COMMENT | Should UiTM be opened to non-bumi students?

COMMENT | While many university students around the globe are busy protesting against Israel for its extreme brutality against Palestinians, here we are exposed to a different scene.

In Malaysia, some Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students have been protesting against allowing non-bumiputera to enrol in its cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme.

In their recent demonstration the students wore black as part of a protest against the inclusion of non-bumiputera students.

As expected, Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh has sided with UiTM students. He is of the view that UiTM must remain for bumiputera forever, pointing out there are other public universities open to non-bumiputera.

Given the racial contents of the issue, it has generated a big hoo-hah. It seems the issue may have all started off when Codeblue reported Raja Amin Raja Mokhtar- a board member of the UiTM-IJN (National Heart Institute) cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme - revealing that the varsity was agreeable to opening the course to non-bumiputera.

Truth be told...