KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 — The recent amendments to the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971 do not guarantee student autonomy because there is still an anti-activism culture within varsities, student rights activists said.
Gabungan Pembebasan Akademi member Huda Ramli said the status quo remained and little change has taken place despite the abolition of Section 15(2)(c) that barred students from participating in politics on campus.
“There is a culture of fear within campuses that students experience if they are found to be involved in student activism.
“Some of the students are demonised by some of their peers and lecturers whenever they participate in political activities,” she said during the “Is repealing UUCA more difficult than ISA?” forum at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall here.
Huda claimed that International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) students were “demonised” for staging a sit-in protest in front of the Education Ministry’s offices in Putrajaya following Education Minister Maszlee Malik’s appointment as IIUM president.
She said the alleged mistreatment of those student activists “crippled” their motivation to stand up for what they believed was right.
However, she did not elaborate on how exactly they were mistreated.
“Student representative councils within campuses should now take the initiative to organise discourse for students to spread the understanding in exchanging opinions in a mature setting,” she said.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia associate professor and Malaysian Academic Movement (Gerak) member Faisal S. Hazis said the amendment of UUCA was an opportunity for students to push the boundaries further in the post-Barisan Nasional (BN) era, now that the democratic space has opened up.
“This is where academics and students play their role in the spirit to safeguard academic freedom which the Education Ministry shares.
“In a nutshell, the quality of higher education is far from satisfactory for two reasons: The lack of academic freedom and the lack of university autonomy,” he said.
Faisal said the weaknesses in both student and university autonomy stifled creative, analytical and critical thinking.
“What is more important to us is leadership because we still have to be wary of who holds the leash even though we bring reform by giving full autonomy to universities,” he said.
“There is a need to employ academics based on merit and not vice-chancellors who are appointed by the ministry.
“If you do not change that, the status quo remains. Ultimately, there is a need to [not only] look into the existing laws, but also other areas that will affect higher education as a whole.”
