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Malaysia moves to repeal 55-year-old university law AUKU

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the repeal would follow months after his administration had argued for keeping AUKU but improving it.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Asia

Malaysia’s government says it will repeal the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, known as AUKU, a law long tied to debates over how much freedom Malaysian university students have to protest, organize, and challenge campus authorities, according to SCMP Economy.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced on Friday that his administration will repeal the 55-year-old act, reversing an earlier position from only months earlier that AUKU should be retained and improved rather than abolished.

AUKU has governed Malaysia’s public university system since 1971, including the establishment and administration of universities, their finances, appointments, and academic affairs, while critics have focused on the disciplinary powers it gives university authorities.

SCMP Economy also noted Anwar’s personal history as a student activist in the 1970s, when he was detained after the 1974 Baling protests connected to anger over rural poverty and the situation faced by rubber tappers and farmers.

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