PUTRAJAYA, Aug 16 — DAP today said it will support Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim “100 per cent” in abolishing the Universities and University Colleges Act (AUKU), but stressed that the same spirit must be extended to other promised reforms.
DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook said education reform should go beyond the abolition of AUKU and focus on ensuring equal access to higher education for all Malaysians, regardless of their racial background.
“AUKU is one component, but what is more important in education reform is to ensure equal opportunities for higher education for all Malaysians, regardless of their racial background.
“No Malaysian should be denied the opportunity to pursue higher education because of their background.
“We need to value every Malaysian’s human capital. Every Malaysian who achieves acceptable results should be given a place in a public university, in a public institution of higher learning. This should be the policy and spirit of the reforms that the Prime Minister is trying to bring,” he said in his policy speech at this year’s DAP congress.
Loke added that the party would also support any “proposal, formula or policy” by Anwar that could help reduce the people’s burden.
“We want to announce that DAP will support all these positive changes. We will give our support, but the most important thing is implementation and the firm decisions that need to be made by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
“This is something I hope will send a strong message that whatever decisions are made by the DAP national congress today, what is most important is that we want to see positive changes in our country so that Malaysia becomes a progressive nation,” he said.
Yesterday, Anwar announced that the government would abolish AUKU, one of Pakatan Harapan’s long-standing reform commitments.
