Keadilan today submitted two memoranda to Education Minister Musa Mohamad on behalf of its Indian members calling for a return of the quota system until other inconsistencies with the university admission system are rectified.

The memoranda - one by Keadilan and the other by its Youth wing - said the government should increase the number of Indian students immediately.

Its leaders said this should be done in order not to deprive those from "underprivileged and economically disadvantaged" families from pursuing their dream of becoming doctors.

They also expressed dissatisfaction at the intake of only one Indian student into Universiti Malaya's medical faculty this year, which has sparked a controversy.

The memoranda was received by the special officer to the education minister Irmohizam Ibrahim at the Education Ministry in Kuala Lumpur.

Level playing field

Speaking to reporters later, Keadilan vice-president Dr Xavier Jayakumar said the call to re-introduce the quota system was prompted by observations that other problems with the university admission system have not been corrected to ensure true meritocracy.

"It is not that we are against the meritocracy system but we want to see a level playing field. Students are now being admitted from several different streams. How do we compare them?" he said.

Jayakumar raised issue with the admission of private students enrolled with the Perak College of Medicine to the UM medical faculty.

"How can private college students be allowed into a public university? These students may have taken the places which should have been allocated to other students.

"The minister should clarify if PCM students are given automatic rights to admission. We were informed that 70 PCM students applied and all of them got in," he added.

The Keadilan leader said he knew of a number of Indian students who achieved at least 3 A's in their STPM examinations but had their applications rejected.

The admission issue gained controversy after MIC president S Samy Vellu questioned why only a single Indian student had manage to make the cut to study medicine in UM.

This was compounded by revelations that the medical faculty took in students from the privately-run PCM. These students are said to have been subjected to less stringent admission standards than those selected under the UPU (university selection system).

In the memoranda, Jayakumar said the government should be addressing basic inadequacies in the tertiary education system.

"The number of public tertiary education institutions are not sufficient, so many students who are qualified to pursue further education are denied their rights because of insufficient places in these institutions."

He also questioned why the results for matriculation students are not announced to the public unlike STPM results.

"This is very suspicious and worrying. If the government claims that the two systems are equivalent, then why are they not announcing the matriculation results?"

True meritocracy

Meanwhile, Keadilan Youth exco member S Manikavasagam cast doubts on Musa's meritocracy claim and challenged the minister to open up admission to matriculation courses to all Malaysians.

"We do not believe the minister's statement that entry in universities are based solely on merit. If this is the case, Musa should open all public institutions from kindergarten level to university level to all Malaysians regardless of race. Only then can they claim to have true meritocracy," he said in the wing's memoranda.

To correct inequalities in other levels of education, Manikavasagam urged the minister to admit more Indian students to UM's medical faculty immediately.

"We are appealing for the minister to enrol another 15 students from underprivileged and economically disadvantaged families so that their numbers are on par with that under the quota system.

We also urge for the quota to be retained until a meritocractic system can be put in place," the Youth leader said.

Under the quota system, the approximate 160 medical faculty places were filled based on a breakdown of 55 percent Bumiputera, 35 percent Chinese and 10 percent Indian Malaysians.

However, with the new meritocracy system implemented since last year, the number of Indian students dropped drastically. Last year, five Indian students were admitted but this dropped to one student for the latest intake.