AUKU: Does it make us stronger or weaker?

AUKU basically stands for “Akta Kolej dan Universiti” which applies in Malaysia. We know that this piece of law was introduced and geared by our great former prime minister Tun Mahathir Mohamed during his time as the Education Minister in the seventies. This act was then amended several time to suit the recent scenario.

The motive for this act basically is to forbid university students from being radically involved in politics, with the concern that they can focus more on their studies. But this AUKU does not stop us from being exposed to the politics. Yes according to it, we can organize debates about our Malaysian politics, and we could even fix a time table to meet the ministers or politician officially to discuss important matters. When i say “we”, it refers to university students. There you have it yes we still have space to voice our opinion out. But with a great freedom comes a great limitation. If according to our federal constitution(fc) article 10, gives us  the power to the freedom of speech and expression, and at the same time provided by the provision in the fc there are limitation to it. As long as we do not touch sensitive issues or even encouraging it, supporting  it or contributing towards endangering our national security, than its ok.

Are we that limited to politics? I dont think so, we are exposed to our own election, which is the inner election which take place in every university on earth, as for example in the International Islamic University Malaysia(IIUM) and Uitm. In IIUM  for example they have their own affirmative and negative. As you can see wee are given the power to choose the president for our university. So there you have it democracy plus the application of politics. Talking about democracy i would like to quote Abraham Lincoln,” democracy is of the people, by the people, for the people”.

But basically people are angry about AUKU  because it stops student from being a member of any politic parties. They are free to support any of them, but they are stopped from radically campaigning or supporting these parties, or even any action which could cause havoc or a great danger to our national security. That is why we have many act which limits our freedom as for example as this one AUKU, Internal Security Act(ISA), and Official Secrecy Act(OSA). Ironically at our age now, we can’t be registered as any member of any party either UMNO,DAP, MCA, MIC, Pas, or PKR, or else we’ll be expelled or been applied disciplinary action. So think about it so if you get an offer of money to be a member of this parties.So such law act as a control mechanism to stop people from abusing their freedom. From this control mechanism it will also protect other people. They stop you from causing havoc, so that other  people which are not involved will not be hurt. This is how law ought to be applied. It avoids you yourself from inflicting harm towards you or even other people.

As you can see the law amended is to  suit the government’s and party’s comfort zone. So these are the limitation which are  scared to make us student weak. Are we? In my own opinion, it does not make us weak. Still its not wrong for us to critic our politics or even having updated on information regarding about our favourite party. As long as we keep focus on our study, and dont be a radical one.

I would also love to touch about the limitation of age to be a member of parliament. As we are well informed, our parliament consist of bicameral body, which is the house of senate and the house of representative. According to the constitution, to be a member of house of representative, you need to be at least 21 years old, while to be a member of house of senate you must at least be 35 years old in age. And to vote you need to be registered and at least 21 years old in age. So basically this age limitation should also be considered in AUKU, but still the constitution provides other criteria to be followed by them.

Regarding about the pass issues on this matter, i ve heard that universities like UM use to have a tension, and a havoc have occurred due to it. It was a disagreement towards the government. And Uitm itself have its own story, whereby the students use to take over the campus chasing the authorities and superior officers out of it, until it have caused “akta  174″ to be amended. Basically “akta 174″ is just the same with AUKU, but it applies only in Uitm. Ive googled about this issue but cant find anything. So this just come from words of a few people. We can take this as an example to explain that we have such a strong power to influence or even effect our government.

So are weaker with AUKU? ask yourself. cant answer that. Its almost 5 a.m now, my father’s waking up. so better offline now. Before that i would like to share with you my whale of a time last night with my 3 closest buddiest. Sedan cant join us though because he is taking care of his father. We ve been to the finest wild restaurant which is the Food Village. Situated along the road on the way to the airport in Pengkalan Chepa.

chim chum: a round river of soup filled with good stuff , and a mountain of bbq

So basically about hours there, we hit the road and drop by at MC Donalds to have some Mc Flurry, and then as usual we got our asses to play snooker.

kua's on the ball

he's feeling lucky and looking forward to hit the jackpot

presenting the magnificent syawal hafriz... taken from across the table

So there you have it…. what a moment. We are all into politics. All four of us love to criticized the government, but not radically. We are so aware with the presence of law. So ADIOS. This is the longest post so far.