Press
Statement
by DAP National Political Education Director and DAPSY National
Secretary, Hew Kuan Yau
in Petaling Jaya
on Friday 10th May 2002
The
announcement of the successful enrolment of students into public universities
this year has seen the increase of Bumiputra student intake to 68.9% of the
total enrolment while enrolment of non-Bumiputra students has declined to 31.1%
(Chinese-26.4% and Indian-4.7%). The
decrease in enrolment of non-Bumiputra students had been attributed to the
drastic decline of the number of non-Bumiputra applicants due to the fact that
not many Chinese and Indian students were interested to pursue STPM.
Deputy
Education Minister Datuk Hon Choon Kim revealed that Chinese students make up
only 22% of the total applicants while 5.33% are Indian students. The low
application by non-Bumiputra students shows that many Chinese and Indian
students have no confidence in the Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) and
thus many of them refused to further their studies to Form 6 after they have sat
for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) but instead opted to study in private
colleges pursuing twinning programs or professional courses. This includes many
who have scored good grades in their SPM examination and have good prospect of
being admitted into public universities. Their choice is understandable as
sitting for the STPM is a “high risk” move, as is does not guarantee a place
for them in their preferred courses in the public universities due to the
restricted places under the quota system. This undeniably is a more secured
option but at the same time creates a lot of financial burden for parents who
have to fork out a large sum of money to finance their children’s high tuition
fees in private colleges and their cost of living in cities.
I have no
doubt that given a fair chance of securing a place in a public university and
without the psychological fear of the quota system, many students would have
opted for the STPM and work hard to get into public universities, as is the case
in other countries especially among developed ones. The continuous decline in
the intake of STPM students among non-Bumiputra students in recent years is
alarming and the STPM is now facing a “crisis of confidence” among non-Bumiputra
students. The government must realized that the decline in the enrolment of non-Bumiputra
students into public universities will have serious repercussions for
nation-building as it will further segregate our students since the majority of
students in public universities are Malays while in private colleges there will
be little inter-racial interaction as the student population are largely Chinese
and Indians.
DAP welcomes the move by the government to implement a selection system based completely on merit for entry into public universities this year. As the results showed, Malay students are equally capable in their studies and able to compete in a more competitive environment. This has proved the correctness of the DAP’s argument all along that creating greater competition will eventually lift the standards of Malay students as it will motivate them to work harder and leave their comfort zone under the old protectionist policy.
However, the
selection system based on meritocracy is still a temporary measure and has not
been extended by the government. This year’s results should open the eyes of
the Barisan Nasional government and other Malay nationalists in UMNO that the
time has come for the complete abolishment of the quota system to move the
country forward and prepare our citizens for a more competitive environment in
the face of global economy. Nonetheless, DAP is realistic in believing that this
will not happen overnight considering the sensitivities involved. As a step
forward to make our national higher education system to gear for more
competition and excellence and to regain the confidence of non-Bumiputra
students in the STPM, DAP urges the Education Ministry to immediately implement
3 steps as follow:
Set a time-frame for the complete abolishment of the quota system and make it public.
Liberalize the matriculation courses and allow the enrolment of non-Bumiputra students.
Announce publicly the cut-off points for various courses and faculties so as to make the whole selection process more transparent and give the applicants a clearer picture on their selection status.
DAP reiterates our long-standing commitment to abolish the quota system for entry into public universities, as we believe academic opportunities should be based solely on merit. We believe healthy academic competition will crate a stronger foundation for our younger generation and equip them well in facing the tougher challenges of the Information Technology era. Besides, we also call on the government to increase the yearly budget allocation for higher education and to build more public universities so that all qualified and deserving students have a chance to pursue their tertiary education.