Gerakan Youth supports a proposal to allow university students to take part in politics, saying it was long overdue as such move was essential to mould our university students to be more critical in their thinking and more connected to the society.

Gerakan Youth secretary-general Dr Dominic Lau said today that there were no plausible reasons to continue denying our local university students from participating in politics, while their peers overseas were free to do so.

“Our students should be groomed to compete on equal par with their overseas counterparts. To do that our students must have a good understanding of Malaysia’s political system and the people’s aspirations,” he said in a statement.

Lau said restricting students in politics was tantamount to taking away a citizen’s basic rights. Article 10 of the Federal Constitution guarantees Malaysian citizens the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

On the amendment to the Universities and University Colleges Act in 2008 allowing students of local public universities to take part in political associations with permission from the vice-chancellor, Lau said the VC had too much power.

He said the government should just give the students their rightful respects and allow them to make their own informed decision on whether to take part in politics.

However, Lau cautioned that students should not be pressured to support any particular political party.

Yesterday Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said he would propose that university students be allowed to take part in politics in the upcoming council meeting to ensure their active involvement in the field.

Saifuddin, who is also Deputy Higher Education Minister, said although the Universities and University Colleges Act was amended in 2008 to allow students of local public varsities to take part in political associations with permission from the Vice-Chancellor, it still needed to be reviewed again.

“The act should not distance students from politics, but instead include them in decision making processes,” he said at a news conference to announce 10 finalists for the Fourth Junior Chamber International (JCI) Creative Young Entrepreneur Award.