KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Slapped with suspensions and fines, a group of eight Universiti Malaya (UM) student representatives said today they plan to sue the university administration for imposing harsh discliplinary action for inviting Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to speak in campus two months ago.

The students still have 12 days left to appeal against their punishments but UM student council president Fahmi Zainol told Malay Mail Online when contacted today that he and the other seven were resorting to legal action due to the university administration’s “overbearing ego” in refusing to lift the penalties in the face of the “Occupy UM” campaign mounted by their peers.

“We will take them to court to seek justice. Just like in the case of UKM4, let this also be judged in court,” he said, referring to a similar legal case mounted a few years back by a group of four Universiti Kebangsaan malaysia students who later won their lawsuit.

“See you in court, UM,” the 23-year-old added.

UM had on December 9 suspended two students and slapped fines on four more for inviting Anwar, a UM alumnus, to speak on campus without the university approval.

The suspension order comes just weeks before the youths’ final examination.

Fahmi, a final-year administration and social justice student, was the main driver of the unauthorised talk featuring the Penang lawmaker and received the harshest sentence while Pro-Mahasiswa chairman Safwan Shamsuddin was suspended for one month and fined RM300.

“I have been suspended for two semesters and fined RM600,” Fahmi had posted on Facebook.

He also told Malay Mail Online that the other students were given a warning and fined RM150, except for president of the university’s Muslim Students Association, Khairol Najib Hashim, who was only issued a “strong” caution.

Abraham Au, the last of the group nicknamed the UM8, was found innocent of the disciplinary charges.

Others in the UM8 that were punished are PMUM vice-president Haw Yu Hong, secretary-general Nur Syamimi Munirah, Adam Fistival Wilfrid, Haw Yu Hong, and Khairul Anwar.

On October 27, the UM student council went ahead with the “40 Years: From University of Malaya to Jail” talk featuring the university’s alumnus, Anwar, despite being warned by university authorities not to proceed with the prohibited event.

On that night, the 67-year-old PKR de-facto leader managed to enter campus grounds and address a massive crowd of students — despite a downpour and lockdown of the campus — on the eve of the Federal Court’s appeal hearing over his second sodomy conviction and jail sentence.

Fahmi and seven other students, now known as the UM8, were subsequently hauled up by UM on several charges for organising the talk.