KUALA LUMPUR – The University of Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany) will push ahead with its leave application for a judicial review on the university concert guidelines and appealing for the public to donate to its cause.
Even though the Higher Education Ministry appeared to have backtracked on its new “Guidelines for Entertainment Activities (Concerts) in Higher Education Institutions”, the University of Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany) said the move is to protect student autonomy, which it claims to be diminishing with the ministry’s actions.
“Although Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin claimed that the guidelines have not been approved, there has been no announcement of the guideline withdrawal written in black and white.
“Therefore, students are still bound by the ‘unreasonable’ guidelines, otherwise the universities will have the right to use the guidelines to regulate or even dismiss related activities,” it said in a Facebook post yesterday.
Umany also raised concerns about the possibility of “similar absurd restrictions” for future activities, such as cultural performances and debates.
The organisation promised that the funds raised will be used to pay for the judicial review process and will regularly share details of the donation funds.
Donation details as posted here.
On Friday, Khaled said he was not consulted on the guidelines, which incited the ire of student bodies.
“The JPT (Higher Education Department) has not presented (recommendations on the guidelines) to me. I don’t know how it (document on the guidelines) could have gone viral.
“If I had agreed to it (proposed guidelines), then it would have been approved. If I don’t agree with it, it wouldn’t have been approved. I haven’t seen it, so let me look at it first.
“I’d prefer to let them (students) determine for themselves the guidelines, so there won’t be guidelines like the one that went viral.”
Apart from Umany, the Rahman Student League also called for the restriction of the guidelines, which, among others, prohibits mixed seating of males and females, and artists wearing shorts. – September 3, 2023