The cloud surrounding the meritocracy system in public university intakes can easily be cleared by looking at the following analyses.

Analysis #1

The news:

"(Ministry of Education's Higher Education Department director Prof Dr) Hassan (Said) also disclosed that out of 2,690 places for 42 first-degree programmes offered at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) for those with Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) qualifications, a total of 1,272 (47.3 percent) bumiputra qualified, compared with 1,207 (44.9 percent) Chinese and 211 (7.8 percent) Indians.

"These students were selected from a total of 111,990 bumiputra, 11,576 Chinese and 4,066 Indians with SPM. who applied."

My view:

Bumi: 2,690 out of 111,990 students selected = 2.4%

Chinese: 1,207 out of 11,576 students selected = 10.4%

Indian: 211 out of 4,066 students selected = 5.2%

Analysis #2

The news:

Hassan said bumiputra students with Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) qualifications or its equivalent did surprisingly well as 22,557 (or 68.9 percent) were accepted into public universities, compared with 8,665 (26.4 percent) Chinese Malaysians and 1,530 (4.7 percent) Indian Malaysians.

A total of 46,878 bumiputra, 13,489 Chinese and 2,961 Indians students with STPM qualifications or its equivalent competed for 32,752 places offered at 17 universities and colleges nationwide.

My view:

Bumi: 22,557 out of 46,878 students selected = 48.1%

Chinese: 8,655 out of 13,489 students selected = 64.2%

Indian: 1,530 out of 2,961 students selected = 51.7%

Conclusion:

  1. What is the basis of Hassan's statement, looking at the above numbers? Note the following news statement.

"Hassan said bumiputra students with Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) qualifications or its equivalent did surprising well...."

Surprisingly well?

  • What is the ratio of bumiputra students making their way to degree courses with higher entry demand? Are a bulk of the bumiputra students accumulate themselves at the courses that are easy to enter?

    • I am not purposely pointing the finger at certain people. However, we should look at the other side of the fact, and not be overjoyed by some superficial statistics. Hassan did not talk about room for improvement at all.