PARLIAMENT | Education Minister Maszlee Malik has tabled amendments to three different laws to enable university students to take part in political activities.

The amendments are to the University and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA), the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996 and the Educational Institutions (Discipline) Act 1976.

Besides allowing students to become politically active, the bills also seek to dismiss any disciplinary action taken against students over their participation in such activities.

The proposed amendments will delete a similarly worded sub-clause in all three bills that prohibit students from becoming involved in political party activities on campus.

Maszlee told the Dewan Rakyat that the bills would go through the policy and committee stages during the current session.

The Dewan Rakyat is currently debating Budget 2019 at the policy stage, which is only expected to end on Thursday.

This means that Maszlee's bills will only be debated in what is expected to be a marathon session next week.

The current Dewan Rakyat session ends next Tuesday, on Dec 11.

After UUCA was introduced in 1971, it was then amended in 1975 by then-education minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to quell student protests over an alleged famine in Baling.

At a forum in December 2016, Mahathir said he did not regret amending the UCCA, as students should focus on their studies instead of protesting.