Student protest over campus freedom law adds to Anwar’s pre-election reform challenges

KUALA LUMPUR – Some 50 university students marched to Parliament on Feb 9 to the beat of drums, carrying banners demanding the abolition of the contentious Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA), which they said stifles freedom of expression.

The protesters directed their ire at Higher Education Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir, challenging him to meet them at Parliament’s gates. His deputy Adam Adli Abdul Halim was also a target, due to his history as a student activist before entering politics.

The rally signalled mounting frustration among some young voters over long-promised reforms by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. With youth support crucial to his coalition’s electoral prospects, the UUCA protest adds to a growing list of unfulfilled pledges threatening to undermine his reformist credentials ahead of the next general election.

“The Act was originally designed to suppress student dissent. It grants unlimited powers to ministers and university vice-chancellors, leaving it open to abuse,” said Ms Alyaah Hani Anuar, from protest organisers Abolish UUCA Secretariat.

The 23-year-old final-year law student at Universiti Malaya said the immediate trigger for the Feb 9 protest was a statement by Datuk Seri Zambry in late January telling Parliament that the government had no plans to abolish the Act. This was despite Datuk Seri Anwar’s ruling coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) having pledged in successive election manifestos to repeal the law, she told The Straits Times.

The students were increasingly furious as Mr Zambry refused to receive their memorandum, and were not placated when Mr Adam Adli greeted them.

“With or without UUCA... the most important thing is that students should not fear expressing their opinions or dissent. We accept it as our responsibility in managing higher education, as well as our moral duty,” said Mr Adam Adli, who had opposed the UUCA in the past. “We give our assurance that we will take the appropriate and necessary steps to ensure that students’ demands are fully heard, rather than swept under the carpet.”

Why the students are against UUCA

Enacted in 1971, the UUCA remains the principal law governing public universities in Malaysia.

It was originally intended to provide a centralised framework for the establishment and administration of higher education institutions. There were protests following 1975 amendments that prohibited students from supporting or joining political parties, making the Act one of the country’s most contested pieces of legislation.

Student leaders say that despite numerous amendments, the Act continues to grant vice-chancellors powers to disband student groups deemed to disrupt campus harmony. Critics say it enables politicians to control university leadership, opening public universities to political interference.

The government has defended its position while indicating that it is considering a review of the higher education legal framework, including the possibility of a new law.

“The ministry is considering developing a new legal framework for higher education, which would include a review of all relevant laws, including UUCA,” Mr Zambry told Parliament on Feb 9 after the protest.

The student activists have the backing of those in PH, such as the Democratic Action Party (DAP). The party’s youth wing’s varsity affairs bureau director Koh Ling Xian said on Feb 10 that it fully supports the call for the immediate repeal of the Act.

“The UUCA has, for decades, restricted university autonomy, academic freedom and the student movement,” he said, noting that many PH leaders including Mr Adam Adli had previously been penalised under the UUCA.

DAP MP Chow Yu Hui backed the students’ call, telling ST: “The government should abolish the UUCA and replace it with a new law that guarantees freedom of expression. All the elements in UUCA restrict the rights of both students and lecturers.”

Growing pressure on reforms

Political analysts said this tension between reformist expectations and governing caution reflects a broader challenge facing Mr Anwar’s administration.

“PH is aware it is facing credibility problems among its base, especially since their dismal election results in the

Sabah state elections

,” Mr Aziff Azuddin, research director of think-tank Iman Research who studies the political behaviour of youth, told ST.

“It is also why since January we have been seeing the government focus more on what appears to be institutional reforms to appeal to their core base supporters,” he added, referring to the pledges

made by Mr Anwar in January

2026

.

At the same time, Mr Aziff noted that successive governments have been reluctant to loosen control over universities, partly because campuses remain politically sensitive spaces.

The strong showing by opposition parties among young voters in the last general election has made the government more cautious, he said. Voters under 40 made up about 51 per cent of Malaysia’s electorate in the 2022 general election – a proportion expected to grow ahead of the next polls, he noted.

While student activists represent only a fraction of this demographic, analysts said their actions signal deeper frustrations.

“What we are seeing is a small but highly motivated group of young Malaysians,” Mr Aziff said, comparing it to others who have quietly disengaged because they do not expect any meaningful change. “These are youth who are likely to abstain or not bother going to vote in the upcoming elections because they have become apathetic to what they see as political elitism and ‘broken promises’.”

This disengagement poses a longer-term risk for Mr Anwar, who built much of his political career as a reformist figure championing institutional change.

“These promises (of reform) are becoming a burden for PH because when it was in the opposition, it was easier to call for change. But the reality of being in government is different,” said political science lecturer Syaza Shukri from International Islamic University Malaysia. “For PH voters, three years are more than enough to at least initiate changes. So this gap in perception is definitely going to cause problems.”

She said the UUCA issue cannot be ignored, as the youth vote is the most important for all parties, since the demographic is still on the fence. “Institutional reforms are mostly the interest of middle-class educated youth. These are the core of PH supporters, so they have to address them.”