news feature

When the Education Ministry's director of higher education Prof Dr Hassan Said announced the results of public university intake based on the 'merit' system three weeks ago, he could not possibly have thought then that the issue would explode the way it did.

What subsequently appeared in the media (until several newspapers were 'told' to play down the issue) was certainly a nightmare for the ministry and its officer-in-charge.

"This is because the whole meritocracy issue has been politicised, right from the very beginning," said Prof P Ramasamy of the Political Science Department, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

"What we are getting now is [a 'merit'] system which is totally politicised, and has nothing to do with merit at all," he reiterates.

"In the first place, the government introduced this system in order to win support from the ethnic Malays, especially its youths, after a series of bashing by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad which resulted in the government losing its popularity among this group," he said.

With the general election just around the corner, Ramasamy believed that the government desperately wanted to do something to please the Malays, who, in general, have lost interest with the government's [Malay-based party] Umno in the 1999 general election.

"Perhaps the government thought this is possible by introducing the 'merit'-based public university admission, which appears to be in favour of the Malays, who only have to sit for the matriculation examinations, whereas Chinese and Indians have no choice but to sit for the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) programme, which is recognised as a more difficult path to the university," he told malaysiakini .

In yet another sudden turnaround, however, this scenario will change somewhat the next year following a Cabinet decision yesterday to allocate 10 percent of matriculation places to the non-bumiputra, as reported by The Star today.

Not unusual

Politicising issues, even those pertaining to education, is not something unusual in Malaysia.. PAS central education bureau chief Dr Hasan Ali shares similar disappointment over Umno's move to gain from this.

He recalled that early this month, there has been so much talk about the possibility of re-introducing English-medium schools.

"It is shocking that as soon as Dr Mahathir called for public feedback, the Umno supreme council quickly [made strong recommendations to the government] to use English only in the teaching of Science and Mathematics, even before the public could respond properly," said Hasan, who is also a vice-president of the party.

"Obviously, this was done in the interest of Umno," he added.

Pressing his claim that the issue was politically motivated, Ramasamy said if it was not so, the government would have been sincere right from the planning stage.

"It should have invited all political parties and relevant non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as well as educationists, to assist the Education Ministry on how the 'merit' system should be implemented."

He said that the newly introduced system obviously has its flaws, yet the education minister and other Umno leaders continued to defend it.

"How can you call this system a meritocracy when there is no merit in it... how do you compare the STPM and matriculation programmes which are not comparable to each other at all?" Ramasamy posed.

Beyond ethnicity

DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang also raised his dissatisfaction, saying that politicising the meritocracy issue will not do the nation any good as Malaysians are now competing with the rest of the world and that the country's education system should move beyond ethnicity.

He said the major flaws in the new criteria of university admission stemmed from the fact that competition is not held on a "level playing field", and that there is no transparency.

Matriculation has been designed as a path for bumiputra students to the university, and thus it is unfair to lump matriculation students together with STPM students for admission considerations, said Lim.

"How can the Education Ministry compare the two different programmes, where STPM has long been recognised as an external examination, with the matriculation programme, which is a US-based internal examination?" he argued.

It is like comparing an apple with an orange; where is the fair play? Lim asked.

In the results announced by Hassan, out of 32,752 applicants who got in based on their STPM or an equivalent qualification, 68.9 percent were bumiputra students, 26.4 percent Chinese and 4.7 percent Indians. The percentage for others is not known.

The higher percentage of bumiputra students in the overall intake (which well surpassed the 55 percent quota allocated under the previous intake system) has shocked many.

'Racial issue'

Umno Youth education bureau chief Dr Adham Baba was fast to point out the 'dangers' of debating over the 'meritocracy' issue.

"It seems the opposition is dragging it into becoming a racial issue, which we should avoid at all costs," he told malaysiakini in an earlier interview. He said the opposition parties and the NGOs seemed to want to spoil the chances of bumiputra students from obtaining tertiary education.

He argued that many bumiputra students were also left out and could not get places with the 'merit' system. He urged those dissatisfied with the system to scrutinise the statistics carefully, particularly the success rate according to each ethnic group.

Out of 34,489 bumiputra applicants, 22,557 or 65 percent were successful. Out of 10,533 Chinese applicants, 8,665 or 82 percent gained entry. Out of 2,537 Indian applicants, 1,530 or 60 percent booked a spot.

"So, what is the issue?" asked Adham. "There are also those who applied but were not qualified in the first place. Why must the percentage be seen from the number of total applicants, while many [others] actually do not qualify?"

Adham said it was "not right" for certain quarters to be unhappy that an increasing number of bumiputra were able to enter university.

"Will those groups also complain if the number of non-bumiputra students was more [than before]?" he asked.

Return to quota system

MIC President S Samy Vellu was also critical about the lower number of Indian students who were offered places under the new system. The figure of 4.7 percent out of 32,752 places, according to Samy, "has confirmed my greatest fear of the meritocracy system."

He called for the 55:35:10 quota system to be brought back.

However, Prof Ramasamy disagreed with Samy. He was of the opinion that the merit-based system, if properly and transparently implemented, will see a more than 10 percent intake of Indian students.

MIC education bureau chief T Marimuthu, who was also sceptical about the 'merit' system, argued that the Indians are not ready for it.

Taking a political stand on the matter, Marimuthu said as Indian Malaysians have always been loyal to the Barisan Nasional government, the latter should rectify the issue. He did not rule out the possibility that Indian support for the MIC may be affected by the issue in the next election.

Ramasamy, too, warned that if the issue is not rectified, the opposition will capitalise on it in the next general election.

"Education means a lot now to the poor in this country. They are more aware of its importance as a way to get up in life. Deny them this chance and they will retaliate," he added.

Unfortunately, Hassan, the man in charge of the show, has been very quiet and inaccessible over the past weeks.

"We made numerous attempts to contact him, and even invited him for a dialogue, but to no avail," said a disappointed Lim.

This focus on the politicisation of 'meritocracy' in university admission is the second part of a four-part series on the controversy. The next article will appear tomorrow.