Dr M and Anis Syafiqah to speak on UUCA at Mkini office

Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be speaking at a forum at the Malaysiakini office in Petaling Jaya tomorrow on the University and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971, which was introduced during his tenure as education minister.

The forum is organised by student group Challenger.

According to Challenger secretary-general Jean Vaneisha Ravindran, the other speaker would be student activist Anis Syafiqah Md Yusof, who was suspended and fined by Universiti Malaya over her role as organiser of the "Tangkap MO1" rally in Kuala Lumpur last August.

"The forum is aimed at drawing attention to a national problem, one that is silencing young academics and scholars from moving our country forward.

"We believe that Mahathir, as a leader who played an active role in our country's development, can provide key insight on the flaws of UUCA and perhaps provide possible reforms in our policies governing education," she said.

Challenger had earlier approached Malaysiakini to rent its forum area space for the panel discussion from 8pm-11pm, which is open to public.

Following UM's actions against Anis and four others, Mahathir, who is now Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson, wrote a letter urging the students to continue fighting and called on other youths to emulate her.