Amendment to the UUCA

I haven't had a chance to go through the latest amendment to the UUCA that is working its way through parliament right now but from what I've read from newspaper reports, the changes are cosmetic at best. Giving some autonomy to the universities may be good only if there is progressive and forward looking leadership within our public universities. But ultimately, the VCs know that they keep their jobs by pleasing their political masters at the MOHE. Students in public universities still cannot join political parties which I find to be an infringement on the rights of our students. Interestingly, the MOHE Minister, Khaled Nordin, said that this act was not applicable to UiTM because UiTM was set up under it's own Act. I wonder if this means that students and faculty at UiTM can be members of certain political parties? After all, the current UiTM VC, Datuk Seri Prof Ibrahim Abu Shah, is an unapologetic member of UMNO and has been since his days as a lecturer way back then.