Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin has shared that the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (AUKU) is still relevant and for it to be repealed, further research is needed. With that, he explained that the Act will not be repealed anytime soon.
“The Act is still relevant in enforcing its functions, especially for matters related to university administrations. The repeal of AUKU will affect the governance of public universities, especially during the transitional period of the Act,” he shared in a written Parliamentary response.
Since then, MUDA President and Muar MP Syed Saddiq has called for the Act to be abolished as promised in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto during the 15th General Elections (GE15).
“Stop silencing our youngsters. Stop AUKU, return the rights to our students,” he wrote in a Twitter post.
In a video, he also explains the downsides of AUKU from the students’ point of view, using himself and Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim (DSAI) as examples.
“AUKU not only suppresses and blocks the voices of students from criticising and speaking out, but it also gives absolute power to politicians to determine the administration in all universities in Malaysia.”
“I am one of the victims of AUKU. Just for criticising the misuse of power and corruption of 1MDB, it came to a point where I was dismissed as a part-time lecturer, as a debate coach, my students were prevented from representing the university,” he said, adding that he had to have his convocation at the airport as he was not invited to attend.
He shared that among other victims of AUKU are DSAI, who was prevented from entering his Alma Mater, and current Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports; Adam Adli, who was a student leader in his younger days.
Syed Saddiq also reminded everyone that PH had included the abolishment of AUKU in their manifesto.
“We must hold on to this commitment. It’s our promise to the people.”
Echoing Syed Saddiq’s sentiment, the Angkatan Mahasiswa Universiti Malaya (UM), a pro-student union of the University of Malaya, shared a statement calling for AUKU to be ‘killed off’.
While they agree that laws in every institutions need to exist, on top of the fact that DSAI himself has promised that students would be free to criticise the government, it is not the government that they are worried about.
“It is not necessarily the government that will prevent students from speaking out, it could also be where the university administration itself will misuse its power to restrict students from freely speaking about politics on campus.”
Therefore, the Student Union would like to urge parliamentary representatives in both the government and opposition, together with students in Malaysia to continue questioning and pressuring the government to abolish AUKU as promised,” they shared.
While the Higher Education Minister has explained that 2023 will be the year the government will focus on providing students with more autonomy and freedom to organise and participate in political activities on and off campus, a promise is a promise.
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
Also read: M’sian Pharmacist Resigns After KKM Downgraded Her Grade For Her Posting in Sabah
