[UPDATED] Anwar orders immediate student freedom ahead of AUKU abolition

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has directed universities to grant students unrestricted freedom immediately, bypassing the formal abolition of the Universities and University Colleges Act (AUKU). University leaders must relax regulations that limit student expression and cease all non-criminal disciplinary action against students, Anwar emphasized.

Students who faced disciplinary action solely for expressing their views must be released immediately from universities. If a case is under police investigation, universities should still release the students as the delay until AUKU amendment will take time, he added. Anwar stressed universities should become platforms for critical and fresh thinking, even when the views are directed at ministers or the government.

The primary objective is to provide a space for students to engage in critical thinking regardless of whether they agree or not with the expressed views. Anwar acknowledged not all students are genuinely free thinkers but maintained that denying them freedom to express themselves is not justified. Speaking at the Malaysia Madani Forum Series 13: The Future of National Education and the Universities and University Colleges Act (AUKU), Anwar emphasized that the university space for critical thinking and dissent, including criticism of the prime minister and the government, must remain fully open.

He announced the complete abolition of AUKU during the 2026 PKR National Congress, stating it will not be replaced with similar restrictions on students. AUKU has been in effect since 1971 and has undergone seven amendments, including a 2012 amendment allowing students to join political party activities outside campus.