Ever since the March 8 general election, the BN government has been making noise about reviewing and revising the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) ostensibly to give university or college students more political freedom. Last weekend, the amendments were made available. And what are they?

According to Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin, the amendments now allow students the freedom to have contacts with political parties but only in a formal setting for academic purposes, including seminars.

This is allowing students more political freedom?

These so-called amendments are nothing but a joke. For one, it calls attention to the previous practice that had disallowed students from sharing a forum with politicians to engage in public debates or discussions. To call these ‘amendments’ in the interest of giving students more freedom is nothing but a farce and an insult to intelligence.

But wait, that’s not all. According to the minister, students are still forbidden from being involved in partisan politics. Why? The political affiliation of students will restrict them from developing into holistic first-class human capital.

What another load of nonsense. What then about students in US, UK, India and many other democracies that have none of this restriction on their students? Do they lack students becoming holistic first-class human capital? On the contrary, haven’t these countries proved for far too long now that they have no problems at all turning their students into first-class human capital?

Just who does the minister or BN government think they are trying to fool or insult?

It is quite clear that the BN is still operating on the long-standing assumption that students just cannot think for themselves unless they subscribe to the BN ideology presented as non-partisan. Consider how the ideology of the BN has all along been allowed to circulate freely in university and college campuses as the norm.

Also, Umno Youth, be they from the male or female wing, is known to have been allowed to make use of students to campaign for them in general elections.

On the other hand, whenever any students were found to have given even the slightest attention to the opposition parties, they would be publicised by the mainstream media and taken to task by the BN and university authorities that would not hesitate to summarily suspend the students.

There have been reports that far too many graduates of local universities lacked creativity or could not think on their own, not to mention that many of them were not gainfully employed.

Does this not suggest the UUCA that has been around all this time has created a university/ college culture that has failed to turn students into holistic first-class human capital?

And now with these so-called ‘amendments’ to the UUCA, how can future university/college students become holistic first-class human capital when the BN government continues to assume and treat students as lacking the ability to think on their own unless they accept BN ideology without question?

The BN government always likes to remind others not to politicise issues, but what are they doing now in the name of ‘amending’ the UUCA if not politicising the issue?