Younger generation sees meritocracy as way forward
KUALA LUMPUR: The younger generation believes a meritocracy-based education system is the way for the country to progress.
They believe all Malaysians deserve the opportunity to further their studies and think the 90 per cent quota for Bumiputera students for the matriculation programme should be shelved.
In fact, even matriculation students and alumni of the programme had expressed the need to focus on qualifications.
This came after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said the programme was created as a “backdoor” to help low-performing Malays enter public universities.
Nuha Karim, 20, from the Negri Sembilan Matriculation College said she supported calls to increase the quota for non-Bumiputera students.
“Education is for everyone, so why do we prioritise a specific race? The government should focus on merit and our results first, especially those who are less fortunate and can’t get education elsewhere,” she said.
She said matriculation students were lucky as they received allowances, and this helped those from the low-income groups.
Nuha said Bumiputera students already had many opportunities and privileges when it came to education, including placements at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), which has a Bumiputeraonly policy.
She said she was disappointed with Dr Mahathir’s comments that matriculation was a “backdoor” for low-performing Malays.
“The way Dr Mahathir said it was as though we are not good enough and had it easy, but the truth is, everyone has their own struggles,” she said.
However, Mohamad Syafiq Zakaria, 20, from the Pahang Matriculation College, said Dr Mahathir was not exactly wrong as there were some students in his college who had taken advantage of the system, knowing they would be prioritised over others.
“There were some people who just wanted to pass the programme so they could enter university without working hard for it. They felt it was a shortcut,” he said.
Syafiq also agreed that the matriculation programme should prioritise the more qualified and less fortunate students.
He said the quota for non-Bumiputeras should be expanded to give everyone more opportunities to further their education.
Former Perlis Matriculation College student Nur Farhana Kamarulzaman, 20, said student intakes should focus on merit and results.
She said it was unfair to nonBumiputeras who performed better and were more qualified, but were rejected due to something they could not change or control.
“When I was in matriculation college, everyone had good results.
“We shouldn’t fear competition from others. We should instead fear those encouraging discrimination and prejudice in society,” she said.
One former student of Matriculation College Penang, however, had a slightly different view.
The 35-year-old, who only wanted to be known as Naza, said she agreed the quota for non-Bumiputera students should be increased, but should not go beyond the race-population ratio.
Last month, Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik announced that his ministry would retain the 90 per cent Bumiputera quota for matriculation programmes while increasing student intake by 60 per cent from 25,000 to 40,000.
Prior to this, PH allies were at odds with each other on whether the 90 per cent Bumiputera quota should be retained.
The matriculation programme is a one- to two-year university preparation programme. Its ethnic quota was implemented in 2005.