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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 11. May 29, 1975
End of University autonom and Academic Freedom — the university and university colleges amend't act — An Analysis
End of University [unclear: autonom] and Academic Freedom
the university and university colleges amend't act
An Analysis
1. Background
In 1971, amidst widespread protests both in Malaysia and abroad, the Government enacted the University and University Colleges Act (1971), designed to strengthen its control over the universities and to [unclear: supress] student activities. The Act failed to stultify critical enquiry by the students who continued to use their knowledge in analysing the problems faced by the people of this country. When the students began to articulate the difficulties and hardships faced by the squatters, peasants and workers, they incurred the open hostility of the authorities. Undaunted, the students all over the country continued in their struggles. In December, 1974 starvation brought the peasants and workers out to protest at Baling, Sik, Kubang Basu, Selama, Bandar Baru, Batu Kurau and many other areas. The students demanded that the Government take immediate action to alleviate the difficulties of the poor people. Instead of congratulating the students for taking an interest in the plight of the less privileged, the Government replied with crude repression. Thousands of troops were sent into the universities throughout the country to terrorise the students. Thirty-eight students, youth and religious leaders and lecturers were arrested. Some are still detained without trial and the whereabouts of some are still unknown.
In the wake of the students' expose of the Government indifference to the plight of the disinherited and the revelation of corruption and mismanagement of the country's affairs, the Government unleashed the might of their repressive machinery. The Bill to amend the University and University Colleges Act incorporates one such reaction designed to render the university a servile, unthinking and uncritical adjunct of the present Government.
What follows is a brief analysis of the more striking provisions of the Bill now being rushed through the current session of Parliament. The provisions couched as they are in such abrasive phraseology make abundantly clear the true motivations of the Government.
2. Appointments of University Authorities and Personnel
| (A) | The University Council (U.C), The executive body of the university was, even under the principal Act, ensured a fairly independent role; only 6 members were nominated, directly or otherwise by the Government; the remaining 9 members of this 15member Council were selections from and by bodies involved directly in the academic community viz., the Council, the Senate, the Court, university statutes and the Graduates Guild. The proposed U.C. which will supercede the existing U.C. on the commencement of the Act will consist of 14 members who will owe their nomination, one way or other, to the Government, more specifically, to the Minister of Education. Only the remaining 2 members will be elected by the Senate from amongst its own members. Even the graduate representation (2 members), will be nominated by the Minister, thus making a mockery of the Graduates' Guild, whose recognition was provided for even by the principal Act. |
| (B) | The Vice-Chancellor (V.C), Formerly Appointed by the council, will be now appointed by the Minister. In the past, to ensure the selection of a pre-eminent academician, the appointment was contingent upon the advice of a committee which included 2 Council members, 2 Senate members, and 2 assessors appointed by the Council in collaboration with the Senate. This committee is to be abolished. The V.C.'s terms and conditions of service will be stipulated, not by the Council, but by the Minister. |
| (C) | The Deputy V.C. Formerly appointed by the Council in consultation with his nominee, the Vice-Chancellor, the Deputy may be selected 'from within or without the University', thereby transgressing the cherished convention whereby he was always selected from amongst the academic community in the University. In the event of the absence or the disability of the V.C. and there being more than one Deputy V.C. the Minister will again decide who is to deputise as the V.C. In the event of their inability or absence, the Minister, not the Council, will make such arrangements 'as he may think fit'. Needless to say, the terms and conditions of service of the Deputy V.C.s will also be determined by the Minister. |
| (D) | Deans, Deputy Deans, Heads of Schools and Institutions. Faculty Deans and Deputy Deans, formerly selected by faculty members from amongst its own staff, are now to be appointed by the Government's nominee, the Vice-Chancellor. (All elected Deans, Deputies are to cease functioning immediately on the commencement of the Act.) Similarly, the selection of the Heads of Schools, formerly accomplished according to the elaborate University Statute designed to ensure a proper academic assessment, is now to rest solely with the V.C. To date, this democratic selection process was working well but denied the Government the guarantee of direct political manipulation. The intent of this amendment is transparently clear from the powers given to the V.C. to revoke the appointment of a 'recalcitrant' at any time 'if he (V.C.) sees fit'. |
| (E) | The University Court. Its composition is altered in one significant respect. The existing provision which provided for 'representatives of organisations engaged in teaching or research, learned societies, hospitals and educational institutions' is deleted as these representatives would evidently be chosen by and from its own members and consequently less [unclear: arr] enable to Government dictates. The provision empowering the V.C. to nominate 'representatives of professional, commercial, industrial, cultural and other organisations' is retained. |
3. Dismissals and Other Disciplinary Measures
(A) Students
| 1. |
Offences under this Act All offences under this Act are made seizable i.e. an offence for which one can be arrested. As a general rule for such arrestable offences an accused may be arrested without a warrant if he has committed, or there is reasonable cause for suspecting that he has committed, an arrestable offence. It is an offence for:
Thus a pre-condition of becoming a student is the [unclear: forfeiture] of the normal rights accorded to the citizenry. Why this heavy handed discrimination? Could it be because the students, by virtue of their relatively [unclear: greaer] literacy, will be able to analyse actions according their causes, motives and hidden intentions, that, in a country where the press is severely proscribed if not voluntarily submissive, the students constitute an effective stratum of society ready and able to expose government machinations and maladministration? It is also an offence for students organisations to even promote money collections, as an expression of their interest in, say, the problems of the less privileged members of the society. Thus, for promoting a collection for hungry squatters, or peasants facing an acute drop in earnings, a student could be liable for a fine of $1000 or a 6 month imprisonment or both. |
| 2. |
But the most pernicious of the provisions against students relate to the operation of automatic suspension and dismissal procedures. A student is to immediately cease being a student of the university is he is so much as charged in court for any criminal offence. On a conviction, he is automatically expelled and will be prevented from pursuing his higher education in Malaysia, as well as, because of the requirement for Ministerial sponsorship, any-
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[unclear: btedly], the most jarring of these provisions is [unclear: e] that anyone detained under the Internal [unclear: ity] Act will cease to be a student further. A [unclear: sory] glance at the ISA itself, makes evident the [unclear: angerous] implication of this provision. Detention [unclear: der] the ISA is without warrant and is usually for [unclear: in] initial 60-day investigative period. In the recent [unclear: dent] demonstrations, it is reliably believed that [unclear: instructions] to the Special Branch were not only [unclear: detain] named personalities, but also anyone else [unclear: th] appeared suspicious! [unclear: The] ISA provides for detention without trial. The [unclear: mnatrative] body which reviews the detention [unclear: rder is] appointed by the Minister of Home Affairs, [unclear: ho] is, uniquely, not bound to follow their advice, [unclear: hus] student detained on executive orders will [unclear: e] dismissed without any proper recourse to the [unclear: dicail] system. The Minister need not wait for [unclear: e] final adjudication by the judicial process to [unclear: uspend]/dismiss the student; indeed, he is empow[unclear: ed to] disregard any reversal of a conviction on [unclear: ppeal] and still dismiss the student.; alternatively [unclear: can] impose conditions on which the student [unclear: be] reinstated in the university. [unclear: he] consequences of such actions are debilitating, [unclear: ot] only is the student barred physically from [unclear: fring] the campus, he is further denied the [unclear: ght] to even pursue his university education. [unclear: is] noted that the students cease automatically [unclear: be] members of the university. The Act totally [unclear: ies] Withe students a right to be heard. In addition, a disciplinary authority, under the [unclear: nister's] nominee, the Deputy V.C. is vested with [unclear: ide] powers to proceed under disciplinary rules yet [unclear: be] promulgated. The Act allows rules which can [unclear: pel] the students. Appeal from him lies to the Minister 'who may, if he deems fit, summarily reject the appeal', Otherwise he can appoint a committee of 2 or more persons whether from inside or outside the University; the Minister is at liberty to disregard the recommendations pur forward by this committee. |
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(B) Lecturers and Other Employees
The Amendment Act provides for the promulgation of a fresh set of disciplinary rules by which new offences can be created punishable by such penalties as interdiction with reduced salary, suspension without salary, reduction in rank and dismissals. All appointments to the University are subject to the Act which includes these disciplinary rules. Even appointment made before the commencement of this Amendment are deemed to similarly incorporate these provisions in their contract of employment.
(C) The Chancellor
The Chancellor formerly was removeable by the University Court 'for good cause'. This phrase is conspicuously deleted and he is now removable by the Uang di Pertuan Agong, the titular head whose dic-decisions are really the Ministers.
(D) The V.C, Deputy V.C, Deans. Heads of Schools and Institutions.
As noted earlier, the terms and conditions (including dismissal provisions) of the V.C. and his Deputies will be stipulated by the Minister on their appointment. The appointments of the Deans, Deputy Deans, Heads of Schools (Departments) and Institutions within the University may be revoked at any time during the term of the appointment at the absolute discretion of the V.C.
(E)
Finally, no authority in the University can amend any of these rules relating to these ominous powers of dismissals and disciplinary.
4. Student Organisations
All student bodies are deemed dissolved and must seek fresh approval from the V.C. on such terms and conditions as the Government-controlled University Council specifies. The entire students body in the University will be conducted by a 4-member executive committee. The strangle-hold of the V.C. in the control of this body is as stark as it is crude. The number of representatives to be elected from the Faculties or Schools to the SRC will be determined solely by the V.C. So too, other representatives of the SRC. liven student elections are now conducted by the university administration which means that they can also be rigged by the administration. The formation of ad hoc committees must obtain the prior approval in writing from the V.C. To cripple their financial independence, students will not be allowed to manage their own finances, but must, for any expenditure, seek the approval of the V.C. who will then authorise the University to effect the necessary payment on production of the receipts. The 'recalcitrant' among the 'students' representatives can easily be removed by instituting disciplinary proceedings against him, when such are merely pending, he must relinquish his office unless the V.C, authorises otherwise in writing. Students cannot align themselves with other student organisations. The National Union of Malaysian Students will cease to exist. Nor is any affiliation with international bodies permitted.
The defined objects for which student bodies must function, reduces them to petty welfare groups; they are no longer permitted to concretely associate with the wider community outside the campus, (responsible for financing their education), with the hope of understanding and responding to their plight. Criticism of Government mistakes and maladministration is a heinous offence.
5. Departures from the Formal Rules of Procedure
(A) Evidence
| (i) |
If any offence is merely committed by an organisation or body in the University and even if no conviction is obtained, then every officebearer of the organisation is deemed to be guilty of the offence and the onus is on him to show that he had no knowledge of the offence and that he had done all necessary to prevent its being committed. This is a reversal of the 'innocent until proven guilty' right of every citizen in a non-totalitarian society. |
| (ii) | Any document found in the possession of an officebearer or anyone helping an organisation and even a member of any organisation is prima facie evidence of its contents to prove that anything was done or intended to be done by this organisation. This provision, almost similar to the South African S.2(3) of the Terrorism Act is a clear violation of the hearsay rule which excludes as being unreliable any statement unless its maker can be brought to court and subjected to cross-examination to test its veracity. |
| (iii) |
If any document is found in the possession or control of a person then he is presumed until the contrary is proved, to be helping in the management of the organisation. These procedural provisions so insidiously inserted in the interstices of the amending Act are a devious method of aiding the prosecution to obtain an easy conviction. |
(B) Natural Justice
As noted earlier, the right to be heard is denied to students who are automatically suspended on being charged for criminal offences and automatically expelled if convicted as well as detained under the obnoxious Internal Security Act.
6. Conclusion
As the explanatory statement to the Bill makes explicit, extra financial expenses, 'the amount of which cannot at present be ascertained', will be incurred. But the higher costs, at a time when Government rhetoric exhorts all and sundry to tighten their belts, is no obstacle to the commitment of the Government to hastily rush through a bill replete with provisions which will make our universities subservient to and readily pliable by self-serving interests. The direct and vigorous control of the University by the Minister is crudely transparent with the provisions which permit him to delegate most of his 'policising' functions to his nominee, the V.C. and the newly constituted University Council.