How could a university ever dream of ‘adding marks' so that a university, any university for that matter, will look ‘nice' in the ranking system? Don't ever do that! Stop it! The dean , the vice- chancellor, the minister of higher education, all of them should say ‘stop' to this so-called marking scheme!

It is damaging to the university concerned. It is damaging to the name of Malaysia. It is damaging to the so-called ‘graduate' with dubious results.

The higher education minister, the universities, the prime minister and the education minister should honestly look into the various steps taken in admitting students into universities. Firstly, the most important step is the selection process, bar political correctness. Let all students take the same public examination - STPM - so that it is a level playing field.

Be transparent, for heaven's sake and for our children's sake! Be fair to all of them (the matriculation course is not a good scheme as different universities have their own standards; and no two universities are the same, question-wise and marking-wise. Morever, the marking is internal, not external. Nobody knows how the marking is being done. Be open and make it public).

Set the goalpost first; and do not shift the goalpost as you like, for the 'referee' ( the public) will give you a yellow or red card. Once you have set 40 marks, say, as the passing mark, that's it. Period . Stick to this. No lowering of the passing mark ust to look ‘nice' and to let more students pass the exam. This is 'foul' play; and the referee will give you a red card; and throw you out.

By 'cheating ', you are damning several parties - students, schools, the university, the ministry, and the nation. I am highly disturbed by this nonsense.

You want to be the top school or univeristy in the world, show it by the right, honest way; not by cheating.When the principal or vice-chancellor closes one eye and the minister closes the other eye, then the graduate closes both eyes and walks out of a university a blind man. And if he or she is a doctor, their patients will lose both eyes.

So is it any wonder that one sultan sought medical treatment in the US, another in Singapore and the ex-PM sent his spouse to California? What happened to our local doctors and local hospitals? Are they not up to the mark?

Secondly, having the marking system right, entry to the local universities should be based solely on the exam results. This is being objective. Looking at each student's extra-mural activities and aptitudes at interviews is very subjective. How could sports activities help a student score in biology? How do you test a person's aptitude? It is very subjective.

Let me relate a true story. A girl who wished to study medicine went to India to test her aptitude for it. Seeing blood, she gave up any notion of studying medicine and instead studied bio- technology at the Melbourne University.

After one year in bio-technology, she switched back to medicine and has now graduated as a doctor. How do I know? She is my niece. Now, an interviewer would have failed her because her ‘aptitude' would have put paid to medical studies.

So, the argument that you can see a ‘doctor' in an interviewee at one glance does not hold water.

Thirdly, please stop talking about a quota of passes for graduates. If a student is not qualified to pass, that's it, its just too bad. He or she fails. No lowering of marks or adding of marks so that a certain quota of students will gleefully graduate; and wear the mortar board at the university's convocation ceremony.

We can do without dubious doctors treating unwary patients and killing them; dubious engineers who make bridges and buildings collapse; dubious dentists who pull the wrong teeth; dubious lawyers who quote the wrong authorities and ‘fix' cases and dubious judges who pass judgements on cases.

Woe to all victims who are unfortunate enough to come under dubious characters.

The ‘1Malaysia' can ill-afford to have dubious certificates issued by degree mills of universities with no integrity at all. We must have integrity in all sectors, public and private, so that we can hold our heads high in the world. We want to be recognised as a nation with a grain of integrity.