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Students free to criticize government, PM Anwar saysKuching City crushes Kuala Lumpur City 6-0 in Liga Super routErma Fatima says: "I worked with her, I know how much of a diva she isMalaysian actor Isa Khan dismisses social-media speculation over Risteena divorce talkSoutheast Asia’s six largest bourses unveil 2026 plan to lure foreign capitalBNM fines company, 2 banks over sanctions breachesPH reps told to return allocations paid a day before Negeri Sembilan assembly dissolvedBursa ends higher as YTL, banking counters lift marketSIGMA 2026 symposium sends 19 USIM students to sharpen leadership skillsLocked inside: Grief and anger as Pakistan hospital fire kills 14 newbornsWe need to decide if the given headline is already fluent natural English. It is in Malay/Indonesian: "Pengganti AUKU kurangkan kuasa luar sekat kebebasan akademik - PM Anwar". This is not English. So we need to translate into English, wire-service style (Bloomberg/Reuters). Keep names, companies, figures exactly as given. So translate: "AUKU replacement reduces external powers restricting academic freedom - PM Anwar". Need to ensure natural English. "Pengganti AUKU" means "AUKU replacement" or "AUKU substitute". "kurangkan kuasa luar sekat kebebasan akademik" = "reduce external powers restricting academic freedom". Could phrase: "AUKU replacement curbs external powers limiting academic freedom - PM Anwar". Wire-service style: concise, neutral. Probably: "AUKU replacement curbs external powers limiting academic freedom – PM Anwar". Keep dash as given? The original uses hyphen with spaces: " - ". We can keep similar punctuation. Use en dash? Probably keep hyphen. The instruction: respond with ONLY the headline itself: one line, no quotation marks. So output:Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado displacement crisis worsens as 100,000 flee in late 2025 aloneAnwar urges public universities to scrap red tape or risk falling further behindMerdeka Exhibition 2026 opens in Putrajaya to mark nation’s 69th yearThai conglomerates post strong gains from Vietnam investmentsJakarta stocks slip 1.48% as MSCI rebalancing meets Jakarta protest riskAI server boom fuels record supply crunch for the ‘rice of electronics’Manila court orders release of Hongkonger held 23 years in PhilippinesGermany’s PhD candidates rise 1.8% to 216,200 in 2025Windows 11 tests per-app privacy toggles for camera, mic and location.Students free to criticize government, PM Anwar saysKuching City crushes Kuala Lumpur City 6-0 in Liga Super routErma Fatima says: "I worked with her, I know how much of a diva she isMalaysian actor Isa Khan dismisses social-media speculation over Risteena divorce talkSoutheast Asia’s six largest bourses unveil 2026 plan to lure foreign capitalBNM fines company, 2 banks over sanctions breachesPH reps told to return allocations paid a day before Negeri Sembilan assembly dissolvedBursa ends higher as YTL, banking counters lift marketSIGMA 2026 symposium sends 19 USIM students to sharpen leadership skillsLocked inside: Grief and anger as Pakistan hospital fire kills 14 newbornsWe need to decide if the given headline is already fluent natural English. It is in Malay/Indonesian: "Pengganti AUKU kurangkan kuasa luar sekat kebebasan akademik - PM Anwar". This is not English. So we need to translate into English, wire-service style (Bloomberg/Reuters). Keep names, companies, figures exactly as given. So translate: "AUKU replacement reduces external powers restricting academic freedom - PM Anwar". Need to ensure natural English. "Pengganti AUKU" means "AUKU replacement" or "AUKU substitute". "kurangkan kuasa luar sekat kebebasan akademik" = "reduce external powers restricting academic freedom". Could phrase: "AUKU replacement curbs external powers limiting academic freedom - PM Anwar". Wire-service style: concise, neutral. Probably: "AUKU replacement curbs external powers limiting academic freedom – PM Anwar". Keep dash as given? The original uses hyphen with spaces: " - ". We can keep similar punctuation. Use en dash? Probably keep hyphen. The instruction: respond with ONLY the headline itself: one line, no quotation marks. So output:Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado displacement crisis worsens as 100,000 flee in late 2025 aloneAnwar urges public universities to scrap red tape or risk falling further behindMerdeka Exhibition 2026 opens in Putrajaya to mark nation’s 69th yearThai conglomerates post strong gains from Vietnam investmentsJakarta stocks slip 1.48% as MSCI rebalancing meets Jakarta protest riskAI server boom fuels record supply crunch for the ‘rice of electronics’Manila court orders release of Hongkonger held 23 years in PhilippinesGermany’s PhD candidates rise 1.8% to 216,200 in 2025Windows 11 tests per-app privacy toggles for camera, mic and location.
Malaysia

Students free to criticize government, PM Anwar says

Malaysian students free to criticise government, PM Anwar says

Source: Utusan Malaysia · August 26, 2026 at 3:31 PM · AI-assisted report

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Students free to criticize government, PM Anwar says
Photo: Wikimedia Commons — Anwar Ibrahim

KUALA LUMPUR, UNIVERSITI MALAYA, 26 AUGUST 2026 —

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Malaysian students free to criticise government, PM Anwar says

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KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian students disciplined solely for criticising the government, including the prime minister, must be immediately released, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.

The announcement follows the repeal of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (AUKU), effective tomorrow, which Anwar said would restore full academic freedom.

“As long as they do not violate criminal laws involving the police or universities, students must be immediately released,” he told the Forum Ilmuwan Malaysia Madani series at Universiti Malaya on Monday night.

Anwar, who also moderated the forum, stressed that universities must serve as spaces for critical thinking, extending the same freedom to academic staff to express views based on rigorous research.

However, he cautioned that academic freedom must be grounded in evidence-based arguments, citing the need to avoid unsubstantiated claims.

Malaysian markets showed little immediate reaction to the announcement, with the benchmark FBM KLCI index trading flat at 1,620.30 as of 10:30 a.m. local time.

Details not yet available on the number of students or cases affected by the policy change.

The government has not specified enforcement timelines or mechanisms for university compliance.

Analysts say the move aligns with broader efforts to liberalise public discourse but warn of potential challenges in balancing academic freedom with institutional governance.

Further clarity on implementation is expected in the coming weeks.

Related: Anwar Ibrahim

Reporting based on Utusan Malaysia. Figures and claims are subject to revision as the story develops. DomainFork publishes editorial context, not investment advice — see our editorial standards.