AN independent audit and inspection must be done immediately on all hostels and university facilities across the country to identify those in urgent need of repairs, DAP lawmaker Dr Kelvin Yii said.

He also called on the Higher Education Ministry to immediately allocate funds to repair what are deemed safety hazards to students, so that they can either be advised to avoid or even relocated to protect their safety.  

The DAP Socialist Youth chief’s comment follows the death of a 21-year-old Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) student allegedly from an electric shock in her campus.

“I urge the ministry to immediately release the necessary allocations as soon as possible and remove all unnecessary bureaucracy to ensure the upgrades and maintenance of all facilities in university hostels and other facilities can be done as soon as possible.

“This is to ensure such a tragic incident does not happen again,” the Bandar Kuching MP said in a statement today. 

Last Saturday, accounting undergraduate Vinosiny Sivakumar, 20, was found dead in her room at the UUM Sintok campus in Kedah.

Vinosiny, who was wearing glasses, was found on the floor. Her laptop was still open on her desk and she was wearing wireless headphones. A half-eaten slice of cake was also on her desk. 

Kedah police said a possible cause of the death is electrocution, but added that the actual cause of death will be determined in the autopsy report. 

Yii said such incidents could have been prevented if facilities in universities were properly maintained. 

“A single death due to such avoidable circumstances is a death too many, and much more must be done to protect the welfare and safety of our students who are the future of our country,” he said.

Yii called on all the relevant authorities involved in Vinosiny’s case to expedite the necessary investigation and be transparent with the outcome. 

Besides this, Yii also noted similar incidents in universities caused by poor maintenance. 

“A fire broke out in a dorm room after Universiti Malaya’s management allegedly failed to fix a damaged fan students had lodged a report on,” he said. 

He said in 2015, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia students had complained of frequent water supply disruptions.  

Last year, a fire broke out in the UUM hostel, where the cause was suspected to be old electrical cables that were damaged but not repaired. 

Last month, a 22-year-old Universiti Sains Malaysia student died after falling and was suspected to have climbed an old, unmaintained balcony while trying to take his clothes off the hanger. 

“All these point to a bigger issue on safety and maintenance in all student hostels and university facilities, which have been neglected for so long.

“Based on numerous feedback from students, it is not a secret on how poorly many of such facilities are maintained and many are just ticking time bombs,” Yii said. – May 25, 2022.