Maszlee rapped for linking quota with job opportunities

GEORGE TOWN: Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik has been taken to task for linking the matriculation quota system with the unequal job opportunities for bumiputras in the private sector.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy said Maszlee should take up the matter with the Cabinet if there were problems in bumiputra employment.

His comments came about following reports which quoted Dr Maszlee as saying that some companies required job applicants to have knowledge of Mandarin.

Maszlee, who was addressing a question-and-answer session in Universiti Sains Malaysia on Thursday, had reportedly said that if Malaysians do not want the quota system, then job opportunities should not be denied to bumiputras.

Ramasamy said in a statement yesterday that he was shocked that the Education Minister was “entrapped in thinking along racial lines”.

“So Maszlee is saying, as long as the private sector, in other words the Chinese employers, are recruiting on the basis of knowledge in Mandarin, the government will maintain the present matriculation quota?

“Besides, a recent survey indicated that Indians faced the most discrimination in the private sector,” he said, noting that the public sector was staffed mostly by bumiputras.

“If this is so, what action is the government taking to rectify the situation rather than to link it to the matriculation quota system?” he asked.

Ramasamy said that there was a general view that racial policies in education and other areas would be gone after Pakatan Harapan formed the Federal Government.

“But now there is a realisation that some of our ministers like Maszlee are no different from politicians in the Barisan Nasional-era who used race and religion to ensure their political survival,” he said.