I read with apprehension the suggestion by Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the university quota for races may soon be abolished. While I sympathise with the plight of the bright students who failed to gain entry into local universities, it seems that the Prime Minister is playing politics with their plight.

The education ministry and the university authorities should find better alternatives to resolve the problems. To let Mahathir playing into the emotions of Umno members in this period when many parents are already disenchanted with ever-changing policies by the government just to maintain Mahathir's leadership, would spell big trouble for Barisan Nasional in the coming state election.

In Sarawak I know of one clear case of positive discrimination by politicians, as early as in 1968. One bright student, a Malay, was offered a Colombo Plan scholarship to study medicine in Australia. Because his father was in an opposition party then, the award was withdrawn less than a week before departure.

The person responsible finally became education minister during the late premier Tun Abdul Razak Hussein's time, and changed the medium of instruction from English to Bahasa Malaysia for political reasons. Now we Malaysians suffer this shortsighted and misplaced nationalist fervour. MGG Pillai's recent article on this issue showed how Tun Razak and the cabinet was forced to accept Tun Abdul Rahman Talib's drastic policy because of political contingencies.

Mahathir would be regarded by Malaysians in Sarawak as the traitor to equal educational opportunities. Under his leadership, Malaysia spends billions for prestigious projects. But in Sarawak there are thousands of schools that have not seen improvement since the colonial times. Many are without water supplies and no teacher quarters.

The long-term contract for school maintenance is given based on political reasons. How much is actually being done is anybody's guess as many administrative staff complained that the contractor made false claims.

What is worse is the widespread effort being done by politically interested group who 'bought' all the IPT (institutes of higher learning) application forms the moment they are on sale at the post offices. Genuine and deserving students are deprived of the opportunity to get them. Only later did people realise that the financially well-backed group intended to control applications by bumiputras to prevent too many students from longhouses getting university education and be a threat for their political future.

Should Mahathir change the policy, this would be the final straw that would cause a massive defeat of BN in Sarawak. We have already witnessed Mahathir at his worse as a politician. He announced in Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu's convention on Aug 28, 1998, that Umno would be coming to Sarawak. A few days later he sacked Anwar Ibrahim. Perhaps he feared Umno members in Sarawak would be pro-Anwar for he changed his position soon after this. Many Sarawakians now believe that Mahathir is a liar.