The Edmund Terence Gomez episode and similar affairs have brought to light the sad state of our country's public universities. In the last two decades or so, there has been a considerable expansion of the nation's public sector tertiary education in terms of the creation of new universities and the physical expansion of others.

However, to date, despite the mounting criticisms, the government has not set up a commission or committee to examine, analyse and to suggest reforms for the creation of more dynamic, responsible and responsive public universities.

The larger objective to create and sustain universities on the basis of excellence in teaching, research and academic leadership is not that simple. It requires a long gestation period.

Furthermore, one cannot reform universities without bringing about larger changes to the nature of politics. This would include the reduction of ethnic politics, the creation of democratic space and the revitalisation of civil societies and not least, the removal of oppressive and undemocratic laws and regulations.

However, in the short run, there is possibility for us to envisage some progressive changes as to how public universities should function. First and foremost, it is important that universities are given their autonomy and independence that have been long overdue. In other words, universities should be, to some extent, freed from the excessive control exercised by ethnic political parties, ministries and bureaucracies.

And secondly, related to autonomy is the question of hiring and firing. Universities should be given the freedom to form committees and boards to select and appoint their own vice- chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors, deans and others. These appointments should be free from the interference of bureaucrats and politicians, especially those from the racially-inclined parties.

Third, while the principle of affirmative action should be employed whenever and wherever necessary, it should be based on the principle of need rather than ethnicity. In this manner, those marginalised groups would have an equal opportunity to enter universities.

Fourth, our universities should do away with the present system of entry based on the unfair and unjust equalisation of the matriculation course and the STPM standard and instead adopt a multiple point of entry currently followed by major universities around the world.

Fifth, universities should have the freedom to bring in lecturers and academics who are genuinely interested in the pursuit of knowledge and who are committed to teaching. Using universities to fulfill the NEP's requirements is pretty much outdated.

Of course, there cannot be changes overnight. But surely Malaysian society does not have the luxury of waiting for larger fundamental changes to occur before experiencing changes in the educational realm.

Surely the government is well aware of the present malaise in the tertiary system. What is needed now is some pragmatic action on its part.