KUALA LUMPUR: A group of student protesters has called for the abolishment of the Universities and University Colleges Act (Auku) 1971.
The protesters, who said they belonged to various student groups making up the Abolishment of Auku Secretariat, walked to the Parliament building here on Monday (Feb 9) morning to hand over a memorandum on their demands.
They said the Act should be replaced by more inclusive laws.
"This memorandum calls on the government to completely repeal the Act and replace it with a more progressive, inclusive and democratic legal framework.
"Despite being amended several times, the Act still retains a centralised power structure, creating room for political interference, abuse of administrative authority, and the suppression of freedom of expression and association.
"This situation contradicts the principles of constitutional democracy and the role of universities as independent and critical institutions of knowledge," the group said in the memorandum.
The group also said that if the government fails to scrap the Act, the Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir should step down.
