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The #MahasiswaUiTMBantah protest by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) students is a worrying situation for Malaysia as polarised politics has returned to academic grounds.
I understand that these students are protesting in order to protect Article 153 of the Federal Constitution. Yes, they have a right to express their opinion and stance as stipulated by the freedom of speech act in said constitution.
However, I ponder why there was no similar energy on well-to-do students who exploit UiTM and perhaps other public institutions with cheaper tuition fees instead of pursuing their studies in private universities or abroad.
In the previous year, according to Hype Malaysia, a UiTM student deleted her video on TikTok after she faced many critical comments from users for “flaunting her wealth and lifestyle while attending classes” in said institution.
What’s more, this incident led to more discoveries of well-to-do students enrolled in UiTM, especially in the law course due to its high reputation in Malaysia. Although several users justified that it is understandable considering that it is a law course, some argued that it should be no excuse for them to do so as UiTM was established to assist underprivileged students.
With that said, aren’t the rich students taking spots which underprivileged students deserve?
People who can afford private education locally or abroad should be more understanding towards the less fortunate groups. UiTM was established for groups who need not worry about tuition fees while pursuing their tertiary education.
Education in institutions is definitely vital for one to broaden perspectives and intellect. However, there is more to that; people need to realise that being empathetic and aware is key to enriching their education experience.
The #MahasiswaUiTMBantah movement is definitely the students’ right to voice out their opinions. Yet, they have to ask themselves:
- What are they really fighting for and why?
- What outcome are they trying to achieve?
It is inevitable that the movement has reached thousands of Instagram profiles which have used the template (pictured above) to join the protest.
However, if not mindfully utilised, it will dangerously fall into performative activism like the boycott movement towards KK Mart.
Ng Zhen Hao is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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