Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) chancellor Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail, the Raja of Perlis, has given the nod for the university's 54th convocation ceremony be held from Oct 24 to Oct 27.

This came after complaints were made by USM's Hindu students that the original dates of the convocation - Oct 24 to Oct 28 - were scheduled to end on the eve of Deepavali which falls on Oct 29.

"His Royal Highness the chancellor of USM has given his consent... Details on the breakdown of the degrees conferred during each session would be announced at a later date," USM announced in its website today.

The new dates were confirmed at the USM convocation steering committee meeting held yesterday, said the university.

It said a total of 6,330 graduands will receive their scrolls in eight sessions.

"It is a common practice for the date of the convocation to be confirmed once the full statistics of those who would be graduating have been finalised, in order to utilise the Dewan Tuanku Syed Putra to its fullest capacity," said USM.

In his reaction, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy said some might be happy with the change, but claimed Hindus as a whole are furious that a university built on the basis of taxpayers’ money cares little about the Hindu community.

"The intervention of the Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan has made the situation worse.

"He has further compromised and betrayed the trust of the Hindus who had wanted USM to alter the convocation dates significantly to accommodate Deepavali," the DAP leader said in a statement.

"According to him, the new official dates for the convocation are from October 24 to 27, with one-day break for Deepavali.

"This one-day alteration is hardly an alteration that the Hindu students were looking for. It represents a classic case of those in power taking Hindus in the country for granted.

"More so, when you have Indians having leaders like Kamalanathan, who is ever willing to compromise and please those in power, the community is doomed in its expectations," added Ramasamy (photo).

"What a betrayal from a person who could have used his position to significantly alter the dates so that Hindu students could have had longer time with their families during an important religious festival."

In his Facebook post yesterday, Kamalanathan said the matter pertaining to the dates was brought to his attention last week.

“I immediately spoke to Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh and the USM vice-chancellor Prof Omar Osman.

"It is my hope that this issue is considered solved amicably with this decision," Kamalanathan wrote.

Tender a public apology

Ramasamy also pointed out that when Hindu students raised a hue and cry and criticised the university for being uncaring about them, its registrar Abdul Aziz Tajuddin had said that the dates for the convocation were tentative and for internal use only.

He further accused Abdul Aziz of lying when the latter was confronted with questions from the press.

"It was the last minute intervention of the vice-chancellor, Omar Osman, given the negative publicity that USM was subjected to," said Ramasamy.

"It is pretty crystal clear now that the dates were fixed officially by the administration for USM's convocation. By doing so the administration betrayed the trust and well-being of the Hindus in the university.

"The administration did not care about the fact that Hindus would be celebrating their national religious festival on Oct 29," he added.

Ramasamy asked whether disciplinary actions will be taken against Abdul Aziz by the ministry or actions will be taken against those involved in preparing the university's calendar of events for "missing out" the Deepavali date.

"Is the vice-chancellor prepared to quit for humiliating the Hindu students?" he asked.

Sharing the same view, DAP Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran criticised the university for being insensitive, and absurd to have proposed the earlier dates.

"Malaysia is a multi-religious nation and there is no excuse for the university not to know that Deepavali eve is when Hindus, in a time-honoured tradition, gather for family reunions and offer prayers to their ancestors," Kulasegaran said in a statement.

"USM must not offer any excuse for its insensitive proposal and must tender a public apology to the Hindu community, although new dates have been set.

"Two years ago, the Education Ministry was slammed for planning to hold its compulsory briefing for teachers invigilating in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) examinations on Deepavali eve.

"It is a disgrace that even a university could be so insensitive," Kulasegaran added.