EMPOWER Bears Risk of Disqualification
Kampar, June 22 (J-on) – EMPOWER team which is running for Student Representative Committee (SRC) election could to be disqualified as candidates after they were found using Facebook and Blogspot to campaign.
EMPOWER’s Chairman Candidate Oh Chin Eng said his team was accused for allegedly violating the election constitution by using a social networking site as a platform to promote their ideology.
Two teams which contested in the SRC elections, EMPOWER and OPEN, were asked by Department of Student Affairs (DSA) to have a one-hour video conference here today with UTAR Vice President Assoc. Prof Dr. Yeoh Suan Pow upon some complaints received.
Oh said the election constitution stated “No Media Coverage” but there is no clear definition on what media is.
Constitution: Oh was holding election constitution, insisted that they had done nothing wrong.
“For common knowledge, examples of media are The Star and other newspaper, but not Facebook or blogs,” he said.
“Our competitor, OPEN suggested we should be disqualified in the meeting,” said Oh, adding that they were asked by DSA to remove all information postings on Facebook and the blog.
He said they were asked to make a public announcement on their intention in using Facebook and blog, as well as apologize to students for misleading impression on DSA.
“Today is a black day for UTAR students because we may be disqualified, and democracy is no longer in this campus without fair competition,” he said.
EMPOWER’s Auditor Candidate Lee PoiCia said the opponent team felt threatened because they were using Facebook with 600 fans in the page.
“We are not only promoting ourselves on the site, but to also increase civic awareness among students because Facebook is an efficient way to communicate with students,” said Lee.
When asked the reason of compromising with DSA, EMPOWER’s candidates said that they were warned by management that disciplinary actions will be taken if they didn’t cooperate.
However, DSA has yet to decide on EMPOWER’s destiny.
Meanwhile, OPEN’s candidates refused to give any comments to J-on regarding this issue.
