A Higher Education Ministry town hall featuring minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin today was supposed to be an avenue for varsity students, academics and vice-chancellors to voice out and get answers regarding the much-criticised Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA).
However, many students left the two long hour session feeling disappointed, claiming the ministry's answers did not actually address their queries.
Among the disappointed students was Universiti Malaya (UM) student union deputy secretary-general, Dhurgesswaran Veeran.
“They (the ministry) were not answering the questions, they already had their answers prepared. They only held the session because they wanted support from the universities (to retain the UUCA),” he claimed.
Dhurgesswaran, 23, said that it was evident the ministry was uncooperative regarding the demands of many to abolish the UUCA, despite knowing that the Act was enacted to “suppress the freedom” of students.
“They know the reason, but they are still not keen on abolishing it,” he said.
Similarly, Angkatan Mahasiswa UM president Nur Nazirah Abdullah labelled today’s session as “pointless” as the ministry did not provide clarity on the matters raised.
“From our end, we want to know what is the cabinet’s standpoint (on UUCA) and for them to know the students’ opinions.
“We want to know why the UUCA cannot be abolished and replaced with a new Act,” she said.
Referring to Deputy Higher Education Minister Mohammad Yusof Apdal’s previous explanation that replacing the UUCA would only see the new Act reuse many existing provisions, Nazirah opined that many recently introduced laws also have derivatives of previous Acts that have been abolished.
Meanwhile, 22-year-old Lai Yue Yi appreciated the town hall session, saying it was a good opportunity for students to participate and engage with the minister.
However, she agreed with her peers that most questions from stakeholders today were sidelined and that no direct answers were given.
“I think they're spinning around (the answers) and not giving the exact answer to what I'm asking.
"I asked about the campus election committee (CEC) and they said that all public universities’ campus elections are held by students and they said UM is the first to be independent.
“But even UM is being controlled by Lembaga Pengarah Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (LPU).
"(The CEC) is not a completely free entity, so this was misleading,” she said, adding that the town hall should have taken place without the presence of university vice-chancellors.
Syafiq Shary, 20, from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) said that the Higher Education Ministry was “playing safe” with their answers.
"I agree with having these kinds of sessions but the speaker, they do not answer the question transparently. They are playing safe and did not answer the questions asked in- depth," he said.
This was agreed by Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) student Halimatus Saadiah, 23, who feared that the ministry was not direct in its responses to maintain its reputation.
Meanwhile, from Malaysiakini's observation – while Khaled was present throughout the town hall, the minister did not answer the majority of the questions asked.
Questions were instead answered by Higher Education Ministry director-general Husaini Omar.
The UUCA was introduced in 1971 by then-education minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and was widely panned as an attempt to quell student movements.
The Act has since undergone seven amendments.
The latest amendment in 2018 - ironically under another Mahathir government - provided more freedom to students to participate in politics, both on and off campus.
Abolishing the UUCA was one of Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto promises in the last general election.
However, the current government is a coalition that includes BN – which has been the proponent of the UUCA in the past.
However, Khaled - who is from BN, previously said that the government had no plans to abolish it.
During his opening speech today, Khaled said there were three different views regarding UUCA's future – that the Act should be maintained with some amendments and improvements; that it should be retained and renamed with amendments; or that it should be replaced with a new Act altogether.
However, after the town hall, he said that most views leaned towards wanting to amend the existing act.
In a press conference later, Khaled said the amendments will likely be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat this year, with its draft bill first to be sent to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) for approval in mid-June.
Without going into much detail about what amendments will be made, he said that the changes will allow students to have complete freedom in participating in activities both on and off campus. - Mkini
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