PKR’s youth wing has thrown its full support behind Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement that the government will repeal the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (AUKU), calling it a long-overdue victory for Malaysia’s student movement.
PETALING JAYA: PKR’s youth wing has thrown its full support behind Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement that the government will repeal the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (AUKU), calling it a long-overdue victory for Malaysia’s student movement.
In a statement today, PKR Youth chief Muhammad Kamil Abdul Munim described the move as more than an administrative decision, saying it recognises decades of student activism demanding a freer and more democratic campus environment in which students are treated as adults capable of thinking, speaking and organising independently.
Kamil traced the roots of the struggle to the student uprisings of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when campus activism was closely linked to broader concerns over poverty and social injustice.
“PKR Youth noted that successive generations of student leaders had continued to push the same demands long after AUKU came into force: freeing students from restrictions, democratising universities, and restoring campuses as spaces for intellectual courage,” he said.
He argued that the Madani government’s decision to move towards repealing AUKU should be viewed within this broader historical context and reflects an acknowledgment that students should not be shaped through fear and excessive control.
At the same time, Kamil stressed that campus freedom does not mean freedom without responsibility, saying a genuinely mature university is one that can manage differing views through knowledge, argument and dialogue rather than suppression.
PKR Youth, he said, is calling for the repeal to serve as a gateway to broader higher education reform, including greater university autonomy, academic freedom, freedom of association, freedom of expression, and a stronger role for students in shaping their own movements.
He urged Malaysian students and young people to see the development as proof that reform requires political courage, patience and sustained public support to be translated into meaningful change, and called on the public to continue backing the Anwar administration as it pursues further institutional reforms.
Kamil concluded with a call for students to keep speaking up, think critically, and continue serving as a check and balance on the nation.
Anwar announced the repeal of AUKU while delivering his presidential policy address at PKR’s National Annual Congress at the Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC) in Ayer Keroh on Saturday, saying the decision followed continued dissatisfaction among students despite earlier amendments to the Act. He did not specify a timeline or mechanism for the repeal.
