Outcry over retaining ethnic quota for pre-university admission in Malaysia

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KUALA LUMPUR: A recent decision by the Malaysian government to retain the ethnic quota for the pre-university matriculation programme to favour ...

KUALA LUMPUR: A recent decision by the Malaysian government to retain the ethnic quota for the pre-university matriculation programme to favour the bumiputras has been met with criticism from various segments of society.

The 32-year-old, who is now a university lecturer, said that the 90:10 quota should be updated to reflect Malaysia’s diversity. Education policies also have a hand in polarising the society, he said. “It should be about Malaysians. Education should not encourage ethnic polarity.”The outcry began with the Education Ministry announcing that the quota – 90 per cent of seats reserved for bumiputras and the remaining for non-bumiputras – would remain in place, and that last year’s 2,200 seats for Indian students and an additional 1,000 for the Chinese was only a “one-off” initiative.

The matriculation programme is a pre-university course introduced back in 1998 to create more opportunities for bumiputras – sons of the soil – to seek higher education in science, technology and applied arts. Subsequently, 10 per cent of the seats were opened up to non-bumiputras beginning 2003, hence putting in place the 90:10 ethnic quota.In a group media interview on Monday , Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad admitted matriculation is a “back door” access into public universities for Malays.

According to the ministry's website, students who obtain mostly Cs in their Malaysian Certificate of Education examination can apply to enrol into the matriculation programme. “Let students of all ethnic groups stand at the same starting line. Any affirmative action policy should be need-based and not race-based,” he said.

 

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