Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah: Abolishing Universities and University Colleges Act (AUKU) would be messy

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Wednesday, 07 December 2011 22:58

Last updated on Thursday, 08 December 2011 07:10

Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah: Abolishing Universities and University Colleges Act (AUKU) would be messy

Deputy Minister of Higher Education Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah said abolishing AUKU (Universities and University Colleges Act 1971) would be messy as it would not be like abolishing the ISA.

“We should make full use of the fact that the government is willing to amend the act,” he said during the Teh Tarik Session forum here this evening.

He also said the government’s move to amend the act is a radical change as it shows that the government is accepting that undergraduates should be given the right to join political parties. However, he feels that other sections should be amended besides Section 15 of the act.

“If we were to amend Section 15 of AUKU then we must also amend the other related sections as well,” he added.

The Deputy Minister also announced that he supports the automatic voter signup and the idea to reduce voting age. Saifuddin was one the two speakers of the Malaysian Digest’s 9th Teh Tarik Session titled‘Abolishing AUKU: A Step Towards Political Maturity’held at Killiney Kopitiam, Sooka Sentral.

The other speaker was Kuala Selangor MP and PAS Central Committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. In his speech Dr Dzul stated the main reason in which the act was created was to restrict and restrain students from expressing themselves politically.

“We have seen the kind of graduates that have come out (from local universities) during the implementation of AUKU. This act (AUKU) must be repealed immediately and we don’t need another one,” he said.

The moderator for the session was political activist Hishamuddin Rais who was also one of the most active student activists in the 60s and 70s. Among the guests who had turned up to the event were blogger Dato’ Din Merican and writer and facebooker Kee Thuan Chye.

-mD

Postscript

Under Section 15 of the UUCA 1971, university students are not allowed to form an alliance, support, empathise with or oppose any political party, labour union or any organisation or group without prior permission from the university vice- chancellor.Offenders face a jail term of up to six months or a fine of RM1,000, or both.

http://helpvictor.blogspot.com

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Section 15 of UUCA is Unconstitutional: “Bring Back Democracy to Campuses”

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal declared as unconstitutional a provision in the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971 which willfully restricts students from expressing support for or opposition against a political party. In a landmark 2-1 majority decision, the three-person panel held that Section 15 (5)(a) of the UUCA is unreasonable and violates freedom of speech (The Sun,November 01, 2011, p 01).

Justices Mohd Hishamuddin Mohd Yunus and Linton Albert allowed the appeal brought by four political science undergraduates of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) – Muhammad Hilman Idham, Woon King Chai, Muhammad Ismail Aminuddin and Azlin Shafina Mohamad Adza, dubbed the “UKM Four” – who faced disciplinary action for being involved in a political campaign for the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election on April 24 last year. [Low Hop Bing the third Court of Appeal judge dissented - he upheld the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision on September 28 last year, that ruled Section 15 (5) of the UUCA was constitutional with the Federal Constitution].

The four did face disciplinary proceeding initiated by the university on July 4 this year. However, they were found not guilty by the board. Happily, they graduated last month.

However, lest we get into a celebratory mood, UKM is expected to appeal the decision and the Federal Court can move to agree or overturn this ruling of the Court of Appeal. But at the end of the day, it is more important for Parliament to repeal the UUCA once and for all and I support any effort by any student movement towards this end. Bring back democracy to campuses.

I am still glad about this decision because small victories are important too.