UiTM reflects years of providing a crutch so that Malays cannot compete on a level playing field

Malaysia questions preferential treatment of Malays – Taiwan News Online

Analysts and some employers say many graduates from UiTM and other state universities that have quotas favouring Malays simply cannot compete for the best private sector jobs and either swell the ranks of the civil service or the unemployed.

“UiTM has been politicised. It reflects years of providing a crutch so that Malays cannot compete on a level playing field,” said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert at Johns Hopkins University.

Fight for investment

Southeast Asia’s third biggest economy is already facing falling foreign investment, eroding competitiveness and a worsening brain drain. Many analysts trace the stagnation in foreign investment to the racial and religious politics that divide the country. Malays are Muslims by state definition, while Chinese and Indians are mostly Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs.

UiTM is the only university in Malaysia that is closed to other races, although other state-run institutions generally have high Malay enrolments because of quotas. This has forced ethnic Chinese and Indians to turn to private universities or move abroad, creating an economically damaging brain drain that might hurt Malaysia’s competitiveness for years to come.

Some Malay political leaders have recently joined a growing chorus for UiTM to open its doors to non-Malays.

“It is time for the Malays to take a step (towards a multiracial approach),” opposition leader Anwar said, throwing his weight behind his political party’s proposal to open up 10 percent of UiTM places to non-Malays.

Anwar, himself an ethnic Malay, was returned to parliament in a by-election after a decade-long absence. Despite pledging to end ethnic-based affirmative action programs, he romped home in a constituency that was largely rural and Malay.

The government, fearful of losing power, and UiTM have balked at the plan, with the university galvanising its students to march on the streets waving pro-Malay banners.

Malay newspapers have condemned plans to open up the university, with one quoting a Malay leader warning of a repeat of the 1969 race riots between ethnic Malays and ethnic Chinese and Indians which left hundreds dead.

Lifting ethnic restrictions on the UiTM student body might be a small step towards resolving the woes of modern-day Malaysia, critics of affirmation action believe.

Yet that step is unlikely to be taken unless Anwar and his resurgent opposition take power by setting up a new majority bloc in parliament.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has fallen completely off the list of the world’s top 200 universities in 2007, according to a ranking by London’s Times Higher Education Supplement and Quacquarelli Symonds.

“Investors are concerned with the quality of the graduates,” said Mohamad Sofi Othman, who heads a grouping of foreign and local investors in Penang, Malaysia’s industrial state controlled by the opposition.

Still, UiTM defends its policy, saying that non-Malays form the majority of students in critical courses such as accountancy and pharmacy at state universities. At private universities, 90 percent of the students are non-Malays.

Lim Kit Siang: Najib’s apology for Ahmad is INADEQUATE

Kit Siang questions Ahmad’s silence

Lim asked whether Ahmad, who has shown no contrition or remorse since he made the remarks nine days ago, was fully confident that he had the mainstream support of Umno leaders and members, encouraging him to show contempt for the nationwide furore.

Saying Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s apology on behalf of Ahmad was “inappropriate, inadequate and unacceptable”, Lim said the apology could not be acceptable if Ahmad continued to be defiant and unrepentant.

“Even if he tenders an apology, the question of its adequacy will arise, following the precedent set by the Cabinet in the Wee Meng Chee case over his Negaraku rap video-clip last year, when the Cabinet rejected Wee’s apology as inadequate,” Lim said in a statement yesterday.

Lim said Najib should apologise on behalf of himself as Najib had failed to reprimand Ahmad immediately after he made the remarks during the Permatang Pauh by-election ceramah on Aug 24, where Najib was present.

Anwar would be a better Prime Minister than Najib

Breaking News

MALAYSIAN opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim would make a better prime minister than Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s deputy, Mr Najib Razak, said the Malaysian Insider, citing a poll by Merdeka Centre.

Results of the poll, based on 1,002 people of voting age from the country’s three main ethnic communities, showed that 39.3 per cent supported Mr Anwar and 33.8 per cent favoured Mr Najib.

The online newspaper said, according to a Bloomberg report, that a majority of Indians and Chinese supported Mr Anwar while Malays favoured Mr Najib. The poll was conducted from Sept 11 – 22.

Mr Abdullah has delayed a leadership election at the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and said he will decide in the next two weeks whether to contest the position of party chief.

Pressure mounts on Malaysian Barisan Nasional government to repeal ISA

Breaking News

Protest groups and individuals are stepping up pressure on the Malaysian government to repeal harsh internal security laws, echoing the widespread outcry that marked the recent arrests under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Last Saturday marked one of the largest protests that have taken place in recent months, as more than 2,000 Malaysians from all walks of life staged a peaceful march through the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

Organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), as well as rights groups Suaram and the Abolish ISA Movement, they called for the removal of the ISA, which allows for detention without trial. They also wanted the release of 65 detainees.

Hindraf coordinator R.S. Thanenthiran said the ISA – first drafted half a century ago to fight communism – was outdated.

‘If somebody has committed a crime, then they must be tried in an open court,’ he told The Straits Times.

Next up, the group intends to keep up the pressure by gathering 10,000 supporters at Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s traditional open house in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday – the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

They are also planning to attend his open house in his Penang constituency of Kepala Batas on the second day of Hari Raya.

Earlier this month, the authorities detained three people under the ISA: a reporter and a lawmaker who were later released, as well as prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who was sentenced to a two-year detention order in the notorious Kamunting detention centre.

The last time the ISA was used was when five Hindraf leaders were detained in December last year, after the group staged a massive anti-government protest a month earlier.

The five were sent to Kamunting for two years, and Hindraf plans to hold a large gathering to commemorate the first anniversary of their arrest.

The authorities maintain that the ISA is needed to fight terrorism and threats to national security, but critics have long condemned it as outdated and a tool manipulated by the government to silence critics and the opposition.

The call to get rid of the Act has been championed for years by groups such as Suaram and the Abolish ISA Movement.

Apart from protests in the past years, they have held weekly candlelight vigils in Kuala Lumpur and Penang this month. They plan to organise more anti-ISA protests in the coming months, but have yet to finalise details.

Even individual activists are chipping in. Human rights lawyer and blogger Haris Ibrahim, for instance, recently launched a petition to free ISA detainees on his site, aiming to get one million signatures.

The petition currently has around 34,000 signatories.

‘The use of such legislation violates the basic rights of detainees to due process and fair rule of law,’ he said, adding that it strengthens the view that the government is losing control and embarking on desperate authoritarian measures.

Indeed, critics called the recent ISA arrests a ‘crackdown’, as it came just days before the opposition’s Sept 16 deadline to topple the government, which never materialised.

All this backlash is increasing the pressure on the beleaguered Prime Minister to step down – and it appears that it will not let up.

‘We will keep holding gatherings until all ISA detainees are released. The PM should listen to the people of Malaysia,’ said Mr Thanenthiran.