Feb 25 with campaign period kicking off on the same day at 8 pm ending at 11.59pm on March 3. Election day will fall on the following day.