Anwar orders universities to free students from AUKU restrictions
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has ordered universities to grant students full freedom without waiting for the formal legislative abolition of the Universities and University Colleges Act (AUKU), with the directive taking effect tomorrow morning.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has instructed universities to grant students unrestricted freedom immediately, without waiting for the formal legislative abolition of the Universities and University Colleges Act (AUKU). Effective tomorrow, university leadership must relax regulations that limit student expression and cease all non-criminal disciplinary action against students.
Students who have been disciplined for merely expressing their opinions must be released from disciplinary proceedings at the university level. Anwar emphasized that universities should become spaces for critical and innovative thinking, even when the criticism targets ministers and the government. He noted that while not all students possess a genuine free mindset, this should not prevent them from exercising their right to free expression.
The repeal of AUKU, which has been in place since 1971 and has undergone seven amendments, was announced at the 2026 PKR National Congress.
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