LDP: Bumi quota for matriculation disappointing
KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) vice president Yew Chau Khiong yesterday expressed disappointment over the Federal Cabinet’s decision to maintain 90 per cent bumiputera quota for matriculation programmes.
Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik has announced that his ministry would retain the bumiputera quota for matriculation programmes while increasing the student intake from 25,000 to 40,000 in an effort to encourage more bumiputeras to pursue science courses.
At present, Yew said the student intake for matriculation programme was 25,000, whereas 43,000 students were currently enrolled in Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM).
“Due to limited placements in public universities, only 11.15 per cent of the quota is allocated to outstanding STPM students, while 88.85 per cent open to matriculation students.
“Of the 25,000 matriculation students, bumiputeras make up 87 per cent while non-bumiputeras only 13 per cent, including 4.91 per cent Chinese students.”
He said STPM results and statistics were released to the public yearly in an open and transparent manner.
On the contrary, Yew pointed out that the Matriculation Division of the federal Education Ministry has never announced its examination results and statistics since its inception 45 years ago.
“This inevitably causes the people to lose confidence in the Malaysian public education system.”
He said some Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) school leavers were forced to pursue their tertiary education in the country due to financial restraints.
“Despite being Malaysian citizens, non-bumiputeras have become victims of the quota system and are not given the opportunity to enrol in matriculation programmes and therefore choose the STPM pathway instead.
“And it is common knowledge that majority of the top STPM students are non-bumiputeras, particularly Chinese students.”
Under the new policy, Yew said the student intake for matriculation programmes would be increased to 40,000, which meant it would be even harder for STPM graduates to enter public higher learning institutions (IPTAs).
“This policy will erode the opportunity for poor, nonbumiputera students in pursuing tertiary education in public universities.”
Yew, who is also the chief of LDP Social Issues Action Bureau, said the policy was clearly to advance the agenda of right wing racists.
“It takes away the hope and opportunity for outstanding nonbumiputera students to enrol in matriculation programmes, especially popular courses in top local universities.
“The increase in student intake for matriculation will further marginalize and affect STPM students’ chances to enrol in local universities.
“This is an extremely unfair policy.”
Yew said Pakatan Harapan (PH) used to criticize the previous government for its racially biased policies.
However, he said the new PH government has failed to rectify the racial-based quota system for public universities, which went against the vision of a New Malaysia promised by the coalition during the election.
He said the intake quota for universities should be based on merit, financial background and other relevant factors, yet the PH government still formulate new policies from the racial perspective.
“This proves that the new government has no sincerity nor the political will to reform the education system.”
According to Article 12(1) of the Federal Constitution, Yew said there shall be no discrimination against any citizen on the grounds only of religion, race, descend or place of birth in the administration of any educational institution maintained by a public authority, and, in particular, the admission of pupils or students or the payment of fees.
“Hence, the Federal Government must be fair in making any decisions in the spirit of the Federal Constitution.”
He said there were 15 matriculation colleges in Malaysia which were funded by taxpayers and managed by Education Ministry, and therefore considered public education institutions.
Based on the Federal Constitution, he said any racial discrimination on the admission into a learning institution is neither fair nor legal.
Yew said Malaysia is a multicultural, multi-religion, secular country, whereby each citizen should enjoy equal access to educational rights under the Federal Constitution.
He said LDP remained steadfast to speak out on its political ideology and stand, as well as to fight for people’s rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
“LDP will always oppose policies that are unfair to the people, no matter which political side we are on.”