KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — The Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) today said the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 and Educational Institutions (Discipline) Act must be repealed in line with Pakatan Harapan’s 15th general election manifesto.

In a statement, Muda secretary-general Amir Hariri Abd Hadi said universities must be made more "open”, citing the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam management’s alleged rejection of a dialogue session at the campus as the latest justification.

The dialogue session titled "Interns are not Forced Labor” was supposed to be with Muda president and Muar MP, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, and held at the university’s Dataran Cendekia on March 30 at 10pm.

"The reason of supposedly wanting to ‘maintain the harmony of the campus’ as well as to focus on the spiritual programmes during the month of Ramadhan is completely unacceptable.

"It also goes against the spirit of the unity government supported by progressive groups that have long spoken about the issue of academic freedom,” said Amir.

According to Amir, the request to hold the session was submitted to the university by the president of Mahasiswa Demokratik Malaysia (MDM), Ashraf Fahmy.

The Higher Education Ministry, in a Parliamentary reply on February 24, said that the government has decided to keep the UUCA, which is more commonly known by its Malay initials AUKU.