The Higher Education Department has instructed higher learning institutions in Malaysia to involve their respective student councils in the process of drawing up guidelines for entertainment activities on their premises.
The department, which comes under the Higher Education Ministry, in a statement this morning, said this was to take into account the voices and needs of the undergraduates, and the locality of the institutions, before the guide is used officially by the respective institutions.
“Room and opportunities are given to students in a bid to empower them as the main stakeholders. This is in line with the agenda to empower students championed by the Higher Education Minister (Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin),” the statement read.
The department also stressed that the entertainment guideline, which became a talking point recently, was still at the proposed stage. It will act as a guide for the higher learning institutions to develop their own rules.
Last week, Khaled had said that it was only right for students to decide on the do’s and don’ts when a concert is held in a university.
Yesterday, Khaled downplayed plans by students to execute a legal challenge over a purported guideline for concerts, describing it as a futile exercise, as the ‘guideline’ had not yet been approved.
The purported guideline by the ministry, which made its rounds online, allegedly stated that those attending concerts on campus were required to dress modestly, were prohibited from wearing clothes featuring Illuminati, pro-LGBTQ+, or pornographic symbols, as well as ‘punk’ hairstyles. Males and females would also be segregated.
