The unfair and unprofessional merit-based university selection system should be the first agenda of business in next month’s Parliament for MPs to decide whether its multiple injustices should be immediately rectified  or whether the 10-year Education Development  Blueprint 2001-2010 should be scrapped

(Petaling Jaya,  Thursday):  The refusal by the Cabinet yesterday to rectify the multiple injustices of the unfair and unprofessional merit-based university selection  system is a bad omen for the 10-year Education Blueprint 2001-2010 to create a world class education system to enable Malaysia to meet the challenges of globalisation, liberalization and the increasing role of Information and Communication Technology in everyday dealings.  

After the Cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that the government will stick with the meritocracy system, at least for this year.  He said that the Cabinet decided not to retract the decision on the meritocracy system pertaining to students' entry in public universities. 

This is the only good news to emerge from the yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, which was  however completely  lost by the abysmal abdication of responsibility of the Cabinet Ministers to rectify the multiple injustices of the merit-based university selection  system which has not only given meritocracy a bad name because of its unfairness and utter lack of professionalism, but have the far-reaching  and adverse repercussions of notifying the whole world that Malaysia is not ready to become an international educational  centre of academic excellence as well as undermining national integration by depreciating the sense of self-worth of both the beneficiaries and victims of an unfair and unprofessional meritocracy system.  

It is shocking that the MCA Minister for Housing and Local Government, Datuk Ong Ka Ting  could describe the Cabinet decision to allocate 10% of the matriculation places to non-bumiputra students from next year as a “breakthrough” (Sin Chew and Nanyang) when not one of the four MCA Ministers dared to propose what would be the real “breakthrough” in the national education system: a common university entrance examination by building junior colleges to cater for   all pre-university students regardless of race to prepare them for the common examination  under one roof.

Another gross irresponsibility is the refusal of the Cabinet to intervene to rectify the arbitrary and illegal Education Ministry decision to refuse to  consider the university application of some 10,000 diploma holders, including those who have the full or  very high CGPA  scores although   diplomas have for many years  been officially  recognized as one of the legitimate university entrance qualifications. 

DAP has said that we will provide free legal service to diploma holders to sue the government for its arbitrary and unlawful exclusion of diploma holders from the university selection system this year and it is now up to the aggrieved diploma holders to take up  this DAP offer.

As former University Sains Malaysia vice chancellor, the Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad should give serious thought to the mess in the education system which he had presided since taking over the Education portfolio in the past 30 months, in particular the considered  views of academicians and educationists that “when quality is absent, meritocracy matters not”.  

Malaysiakini yesterday  quoted academicians, including Prof Khoo Kay Kim and Prof P. Ramasamy, with the former who have  more than 40 years of university teaching experience declaring, "I don't think that I can teach anymore” after his indictment of the national education system: "Our students these days are not the same as in the past. Their quality is way below par."  

It is  very sad that at a time when there is an urgent need to re-invent the Malaysian education system to create a world-class education system to produce quality students -  which is supposed to be the very objective of the  10-year Education Development Blueprint 2001-2010 -  the  Cabinet has given endorsement to an university admission meritocracy system which is so unfair and unprofessional that Malaysians must despair about the equity and quality of the Malaysian education system, our international competitiveness in the era of globalisation, liberalization and ICT and its deleterious effect on national integration and the Vision 2020 goal of a Bangsa Malaysia.  

No wonder there was this despairing cry from Khoo: "The question is, are we producing quality students? If our graduates are not capable of competing at international level or making themselves marketable, let's not talk about meritocracy for now."  

Shortly before the nation-wide furore over the unfair and unprofessional merit-based university admission system this year, Barisan Nasional leaders were lamenting the ills of the present national education system, as reflected by:

• The 44,000 unemployed and unemployable graduates, most of whom are Malays and other bumiputras. Ministers say the unemployed graduates could not find gainful employment because they took up courses not suitable for the job market. A poor command of English has been cited as another possible reason why they have failed to find work.
• The poor  academic performance of bumiputra students. In 1999, only 96 Malays obtained First Class degrees in University of Malaya, compared to 259 non-bumiputra students while  in Universiti Teknology Malaysia, only seven Malays received First Class degrees compared to 95 non-bumiputra students.

Malaysians began to hope that the government has reached a maturity to realize the importance of  having a national education system which can successfully produce graduates who are knowledgeable, skilled and capable of becoming global players in the era of globalisation, liberalization and ICT, but all these hopes had been dashed by the unfair and unprofessional meritocracy system for university selection adopted by the Education Ministry and the refusal or impotence of the Cabinet to right the wrongs of the meritocracy system.

The unfair and unprofessional merit-based university selection system should be the first agenda of business in next month’s Parliament for MPs to decide whether its multiple injustices should be immediately rectified  or whether the 10-year Education Development  Blueprint 2001-2010 should be scrapped.

The Prime Minister, in his foreword to the Education Development Blueprint 2001-2010, had said  that its  “realistic and futuristic strategies geared towards increasing access, equity, quality of education and effective education management” was “in line with the government’s efforts at producing a national education system that is comparable to other developed nations”.

The unfair and unprofessional merit-based university selection system nullifies the Prime Minister’s claim as it makes a complete mockery of the goals of “increasing access, equity, quality of education and effective education management…to produce a national education system that is comparable to other developed nations”.

Parliament should demand a full explanation from Musa why the Education Ministry has adopted such an unfair and unprofessional  merit-based university selection system which goes against the very goals of the Education Development Blueprint 2001-2010 to create a world class education system which can only jeopardize  Malaysia’s international competitiveness and prosperity  in the era of  globalisation, liberalization and ICT!

(30/5/2002)