The education minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, is now convinced the Malaysian undergraduate is matured. Why? Because he accepts the National Front's explanations of the events of the past year. The UMNO youth chief, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein, eschews political gimmickry in his movement's review of the Universities and University Colleges Act:
he has suddenly realised that undergraduates are portential voters and,  possibly, UMNO youth members. The next millennium is theirs, he says portentiously and irrelevantly, and "their voices must be heard". Otherwise, UMNO and the National Front is at risk. The undergraduates must be nurtured; the "relevance and survival" of UMNO and its youth wing is at stake. Dato' Seri Najib's appeal is, of course, at a higher plane: their maturity comes from accepting the government's explanation for what happened after the Inspector-General of Police brutally assaulted the just arrested former deputy prime minister senseless. He does not mention the A-word any more, but if you scratch the skin of either UMNO leader, you would note it coursing through their blood. Even the Prime Minister could not forget him in Beijing last week.

The gentlemen's sudden change of mind underlines the government's and the National Front's continuing difficulty to make their point of  view heard. They understand now, no doubt, the difficulty of opposition parties to disseminate their views. Long used to laying down the law, with threats of the ISA to encourage acceptance of the official view, the government now face intrusive questioning of its actions which a few well-aimed lathi and water cannon charges by police on Saturday afternoons last year did little to quell. On the principle of joining  them when they cannot fight them, UMNO and the National Front now want  to co-opt the undergraduates. The soapy, treacle-bearing words about  their importance is in keeping with that policy change. In the past,  the University and University Colleges Act was thrown at any who dared  challenge government policy. Now, their importance as future voters allegedly is the reason for their mollycoddling. In any case, ever the bureaucrat, Dato' Seri Najib would ensure the student views and suggestions would be "collated" and "action taken to address their biggest concerns". The Act, further, could well be amended to seduce the undergraduates. It has, you would recall, refused every attempt in the past to have it drastically amended or even abolished.

But is this the issue? If what these two gentlemen say about undergraduate attitudes are true, this is a fantastic breakthrough. The undergraduates, whether UMNO, the National Front and government like it or not, seeth with controlled anger that rolled over a year ago on to the streets amidst the Anwar affair. The police lathis, the water cannons, government refusal to explain all strengthened that resolve. It just happened the Anwar affair and their own problems coincided. This is not with undergraduates alone. The effusive demonstrations against the government, sparked by the hamhanded Anwar dismissal and arrest, strengthened with other unresolved issues and could not be broken with officially sanctioned brute force. KeADILan as a political force cannot be sustained by the black eye alone: its strength derives from a host of issues and attitudes ignored by the government but which now can be discussed and possibly redressed within a political overview. Its formation brought the disparate opposition into an electoral alliance. The government's, UMNO's and National Front's sudden belief in the undergraduate's political maturity has much to do with their fears of what this opposition coalition can wrought on them. This is
what underlines the liberal noises from government mouths these days. But a swallow does not make a summer. The shortage of swallows in Malaysia must worry Dato' Seri Najib and his cousin, Dato'  Hishamuddin Hussein, much!

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my