LETTER | Merit or affirmative action?

LETTER | The government needs to re-examine the admission mechanisms.

What is the best form of admission to pre-university programmes and universities? Should it be based on merit alone?

Or it should be based on a combination of merit and affirmative action principle? What is the exact form of combination?

I believe that in the larger interest of the society especially in addressing class and other forms of sociology-economic gaps, a good admission policy should be based on a fine combination of merit and affirmative action principle.

However, when quotas and reservations are overwhelmingly tuned to the interests of the majoritarian ethnic group, the affirmative action principle gets watered down.

The quotas for bumiputera in admission to matriculation and universities seem debatable whether they are based on affirmative action principle.

The affirmative action principle is advocated in societies where numerically small groups or minorities are displaced by the majoritarian communities.

Whether in employment or in admission to universities, socio-economic consideration is given to address the plight of displaced groups.

In the United States, admission to universities and jobs in the public sector are based on merit, as well affirmative action principle.

The whole idea behind this principle is that it provides to some extent a level playing field for entry to students from poorer and socio-economically disadvantaged groups or communities.

In all cases, the affirmative action principle is to provide a level playing field for those who are disadvantaged in terms of ethnicity, religion or gender.

However, when it comes to Malaysia, placing a 90 percent quota for bumiputera students for entry into the pre-university matriculation programme seems to be a source of grievance among non-Malay students.

It is not that the 90 percent admission quota does not address the affirmative action principle, but the admission is overwhelmingly weighted in favour of the majoritarian ethnic group - the bumiputera.

This is the source of grievance and unhappiness amongst non-Malay students who achieve high academic standards in their SPM examination but are denied admission to pre-university programmes such as matriculation and universities.

Sure, the non-Malays just like the bumiputera have class and socio-economic differences. But I am not sure whether the present admission system gives equal weight to non-Malays from disadvantaged socio-economic groups.

Weight of ethnicity

The whole admission system to the matriculation programme seems to pit the bumiputera against the non-Malays. The affirmative action principle might be present but pales in comparison to the primacy of ethnicity.

Similarly, I am not sure whether when it comes to the admission of non-Malays, there is consideration for affirmative action.

Admission into universities, matriculation programmes and employment in the public sector seems to be determined by ethnic conditions rather than the affirmative action principle.

Although admission is defended and justified on the basis of the affirmative action principle, its central role might be questioned.

The principle is there but submerged under the weight of ethnicity. This is the source of grievances and not the affirmative action principle as such.

Political expediency cannot be used as the reason to justify the present admission to pre-university programmes and to universities in general.

The government has to come up with an admission programme that provides a clever and imaginative combination of merit and sociology-economic considerations.

It is not a question of abandoning merit but how to render the admission programmes by imaginatively combining the principle of affirmative action.

The affirmative action principle cannot be abandoned but the question is: how to combine the system based on meritocracy with merit?

Of course, political expediency might not predispose the government to tinker with the present admission policy. But surely, the government must admit that at some point in time, there is a need to improve the admission policy to matriculation and universities.

The present system needs a relook and improvement.

In a recent gathering of students with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Penang, a young girl raised the question of admission to the matriculation programme.

Rather than being defensive, Anwar should have replied by saying that government will continuously look at the system by improving it.

Whatever is said and done, despite the need for political expediency, like other systems in the country, the admission system needs to be improved without losing sight of class or socioeconomic considerations.

Not to forget that the rapid development of the technological, engineering and vocational sector (TVET) might provide students with opportunities to gain skills and talents other than the tertiary route.

P RAMASAMY is the former Perai assemblyperson and ex-Penang deputy chief minister II.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.