I refer to Jeffrey Chiang's Opening up Mara no big deal . Pardon me Mr Chiang, I'm not trying to be sarcastic. I would assume that you are one of the smarter Malaysians but you have your facts wrong!

Mara Junior Science College is not a tertiary educational institution and obviously not comparable to any good or bad universities anywhere in the world. It does not confer any degree or diploma.

Mara Junior Science Colleges or MRSM, are residential secondary schools run by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara). The highest level of education available at MRSM is Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia. And they do produce some of the best SPM results every year, with 12 A1s and 13 A1s. Some of the colleges even produced 100 percent first graders — something schools like Victoria Institution or Penang Free School or Chung Ling High School have never been able to achieve.

Most of these high flyers who are predominantly Muslim Malays are then sent to top-notch universities in the USA, UK or Australia. That is why you don't find the crme de la crme of Malay students in local universities. Instead, you will find more Malay Malaysians than Chinese or Indian Malaysians in universities like Harvard or Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

When these people return home, they bring together new zest of political and social awareness and become fervent critics of the Umno-led government. They are generally more inclined towards PAS and Keadilan and are providing these parties energy and support openly and discreetly.

Mahathir knows all these well and the opening up of 10 percent space is actually one of the gauging steps to "liquidate" the solid foundation that has proven to be the breeding base of his opponents.