It is with a mixture of despair and amusement that I read Education Minister Musa Mohamad's comment regarding the quota system for private colleges last Friday in The Sun . After suggesting earlier that the bumiputra quota for admission to public universities be increased from 55 percent to 65 percent, now he comes up with another 'out of the brain' suggestion - that a similar quota be imposed on entry to private higher learning institutions.

In his mind, all non-bumiputras are rich enough to study overseas and our nation is so rich as to be able to afford the drain in foreign exchange. Perhaps in his mind, the difficulties in trying to fill up the bumiputra quota in the public institutions can only be resolved with his latest suggestion, illogical though it may seem to the rest of us.

Already the non-bumiputras are being asked to sacrifice their need for affordable higher education for the past 30 years. Why is the minister being so heartless as to make matters worse for fellow Malaysians with different skin colours? Why can't he come up with a more intelligent suggestion to help the bumiputras?