INTERNATIONAL students of Xiamen University Malaysia have complained of enduring strict Covid-19 lockdown on campus since March 2020 and face expulsion if they speak up against the school rules.

They told The Malaysian Insight some have been blacklisted for failing to adhere to the strict rules, while others have taken the risk of sneaking out of campus to do their chores.

Most of the students at this international private university are under scholarships and spoke to The Malaysian Insight on the condition of anonymity.

“They would not let us leave, if we leave, then we cannot return to campus anymore. Every month, a couple of students complained about the lack of food, mental health, or some emergency.

“We are locked up here even when the country is operating close to the new normal,” said a student.

A spokesman for the students, Akasiwa Imanga Wamunyima, 23, said when the movement-control order (MCO) started in March last year, the university’s policies seemed acceptable.

“We were told not to go off campus and observe social distancing.

“When things started to relax outside campus, we still maintained the same restrictions as during the serious lockdown.

“Finally, during the recovery MCO, we were only allowed to go out for two hours, twice in a week,” said Akasiwa, who has since finished his foundation course in September and is back in Zambia.

However, he said, students found that the small window of time – two hours – was insufficient to fulfil their shopping chores.

“What can we really do in two hours? It is almost impossible to complete all our shopping with queues and get things done.

“When we crossed the two hours, they said, ‘We will blacklist you, we will ban you to only once a week out, or not be able to go out for the next two weeks, or the next 30 days’,” Akasiwa said.

A few students sneaked out of the school compound by hiding in a car boots and when they returned, were caught and scolded.

Currently, the full lockdown rule is back in place with the conditional MCO.

“With full lockdown, we get our food supplies from the minimart and it is more expensive than hypermarkets.

“We also still have canteens and food stalls, and we can order from FoodPanda or Grab Delivery,” said a student.

In light of the complaints, the university started providing them with free food and free groceries on a one-off basis.

Silenced by fear

Akasiwa said his main fear is living in the toxic atmosphere and that his mental state has improved since returning home.

“My lockdown experience was not pleasant. It is almost like we were in quarantine. It said restricted movement, not lockdown of which we cannot move completely.”

Under stress, some vented out on Reddit but were forced to delete their post.

“The university tracked down who posted it and asked them to delete it. Posting online would get us in trouble,” a student said.

Then, the students prepared a petition to the Higher Education Ministry but did not submit it out of fear. 

“I talked to some lecturers and staff about the petition, they said that the risk will be quite dangerous.

“After all, we will be graduates soon and getting bad publicity would not help the students either.

“We are all still scared that the university might revoke our scholarship or even expel us,” said the student.

That same student added that the staff said international students will have to endure harder restrictions, “Because if anything happened, if one of us died in a foreign country, it would be tough to make arrangements”.

Akasiwa said the lockdown requirement is questionable.

“There were others like the canteen workers who travelled in and out campus, the guards and the staff.

“During RMCO, we have also seen visitors on the campus. Did all of them do Covid-19 tests when they entered?”

New intake

Meanwhile, students said the school conducted an open day in the final months of 2020 to accept new intakes who are not aware of the two-hour policy prior to enrolment.

During this period, classes were done online with only one week of physical class from October 5 to 13.

“We continue online learning but the site is down occasionally. As some subjects are via pre-recorded videos, there is less interaction between the students and lecturer.

“Being objective here, the quality of education is not worth the tuition fees,” a student said.

The university has yet to comment on queries posed by The Malaysian Insight.

Established in 2015 in Sepang, Xiamen University Malaysia is the first Chinese university overseas campus.

It is wholly owned by China’s Xiamen University, which is directly under the administration of the Chinese Education Ministry.

All classes are taught in English except for Chinese language and Chinese medicine courses.

According to reports, there are more than 4,000 students enrolled in Xiamen University Malaysia as of February 2020. – January 1, 2021.