Deputy Education Minister Hon Choon Kim's office has received more than 1,000 complaints from students about the intake into public universities for this year, said his close aide today.

"The dateline for appeal lapsed two days ago and we are currently compiling all the data," added the deputy minister's confidential secretary Ng Boon Keng.

He said the information will be handed over to the ministry's higher education department headed by Dr Hassan Said by next Monday.

"It will be up to them to handle it," said Ng when contacted.

According to him, the appeals came through the MCA Youth Education Bureau and the party's newly established Further Studies and Complaints Committee, which is helmed by the deputy minister.

However, Hon, who is also an MCA central committee member, was not available for comment.

No places

Meanwhile, MCA Youth Education Bureau chief Dr Wee Ka Siong said they have received more than 500 complaints o­n the intake.

He told malaysiakini that a majority of these students were not offered a place in public universities despite obtaining good grades.

"Another large portion (of complaints) were from students who were not given the course of their choice," he said.

Wee added that he met with the deputy education minister yesterday and submitted all the complaints to him.

The party's education bureau chief and party secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh had also questioned this year's student intake under the merit-based system.

Single system

Critics have dismissed the system - introduced two years ago to replace the quota system - as flawed.

Among its vocal detractors is DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) which claimed that to remedy the problem, the government must implement a single entrance examination system.

"A common examination system can ensure justice to all students as the academic standard is the same," said its secretary Loke Siew Fook.

"It will also encourage healthy competitions as their selection is based o­n their grades achieved in that examination," he told reporters after the movement submitted a proposal o­n the matter to the ministry's higher education department this morning ( photo ).

Under the current system, intake is based by comparing results obtained through different examination systems - STPM, matriculation and other equivalent examinations.

STPM is a two-year course with Cambridge University Examination Board representatives as external examiners, while matriculation, almost exclusively reserved for bumiputera students, is an in-house and o­ne-year course.

Other equivalent examinations include that set by the Universiti Malaya's all-bumiputera Pusat Asasi Sains (Centre for Basis Sciences).