Running in place with race in education

COMMENT | Think before you speak, Maszlee Malik – it will save you from looking foolish. Malaysians are once again pushed out of their comfort zone, and this time is because of our education minister.

I was having a chat over teh tarik with my schoolmates. They were disappointed that we have an education minister who is trapped in thinking along racial lines.

They were referring to Maszlee saying that non-Malays were well off and able to send their children to private universities, in his attempt to justify the need for a quota system favouring Malay students for entry to public universities.

Obviously, Maszlee does not understand non-Malays have to go to private universities because they cannot find places in public universities.

My friends asked, does the minister know how many Chinese and Indians have sold or mortgaged their properties, valuables and life savings for their children's private tertiary education?

One of them, a university lecturer, said Maszlee doesn’t seem to understand that language is a job skill, when the minister accused certain employers of discriminating against non-Mandarin speakers...