PENANG, 1 April 2014 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) views the death of fourth year Pharmaceutical Science student, John Yip Kar Yong, 23, who died suddenly last Sunday on the university campus seriously.

His body was found near the USM Desasiswa RestuHostels on Sunday midnight and reports have been made to the police and the relevant parties before the body was taken to the Penang Hospital for autopsy. Investigations by the authorities yesterday revealed that the victim was a student of the university.

“This is the first case of this kind that happened and we will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident as well as other contributing factors by setting up a special committee to be chaired by a Deputy Vice-Chancellor,” said Vice-Chancellor Professor Dato’ Dr. Omar Osman.

Job descriptions and terms of reference of the Committee are being perused by the USM Legal Office to look at all aspects relating to students’ safety and other related matters thoroughly to prevent a recurrence.

The Vice-Chancellor urged all USM students, totalling nearly 30,000, to help each other or to inform any person who can help including the hostel officers and the School or any party who can be referred to if they have friends who seem to have problems or appeared to be under stress so that appropriate assistance can be given to avoid such untoward incidents from recurring in the future.

“The fact is we do not know what really happened until this unfortunate incident occurred and a committee will be formed immediately to work and provide recommendations to the university from all aspects; at the same time we would also engage counselors and mentors to assist in addressing the problems that students faced more comprehensively,” said Omar.

He expressed intense grief over the loss of the student and described it as a loss to the university as the student was in his final year and has no record of academic problems.

“The University hopes that his family would come to terms with this loss and the university also will try to help in whatever way it can to ease the burden faced by them,” added Omar.

When asked about security concerns, including the need for closed circuit television (CCTV), the Vice-Chancellor explained, USM does not intend to micro-monitor students’ movement on campus  whereby causing uneasiness especially among those who are staying in the hostels.

“The university campus as a centre of knowledge should be open to the public; even on that basic principle we will never compromise on the issue of the safety of students and the general public but they must go hand-in-hand,” the Vice-Chancellor said.

However, the University will scrutinise these things in detail and examine on how to make improvements for the benefit of students and the campus community, the Vice-Chancellor added.

The committee established is expected to also examine the needs and location of existing CCTVs, some of which are under the supervision of the hostel’s management as a whole.

The School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Dean, Professor Dr. Munavvar Zubaid Abdul Sattar, together with Deputy Dean (Academic), Dr Nurzalina Abdul Karim Khan, and Deputy Dean (Students Development and Networking), Associate Professor Dr Mohamed Azmi Ahmad Hassali, as well as officials from the USM Student Affairs were at the Penang Hospital mortuary last night to express their condolences to the family of the student and to help to arrange transport the remains back to his hometown for burial. - Translation: Yong Check Yoon/Text: Mohamad Abdullah/Photo: Mohd Fairus Md. Isa