Gaudeamus igitur, juvenes dum sumus

'We will enjoy as long as we are young'. This was the battle cry of a group of students from the universities in Bologna and Oxford in the 12th and 13th centuries which managed to break the conservative thinking which plagued Europe in those times.

Students have been known to be the agents of reform in society. The student movement worldwide reached its peak in the '60s with names such as Abbie Hoffman and Daniel Cohn-Bendit a.k.a. Danny the Red turning up in newspapers around the globe.

Students in Malaysia were not to be left out - the late '60s and the following early years of the '70s saw them actively championing the people's rights. Universiti Malaya was where the student movement began in Malaysia, as it was the premier tertiary institution in the country then.

Among the most vocal organisations were the Universiti Malaya Students Union (UMSU), the Persatuan Bahasa Melayu Universiti Malaya (PBMUM) and the Socialist Club. There were portrayals of involvement in national issues before 1969, such as a demonstration during the visit by the prime minister of Thailand against the cruelty inflicted by the Thai government on the people of Pattani and some rallies during the 1964 elections.

First assault

But it was only after the infamous deadly riots of 1969 did the students manage to take a more radical stand. Curiously enough, Dr Mahathir Mohamad became a regular speaker during the time the student movement was growing stronger.

Hassan Karim, former student activist and presently a leader of Parti Rakyat Malaysia, writes, "As many of the former opposition parties were now on the side of the government, the ranks of the opposition in Malaysia dwindled. The various student organisations filled this vacuum that had been created by the decline of the parliamentary opposition."

True enough, the major opposition parties during the 1969 elections such as PAS, Gerakan and the Peoples' Progressive Party were now part of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. Thus, it was the student movement that carried the voice of the people if they were dissatisfied with the government.

The government's first assault towards the students came through the University and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971. However, this only led to further radicalism of the student movement, with the Tasik Utara and later, the Baling incident.

At this time, other universities and institutions had their own organisations, such as Persatuan Pelajar ITM (PPITM) and Persatuan Mahasiswa UKM (PMUKM) as well as student unions from USM and the Ungku Omar Polytechnic.

In the Tasik Utara incident in Johor, the students protested against the government's breach of promise towards the squatters in Kampung Barisan Nasional (of all names!). The Baling incident, now regarded as being the climax of the student movement, occurred when rubber tappers there protested over the government's lack of action in responding to an increase in the price of necessities and a decrease in price of rubber.

End of an era

In his book Two Faces: Detention Without Trial, Syed Husin Ali wrote, "Despite this (warning from the PM), the students stood by their ideals and their actions. They regarded that it was their right and responsibility to fight for the farmers and tell the truth."

The two incidents highlighted the name of Anwar Ibrahim, pics/hishamuddin Rais, Hassan Karim and Ibrahim Ali, just to name a few. This time, the government did not leave room for a resurrection of the student movement.

Those involved in the Baling demonstration such as Anwar Ibrahim, Kamarulzaman Yaacob, Syed Husin Ali, Ibrahim Ali, Kamal Selamat and Adi Satria were detained under the Internal Security Act and the powers-that-be amended the UUCA (1971). With these, all student organisations ceased to exist and students' representative councils were set up to replace them. The councils were mere shadows of their predecessors and had little impact. That marked the end of an era.

Nevertheless, youth organisations such as Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) and the Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia (PKPIM), which were made up of many of the former student leaders, were relatively active following the 1975 amendment to UUCA (1971).

Following the expulsion of PAS from the ruling coalition, Abim portrayed itself as if it was the party's youth wing. In the 1978 elections, Abim openly campaigned for the Islamic party. This, however, changed after Anwar Ibrahim's entry into Umno in 1982. PAS also saw a change in its leadership, which now was held by the religiously educated faction rather than the nationalists.

Daring ones

The early '80s saw PAS starting to approach the various student associations in the universities. The picture was very different than during the age of Anwar Ibrahim and pics/hishamuddin Rais. The student organisations, arguably as a result of UUCA, were not as vocal or as daring.

They concentrated on usrah (discussion groups), forums and once in a while holding demonstrations but on a much smaller scale and normally on campus issues rather than tackling the big picture itself.

Several students such as Ahmad Lutfi Othman (later editor of Harakah and Tamadun) were expelled. But the number was small, limited to the few daring ones. As you may have noticed, most of the student movements, particularly during the post-UUCA era, were spearheaded by Malay organisations.

True, organisations from other ethnic groups were less active, but that did not mean they were totally inactive. However, it cannot be denied the students movement especially during the '80s were divided along racial lines. Kanaga Saba, an Indian student at a local institution reflected that the lack of communication between the various ethnic groups at university could be attributed to their segregation at grass-roots level.

The major non-Malay organisation was the Inter-Varsity Chinese Students' Council, better known as IVC. They were understandably inflamed by chauvinism, as explained by Lee Siew Hwa and Fathi Aris Omar in Al-Wasilah, February 2000, as a result of the Chinese community feeling unequal and unsafe after the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) following the May 13, 1969 incident.

Student revival

In the early '90s, the racial tensions of the past decade were slowly put aside, replaced by more openness among the Chinese students. This was at a time when BN, following major losses in the 1990 general elections, liberalised its policy towards Chinese education and culture. There was also the influence of students educated in Taiwan and Australia, which contributed to the change in the outlook of the Chinese students.

However, since the mid-'90s, with the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim being the climax, the student movement has had some sort of revival, albeit differently from the activism of the '70s and '60s.

The students portrayed themselves as being more concerned with national issues than before and several demonstrations took place. Quite a number of students were tried, suspended and expelled. Still, Fong Po Kuan, the youngest member of parliament at 26, representing DAP, complained, "On campus, politics is strictly prohibited. My four years at the International Islamic University (UIA) were filled with studying most of the time." Shabrimi Sidek, secretary-general of PKPIM on the other hand said, "The political crisis had woken up the students."

The establishment and the government are becoming increasingly unpopular on campus. In the 1999 campus elections for example, not one campus fell to the pro-Umno groups. In fact, Umno cronies had ceased to control the campuses for quite some time. There were demonstrations (most of them in the vicinity of the UM campus) on the corporatisation of UM, the entry of the Israeli cricket team and various other issues.

When asked why the students tend to be pro-opposition, chairperson for the women's wing of Gamis (Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam Semenanjung), Idawati Zakaria reiterated, "Maybe this conclusion arises because the issues which we fight for are similar to that of the opposition. We want UUCA, ISA and various other draconian acts to be repealed, just like the opposition.

"We are against corruption, misuse of power and favouritism and the opposition, too, is opposing these things."

Voice of the people

When reformasi erupted in 1998, the students embraced it eagerly, even if not in such an open manner. The street demonstrations, although being organised by political parties and NGOs, were mostly made up of university students. This led to the political elite squirming in their seats and finally admitting that they no longer had support in campuses across the country.

But they were the ones who came up with the UUCA, the Educational Institutions Act (Discipline) 1976 and a host of other regulations aimed at curbing the student movement. One of the martyrs was Ahmad Zaki Yamani Zainon, the former secretary-general of PKPIM who was first fined and sacked from his posts, then suspended for a year and fined again before being expelled from UITM. He later sued the minister of education and UITM for unlawful dismissal.

While it is true, that the UUCA and related laws had stifled the student movement, we have seen that if the students themselves want it, they can get around UUCA and thus once again portray themselves as being the voice of the people.

With their youth and vigour, their idealism can make up for the 'mind-our-own business' attitude that seems to plague the older generation.

NIK NAZMI NIK AHMAD, a 19-year-old student at a private college, is a student activist and has a keen interest in current affairs.