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Malaysia to scrap 55-year-old university law, but will campus reform follow?

Malaysia may finally scrap the university law that generations of students have blamed for stifling campus dissent, but activists and academics say the harder fight…

By Samantha Johnson / August 17, 2026
Malaysia may finally scrap the university law that generations of students have blamed for stifling campus dissent, but activists and academics say the harder fight will be over what comes next.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has promised to abolish the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, better known by its Malay acronym AUKU, a law that has long sat at the centre of arguments over how much freedom Malaysian students should have to protest, organise and challenge university authorities.

Anwar announced on Friday that his government would repeal the 55-year-old law, a significant reversal from the administration’s position only months earlier that AUKU should be retained and improved rather than abolished.

The law has been the backbone of Malaysia’s public university system since 1971, governing the establishment and administration of universities, their finances, appointments and academic affairs.

For student activists, however, its most contentious feature has been the disciplinary powers it gives university authorities – powers they say have been used to curb protests, political organising and campus dissent.

Anwar was himself a prominent student activist in the 1970s and was detained after the 1974 Baling protests, which stemmed from anger over rural poverty and the plight of rubber tappers and farmers.

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