Najib Lift AUKU

1. Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in the parliament yesterday that the government plans to lift the ban on student participation in politics, as part of his administration’s political reforms. This to allow students above 21 to be active members of political parties.

2. Well, to be fair and not to be biased, I gotta say that this is a welcomed moved.

3. It is timely that the future generations be allowed to participate and be groomed to be more involved in the affairs of the country. After all they are the one who going to be the eventual leaders of this country. It will provide an avenue for orderly succession of political leaders who are well educated and experienced.

4. For too long, the younger generations have been stifled, resulting in the less equipped people coming to be engaged in the running of the government. The early engagement in political affairs of the country at university days, will eventually see these people well prepared for serving in both and political and civil services of this country. 

Najib however stressed that under the law, politics would still be banned from university campuses.

5. As a student myself, I still can tolerate with this rule, but please, if u really wanna ban politics from entering the campuses, make sure u keep the campus free from ALL political activities, including from BN.

6. And for all the Vice Chancellors and lecturers that cannot accept this news quite well, please understand something.

7. Being allowed political freedom doesn’t automatically translate into “ponteng kuliah” or becoming radical.

8. In fact, students who are politically literate while at the same time excel in their study are exactlt the ones we want. We don’t want students who are docile, timid and don’t know anything other than what’s in their textbook (which many don’t really know what’s in their textbooks thus making them far worse.)

9. Please give credit where credit's due. At least it is a step in the right direction. I always dreaming for a better government though. Well maybe for now I gotta say, kudos to Najib for taking the right step. 

10. But now, the implementation part. That's where it becomes tricky.

11. For Pro-Pakatan who still skeptical with this sudden move made by Najib, I totally understand u guys. After so many promises of reform (ISA, freedom of assembly, meritocracy), nothing has been delivered.

12. It is true that before any student begin to shout and jump for joy, we need to remember back what Najib announced two months ago about the repealing of the draconian ISA? And guess what will be replacing it? Yes, the Peaceful Assembly Bill.

13. So what is this Peaceful Assembly Bill? Basically, a repackaged ISA under a new name, with some additional "upgrades" included. As the saying goes: "New Bottle. Same Old Wine".

14. I am not Pro Government nor that I am Pro Pakatan. I am a Rakyat and recent repeated experiences tells me that there are lots of rosy pictures painted but reality far differs.

15. But still, let us all not giving up hope. If we do care about this country rather than our own biased support for a particular party politics, let us try to welcome this news with great pleasure. It brings great potential to the future of our students.

16. Let us work on with it, making most of it. I wanna try to be a neutral and positive for once, and I hope every Malaysian can also do the same.