Education is a vital sector in today's world that places increasing importance towards a knowledge-based economy. Furthermore with the advent of globalisation and the burgeoning economic prowess of our neighbours, India and China, education will allow a redeployment of resources towards higher-end sectors which should be our focus.

Traditionally, Malaysia has an admirable and highly trained workforce. In the region, our English-speaking ability is among the best, along with Singapore, and the University of Malaya epitomised our standing in the region. Malaysia has consistently sent a large number of students abroad and in the 1970s embarked on a massive development of new varsities. In the 1990s, we embarked on liberalisation in the education sector, allowing for the mushrooming of private colleges and striving to make Malaysia a regional education hub.

However, we begin to see more and more cracks appearing in our educational system. The recent debacle over the 128 top students who wanted to study medicine was an unfortunate, but not an extraordinary, incident. Outcries regarding varsity intakes make news year in and year out, along with worrying statistics of the unemployment of local graduates.