The 10 campaigners - most of them alumni of the university and one a former Singaporean student leader in exile - are also seeking support from those sympathetic to student protests in Hong Kong. This week they began a lobbying and e-mail campaign aimed at hundreds of academics and researchers who backed a group of SAR student protesters threatened with prosecution for taking part in a protest in June. The Government decided last month not to press charges.

The campaigners will also target legislators, teachers, human rights campaigners and other former alumni with their petition. They hope to collect several hundred signatures before December 7, when Mr Lee is due to receive his honour.

Campaigner Sze Pang-cheung, a history graduate of the university, said it must explain in public why it was honouring someone who had suppressed democracy and free speech. "If there's no debate, the public might think it is just natural that a degree should be awarded to [Lee]," he said. "Even if the university does not change its decision, we will consider our campaign a success if people begin to debate the issue."

University Vice-Chancellor Li Kwok-cheung said Mr Lee had outstanding talent and had managed great achievements in turning Singapore into an economically stable city. Conferring a degree on him did not mean the university supported his past measures in controlling the press and opposition forces, he told a meeting of student leaders this week.