UNIVERSITY students’ movements are welcoming newly-minted Education Minister Maszlee Malik’s promise to repeal the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA).

Buoyed by the promise, Malaysian Students’ Organisation (Kesatuan) chairman Anis Syafiqah said any proposal by the ministry to offer an alternative to the draconian law should include student representation in the process of deliberation.

She urged the ministry to be open and student-friendly in this new era of change.

“Students should have the autonomy to decide and plan activities on campus without having to go through too much bureaucracy, particularly the involvement of the powerful Student Affairs Department (HEP).

“Students should have the freedom to plan and conduct forums, discussions and debates without having to face too much interference from the HEP,” Anis said.

In the past, she said, the HEP was empowered to decide on how money was spent and for what activities, to the extent of determining the topics of talks and forums, and even speakers.

The Kesatuan chairman added that “students were unable to discuss pressing contemporary issues and national policies the university administration felt would irk the government of the day.”

“As a result, we’re often left with conducting activities that largely had an element of entertainment.”

And to make things worse, she said, some lecturers felt discouraged under such political climate to discuss current issues that would benefit their peers and the student population.

Anis also felt that there ought to be student representation in university senates so that matters pertaining to policies can have student input so as to ensure their perspective is taken into consideration.

Campus elections, she added, should be free and fair and without any political interference so that students who get elected would have a full and proper mandate from the student population.

“The present Student Representatives’ Council (MPP) does not fully represent the will of the student community,” she said.

She also pointed out that budget cuts by the Najib administration the past few years had affected intellectual development on campus.

Anis said students had found it difficult to get scholarships while certain student activities were shelved and lecturers did not have the opportunity to further their studies abroad.

Student Ainina Sofia Adnan, who handles the portal Nadi Mahasiswa Malaysia, also looked forward to the repeal of the UUCA, and at the same time called for the removal of other laws or policies that were equally restrictive especially towards students.

She also echoed Anis’ opinion that students should be given representation in university senates to enable student participation in the decision-making process at the university level.

Based on her experience in Universiti Malaya, Ainina has a wish list to address certain problems faced by students, among which is a fee waiver for first-year students who come from the bottom 40 (B40) group and tuition fee discounts for students who fall into the category.

Apart from calling for a cut in the registration fee for first-degree education at public universities, Ainina also proposed that the fee for industrial training be scrapped.

She also urged authorities to consider giving holidays for festivities that relate to students from ethnic minorities.

However, she said, if Pakatan Harapan did plan to implement a policy of five years of free university education, then the proposals that she made would no longer be relevant.

Daniel Mizan Qayyum, founder of a students’ group, Demokrat Universiti Malaya, also welcomed the promise to repeal UUCA because he felt that the law violated academic freedom on campus. – May 22, 2018.