LETTER | Why are we challenging the Higher Education Ministry?

LETTER | The crowdfunding for the litigation cost used for the judiciary challenge of the Guidelines for Entertainment Activities (Concerts) in Higher Education Institutions released by the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) received good responses.

As of 12pm yesterday, we have raised RM2,010. Thank you for your support, and the crowdfunding continues with your support.

We would like to take this opportunity to answer several questions raised by the public about this crowdfunding campaign as follows:

Question 1: Didn’t Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin say the concert guidelines have not been approved yet? Why is the Universiti Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany) still pursuing judicial proceedings?

Answer: When asked by the media, the minister only replied that he had not read the guideline and so he did not approve the guideline.

With that, after browsing the website and social media of the ministry and the minister, it is found that there is no official announcement in black and white to confirm that this guideline has been revoked, cancelled, or even reviewed. From our standpoint, a reply with verbal statements of the minister cannot be relied on.

On the contrary, according to enquiries that Universiti Malaya Students’ Union (UMSU) representatives who are members of Umany have received from the Department of Student Affairs (HEP), this guideline will take immediate effect.

Additionally, many student bodies have also not received a clear answer, falling into a state of hesitation and worry. This will affect the preparations for various student bodies to host orientation activities when the new academic session begins in October in public universities.

Therefore, without any official statement in black and white, Umany has decided to launch a judicial challenge to have the ministry give a clear answer in court as to whether this unreasonable concert guideline should continue to be implemented on each campus.

Question 2: If the concert guideline is retracted, what will happen to the money raised?

Answer: According to the information received by UMSU members of Umany from HEP, the guidelines have been passed, and HEP also requested that students abide by them. Since the incident, the ministry has never explicitly withdrawn or cancelled it in black and white.

Therefore, no matter what the situation is, we are determined to file a case in court. One of the purposes is to ask the MOHE to give a clear answer in court whether the guideline has been passed or cancelled.

If the ministry admits to passing the guidelines, the judicial review will challenge the legality of the guidelines or whether they are unconstitutional; if the ministry says to cancel the guidelines, we will also force the ministry to give testimony in court, proving in black and white that the guidelines have been cancelled. In any case, the money raised will definitely be used for the judicial review.

If the ministry decides, in black and white, to cancel or withdraw the concert guidelines before we start the judicial review, the money raised will be used to set up the “Student Movement Support Fund” to support all student leaders who have been politically targeted because of their protests. We will uphold the principle of transparency and clearly explain to the public where the funds are going.

Question 3: If the ministry entrusts students with the responsibility of drafting this guide, will you still sue? Will Umany be part of drafting the guideline?

Answer: Even if students are responsible for drafting the guidelines, it may not be a good thing. Across the country, many of the student representative councils in the colleges and universities of Malaysia are pro-government or conservative, and the guidelines they draft are most likely to follow the will of the government or conservatives.

Therefore, Umany is prepared that if the guidelines drafted by the students are conservative and unreasonable, we will also conduct a judicial review of them.

What’s more, the position of Umany is that there should not be any guidelines for concerts or other activities held in universities. Universities are places where ideas are free to stir. University students should enjoy freedom of association, speech, performance, and expression and with that, no guideline should exist to regulate any of that.

If regulations can be set for concerts today, they may be set for any stage play, debate, cross talk, singing, and competition tomorrow. Once this precedent is set, the ministry will fully intervene and interfere with students’ freedom. Therefore, Umany firmly believes there is no need for any guidelines for university activities.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.