LETTER | Universities should be a melting pot of cultures

LETTER | UiTM’s refusal to accept ethnic minorities into its specialists’ programme has sparked public concern and controversy lately.

The university’s refusal to allow ethnic minority postgraduate students into its cardiothoracic surgery programme - the only one of its kind in the country - not only affects these minority students.

It also has a critical impact on the nation’s public healthcare system, which is saddled with long queues of patients of all ethnicities who desperately need surgery.

While it is true that other public universities do take minorities, the rejection of ethnic minority students of merit over the years is still prevalent in public university intakes, which has not been resolved till today.

It is a pity that certain varsity students who are supposed to embrace diversity in the modern world to enhance their learning have also opposed accepting minorities.

There is a fear that this would open up the Pandora’s box.

In my years of reading about prominent civilisations of the past, what makes them above the rest is their ability to accept learning from other ethnic communities within their nation-states, through interaction in the area of education, trade, and governing systems.

For example, Rome in ancient times was a melting pot of cultures. Prominent historian Livy claimed that the city’s original population consisted of immigrants flooding in from all directions. These would have brought about learning from various cultures within the Roman empire.

The growth of Islamic civilisation in the past in relation to education would not have been illustrious if its leaders did not interact with Byzantine Greek Christians and surrounding cultures around the Mediterranean.

Prominent education institutions in the United States such as Harvard and Columbia are a melting pot of cultures, which makes the country still prominent in science, technology, and the humanities.

Therefore universities should be a melting pot of cultures without discrimination. Favouring one over the other, what more a fellow citizen who happens to be a minority is inimical to progress.

Malaysia, which is indeed a melting pot of cultures should be reflected in its universities, where merit and character of individuals of minority communities should take precedence over ethnicity.

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