Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim) today took Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to task for failing to explain the declining intake of Indian Malaysian students into local public varsities.

The premier was 'given' two weeks to reply to the memorandum, which called for a review on the varsity intake criteria said to discriminate against the country's Indian minorities.

The opposition party's pro-tem deputy secretary-general RN Rajah said the memorandum to the premier would be the "final memorandum" from the group pertaining the controversy-ridden meritocracy system, introduced two years ago.

Mahathir is due to retired after 22 years as the country's leader at the end of the month.

Rajah lamented that previous memorandums on the matter, which were submitted to the Education Ministry and other BN leaders, were all ignored.

However, he was uncertain on the next course of action if the memorandum to the PM failed to elicit a response, apart from saying that the party could take other forms of action.

17-page memorandum

In its 17-page memorandum, Prim said Indian Malaysian students are the worst affected by the new 'meritocracy' policy as many of them come from underprivileged and economically disadvantaged families and are unable to afford private or overseas education.

Critics of the new system said that the selection process has not been fair because candidates are chosen based on different examinations, which have standards vastly different from one another.

The yet-to-be-registered opposition party called for a common entrance exams for all Malaysians, adding that government should practice "transparency, accountability and good governance" in the selection of varsity students.

Prim stressed that meritocracy and equal opportunity in education for all Malaysians should begin from kindergarten right up to the university level.

"We hereby appeal to the prime minister not to discriminate in the field of education as this is the main reason for disharmony and racial polarisation in Malaysia," the memorandum warned.

No confidence in Suhakam

The memorandum, titled 'Minority Rights to University Education in Malaysia', was submitted to DAP Seputeh member of Parliament Teresa Kok in the Parliament lobby this morning, who had later handed a copy to Deputy Minister in the PM's Department M Kayveas.

Asked on the party's previous threat to initiate legal action against Education Minister Musa Mohamed and the government for ignoring their calls, Rajah said Prim is still mulling over the action.

To another question, the leader said his party would not take the petition to the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) again because they do not have confidence in the commission.

"We were really disappointed after more than 100 letters pertaining to our appeals were sent to them since early this year," he decried.

Controversial 'meritocracy' system

Apart from Prim, many other quarters had expressed concerns on the meritocracy system and called for a reform on the university entrance system.

Critics against the newly implemented 'meritocracy' system intensified after it was revealed that only one Indian Malaysian student made the cut for the Universiti Malaya medical faculty, as compared to 16 under the previous racial quota system.

According to the Education Ministry, it has received more than 1,000 complaints this year, mainly from non-bumiputera candidates who failed to get a place in university or were not offered a course of their choice despite having obtained good results.