I think Petrof has missed an important point in his letter Something's amiss in education hoo-ha . When Barisan Nasional controls the majority of the Parliament's seats, whatever Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said is automatically passed by the Parliament. This has been the fact since Malaysian politics came under Mahathir.

In the case of instituting a 'meritocracy' in university admissions, what is amiss is just the formality of going through Parliament when it is sitting and bringing up the issue, and finding the majority nodding in agreement. What can the opposition (and in this case, even MIC president S Samy Vellu who also opposes it) do about the situation?

The opposition voice has grown too weak and 'insignificant' to count anymore and thus, no longer function as an effective checks-and-balances instrument.

So, what we registered and legitimate voters can do is to be cautious in each of our vote in the coming general election.