Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid from Universiti Sains Malaysia said this was especially the case given the recent move towards lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

“This will allow university students to have political maturity when they graduate, and we can expect more young leaders to emerge with such exposure at the university level,” he said to FMT.

He added that the move, announced by Education Minister Maszlee Malik on Tuesday, would enable students to put into practice lessons and theories learned in social or political science courses.

He told FMT there was a lack of young leaders in political parties, giving the example of Umno which he said was still “controlled” by the “old guard”.

“They don’t have enough young leaders,” he said, pointing to other countries with leaders below the age of 40 such as New Zealand whose prime minister Jacinda Ardern is 39, France whose president Emmanuel Macron is 40, and Ireland whose prime minister Leo Varadkar is 38.

Although students were previously discouraged from participating in political activities, he said, times had changed and they now needed to be equipped with political knowledge.

When asked if this could affect their academic performance, Fauzi said there was nothing to worry about.

“If you look at our politicians now, many of them are very well educated. Many of them have been actively participating in politics since their varsity days.”

He added that it would not be compulsory for everyone to join political clubs once the UUCA is amended. “If they are not interested, they don’t have to take part in the activities.”

He also noted that Malaysian students who study abroad in the US or UK are often exposed to political clubs there.

“There is nothing wrong with our public universities having something similar.”

Kamarul Zaman Yusoff from Universiti Utara Malaysia meanwhile said allowing students to set up political clubs was only legalising something that had been done for a long time in informal ways.

“Even before this, local university students were involved in or exposed to political activities, just that it was done in subtle ways,” he said.

“The better thing is, this move is going to provide a more level playing field for political parties to exert their influence in universities. Before this, opposition parties had difficulty doing so.”

He added that there was no discernible difference in the level of maturity of Malaysian students studying locally and those who were overseas.

“So when political parties are allowed to open branches overseas, it is quite an insult if they are not allowed to do so locally.”

Kamarul said as things stood, the majority of students might not even be interested in politics as they were busy with their studies.

“So let those who are interested run the branches,” he added.

He too agreed that exposing students to political developments was important as they would soon be able to vote. He suggested that political awareness be instilled even earlier, during school days.