KUALA LUMPUR: MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong hailed the Appellate Court’s decision yesterday which ruled that a provision in the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971 which restricts students from expressing in support of, or opposing, any political party, as unconstitutional.
Describing the ruling as a landmark decision, the deputy education minister said undergraduates are mostly aged between 19 and 20 and would have reached the voting age of 21 while in campus.
“When they reach the voting age, it is not proper to restrict them from attending ceramah, political campaign and so on,” he told reporters at parliament lobby yesterday.
Wee said the decision also proved that the country’s judicial system was free of any interference.
He added that this had been MCA Youth’s struggle for quite sometime.
In a 2-1 majority decision, the three-man panel held yesterday that Section 15 (5)(a) of the UUCA was unreasonable and violated freedom of speech.
Meanwhile, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the UUCA was approved by the Dewan Rakyat and consented to by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
He said that the UUCA was among the legislation that would be reviewed under the political transformation plan of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak but it cannot be said that the whole act contravened the constitution.
“There was unease among the society due to the rise of students’ power in 1974, hence the introduction of the act.
“I was at that time involved personally as a student leader,” Ahmad Zahid said after meeting Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen.
He said the UUCA should be seen in the context of the situation when it was first drawn up.
“We feel that the UUCA should be seen positively, including the regulation requiring students to seek permission from the Student and Alumni Affairs Department to carry out activities,” he said, adding that he felt that students should focus on their studies or, if they wanted to get involved in politics, to do so only in terms of student political activism.
“(Academic) achievement is more important that getting involved in politics,” he said, adding that they should wait until graduation before entering active politics.
He said the court’s decision should be respected, but said that the act would still be subject to amendments in parliament. —Bernama