A group of activists today threatened to sue Education Minister Musa Mohamad if he continues to ignore their calls to review the varsity intake criteria which is said to discriminate against the Indian community.

Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (PRIM) pro tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar led a 30 member-strong delegation to the Education Ministry in Kuala Lumpur to submit a memorandum protesting the declining intake of Indian students to the Universiti Malaya medical faculty.

He said his party would proceed with legal action against Musa, his ministry and the government unless the minister issues a response to their grouses.

While lawyer M Manoharan said the declining intake of Indian students in the UM medical faculty showed that there has been a breach of the community's rights to education.

"This is a serious breach of legal rights of citizens (to educational opportunities). If we do not receive a response within 14 days, we will proceed with legal action," said the lawyer who is also DAP Selangor vice-president.

The 16-page memorandum was received by special officer to the education minister Irmohizam Ibrahim who promised a response to the group within a week.

No transparency

Speaking to reporters later, Uthayakumar said that Indian Malaysian students are the worst affected by the meritocracy policy as many come from underprivileged and economically disadvantaged families.

"They are deprived of the opportunity to gain admission into public universities. They are also unable to afford a private or overseas education unlike the majority Malays and the economically-powerful Chinese minority."

He said the system could not be defended unless the government is willing make public its criteria for selection and the result list of admitted students.

For instance, he said that there has been no transparency and accountability on how matriculation results are being compared to STPM results and neither has the government been forthcoming in revealing the composition of students for other courses in all the public universities.

"Until a true meritocracy system can be introduced, the quota system should be maintained," he said.

Suhakam questioned

Meanwhile, Uthayakumar also raised issue with Musa's silence on several other petitions submitted by the group since last year.

The Prim leader said the group had questioned the supposedly merit-based system since its implementation last year after the number of Indian students accepted into the UM medical faculty was found to have dropped.

"Last year, only five Indian students were admitted into the faculty. We sent the minister seven letters in total to express our unhappiness but we did not receive any response," he said.

Uthayakumar also questioned the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia's (Suhakam) silence over Prim's memorandum last year calling for the body to investigate the admission criteria.

"It should be Suhakam's duty to enquire since the underprivileged students are most affected. But no inquiry has been carried out," he asserted.

When contacted, Suhakam Commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan said a letter detailing the Indian community's grouses had been sent to the Education Ministry last year based on the complaints.

"We have not received a response from the ministry. The problem is that they may not see this as a human rights issue," he said.

Dwindling opportunities

Uthayakumar also criticised Deputy Education Minister Aziz Shamsuddin for remarking yesterday that many Indians are better off than the Malays.

"The deputy minister's (views) are outdated. This may be true 15 or 20 years ago but it is not so today. Opportunities open to Indians have dwindled," he said.

Another Prim leader, pro tem deputy secretary-general R N Rajah said the minister's statement also indicated official bias since the ministry should only be concerned with the student's merit and opportunities but not whether other Indians are better off or otherwise.

"Even if the government wants to insist on a meritocractic system, then it should ensure that Indian students who qualify are admitted. They should prove this with their records," he said.

The Prim memorandum was also endorsed by the Tamil Foundation, a group which champions mother tongue education rights in addition to other issues.

Yesterday, Keadilan leaders submitted two memoranda to Musa calling for a reinstatement of the quota system until inconsistencies in the university admission system are rectified.

Objections to the meritocracy system arose after it was revealed that only one Indian Malaysian student made the cut for the UM medical faculty, as compared to 16 students under the quota system.

Although Musa had attributed this selection to merit-based considerations, critics have expressed doubt whether students can be properly ranked without a common entrance examination.