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An open letter to the higher education minister

Dear Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh, please allow me to address you on a matter of public importance in an unusual manner.

For the past two weeks, members of the public, parents, pre-Uni students, and current students of the Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya (‘UM Law’) have been discussing about the policy decision to not accept students who studied Sciences in their pre-university courses, be it STPM or Matriculation (‘Science Stream Students’) into UM LLB undergraduate programme in this coming 2017 intake.

We were made to understand that this policy decision was made by the Higher Education Ministry. UM Law is the only law school which is affected by this decision. While we understand the rationale behind this policy; many pre-uni students were devastated when this decision came to their knowledge.

Dear Minister, I was made to understand that you are always open to constructive criticisms, creative ideas, suggestions and that you’re a man of reason. The recent ‘Keeping In Touch’ townhall was a perfect example of how open-minded you are, surely you are someone who is always ready and wanting to hear the students’ voices. Unfortunately I wasn’t there during the townhall meeting, and wasn’t able to address you on the above policy decision.

I strongly urge you to revise this policy decision. Please consider the following points:

1. This policy takes place with immediate effect. Many Science Stream students who wish to apply for UM LLB programme were surprised by this decision. They were not informed of this policy prior to their enrolment into science streams at pre-university level. They may be expecting to read law in UM and this sudden policy decision has prevented them from pursuing their dreams.

This is an unfair decision, the students’ expectations were frustrated. It’ll be great if we could postpone the implementation of this policy. In time to come, students will then be able to make informed decisions.

2. The rationale behind this policy is to increase intake of Science Stream students by Science Faculties by stopping students from joining UM Law Faculty. This rationale is premised on the assumption that “Science Stream students would automatically apply to study sciences in UM when UM Law is not an option”. With so many other available options in life, I highly doubt that this is a safe assumption.

3. Even if there is a pressing need to implement this policy, it is my suggestion to reduce the rigidity of the system. We can reduce the intake of Science Stream students by the UM Law Faculty, limit the number to 15 or 20 people. It is not too troubling to implement a quota, SKR UM can offer the UM LLB programme to the best 20 students upon evaluation by the UM Law Faculty through interviews.

4. The deadline to make an application in the UPU system is on March 31. We still have more than a month's time to alter the UPU System and allow Science Stream students to apply for UM’s LLB programme. There won’t be any unfairness. Those who truly want to read law in UM would not miss the chance to apply.

Dear Minister, there are numerous reasons why we should allow Science Stream students to read law in UM, but I could only highlight a few here. Please do consider the above suggestions as we know Science Stream students possess good analytical skills that make them excellent law students in the faculty. It is also a fair statement to say Science Stream students in Malaysia generally have a better command of English, ie the tool we need to practice law.

Lord Denning was a mathematician before he was made a judge; many legal jurists across the world have a Science-related degree before venturing into the legal world. In the UM Law Faculty, our lecturers have various Science-related degrees and backgrounds, too. There is no overwhelming ground to deny Science Stream students from reading law in UM; instead, it seems like we should allocate a quota for them, to encourage a better diversity in law school.

Dear Minister, your thirst for knowledge has driven you to five different institutions including Harvard University; there are now a group of Science Stream students, just like you while you were younger, they hope to read law in the best law school, their parents hope that you, with a stroke of a pen, allow their sons and daughter to at least be given a chance.

Dear Minister, now that you’ve heard us, please do something. Thank you.


MARCUS LEE is a final year law student at Universiti Malaya and is a student representative in the UM Students Council.

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