In Malaysia, various legal and administrative instruments have been passed to ensure academic neutrality in universities.  While this directive maintains a veneer of neutrality on the surface, it does not address the importance of neutrality and impartiality that a university lecturer, and the university itself, must possess.    As the law stands today, there is a need to clarify this issue in ascertaining the degree of a lecturer’s neutrality since this involves public law concepts and human rights concerns.  This issue is particularly germane in Malaysian academia since a mere whiff of an academic discussion regarding law and governance could be possible frowned at as an “anti-government” activity.  Since the mechanics of “neutrality” transcends legal provisions, this paper utilises the doctrinal legal research methodology in examining the legal and constitutional background of this concept in light of the social theory concepts of power and hegemony, focusing on the works of James C Scott and Mannheim.  The aim of this paper is to question the conventional comprehension which might be held by the university management regarding neutrality in academia.