Admission to higher education remains and will remain the most controversial, sensitive and problematic aspects of inter-ethnic relations in Malaysia. It is really not so much about education per se, but rather the growing perception among some groups and classes that it has been politicised, manipulated and reconfigured under changing circumstances to suit certain political and ideological interests.

In a more specific sense, given the centrality of ethnic politics in Malaysia, higher education is seen as a vehicle by all ethnic groups as the means for upward socio-economic mobility, status and power. However, if access to higher education is denied or seen to be denied to some groups and opened up for other groups, then it would be become highly politicised.

In this context, the recent decision of the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) to de-recognize Ukraine's Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) has come to be interpreted by the Malaysian Indian community and to some extent the Chinese community as an attempt to deny medical education opportunities for non-Malays as a whole. It is this perception and the historical squeezing of education opportunities in local universities for non-Malay students that have fueled the present controversy over the de-recognition issue.