DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) today urged Education Minister Musa Mohamad to disclose details of admission into Universiti Malaya's medical faculty to quell concerns over the falling proportion of non-bumiputera students.

Its secretary Loke Siew Fook said the ministry should be transparent over student intake as the admission of only one Indian Malaysian student into the medical faculty this year showed there were problems with the system.

"It is quite impossible that out of 160 places available, only one Indian Malaysian student is qualified. This does not make sense at all because it does not reflect the situation in the country," he added in a press statement.

Loke said according to the Eight Malaysia Plan 2001-2005, statistics noted a total of 12,131 doctors in Malaysia. Out of this, 3,448 or 28.4 percent were Indian Malaysians.

"Traditionally, Indian Malaysian have always excelled in the medical field. Therefore, the result that only one Indian Malaysian is qualified to be enrolled into the UM medical faculty has raised a lot of suspicions," he added.

Unfair system

Meanwhile, Loke also raised issue over the continued use of different pre-university examinations to evaluate potential varsity entrants.

Presently, students entering local universities are selected from those who sit for the STPM examinations and those who complete a matriculation programme.

"Dapsy has argued extensively in the past that the so-called 'meritocracy system' is unfair due to the huge differences in academic standards in the different entrance examinations.

"STPM is a 100 percent written examination with its standards evaluated by external examiners while the matriculation is an internal system with marks given based on semester examinations, coursework and class participation points," he said.

Loke pointed out that unless a common university entrance examination system was implemented for all students, the current 'meritocracy system' cannot be genuine.

"The admission of only one Indian Malaysian STPM student this year is probably only the tip of the iceberg of the whole problem of different university entrance examinations," he said.

Eyebrows raised

Loke also criticised the admission of students from the privately-run Perak College of Medicine (PCM) to UM's medical faculty as their academic achievements may not be on par with those admitted via the central processing (UPU) system.

"Dapsy expresses full support to medical students who asked Musa to compare the academic results of candidates considered from all three routes - STPM, matriculation and PCM - before claiming that the whole process was based entirely on merit," he said.

On Monday, malaysiakini reported that UM accepted 70 additional students from PCM into its medical faculty in addition to the 160 enrolled via the UPU system.

The increment in student numbers have raised eyebrows as these students have not been vetted by the UPU system but are allowed to join full-time classes at UM. They also have the opportunity to graduate with the same 'MBBS University of Malaya Medical Degree'.

The expansion in student numbers has also reduced the proportion of non-bumiputera students in the medical faculty and stretched teaching resources at the university meant for a smaller number of students.

This morning, Education Minister Musa Mohamad disclaimed knowledge of the admittance of PCM students into UM.

Both PCM and UM officials have declined to respond directly to malaysiakini's enquiries.