A study on the attitudes and perception of higher learning institution students towards politics / Azean Farrah Wardah Jamil and Nur Fadilah Mohd Jajuri

A student of institution of higher learning involvement in political activities is no longer rare among Malaysians. The amendment of Section 15 of the UUCA gives right to students who have reached 21 years of age to be involved in political activities. The students' attitude and perception towards politics will determine their involvement. It is not difficult to find students who actively participate in politics. Indeed, many students have even expressed loyalty or register themselves as members of political parties. Some of the students' prefer to be involved in political activities rather than read and hear about it from various sources. Involvement in politic shows their interest level in Malaysia's politics. On the other hand, different university, gender and ethnicity will influence their interest to involve in politics. Recently, our Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has made an announcement in his speech that the government will amend Section 15 of UUCA 1971 to allow students aged 21 years and above to be member of political parties. Due to government's plan to amend this Section 15 of UUCA, there are several issues that become the attention of some parties and lead to some discussion and arguments among them. However, some of the students might see the plans and amendments of Section 15 of UUCA as opportunities for their views and voices to be heard and some students might see that as a threat since it will affect the campus ecosystem, interrupt the learning process due to uncontrollable party politics activity within the campuses, and some of the people said that it will leads to politicking that might split the students. Thus, the students' attitude towards politics and the government is quite questionable due to their condition as a student and being young.