REVIEW MERIT SYSTEM
Possible review of merit system
The govt is ready to re-examine the meritocracy system for entry into public universities, where there are claims that it has resulted in a decline in Bumiputra students. Higher Education Minister Datuk Shafie Salleh said the ministry was ready to discuss the proposal by the UMNO Youth Education Bureau before putting it forward to the Cabinet, reported Kosmo (The Star, 24th May 2005).
This statement was in contrary over the minister's earlier statement made during the opening of Universiti Malaya’s International conference on Health Science (6th. May 2005), where Datuk Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh told the participants, which include foreigners, that the meritocracy policy for entry into Malaysian Public Universities will continue and should be given time to work.
This changed of stand was in response to the comments made by UMNO Deputy Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin who said that the UMNO Youth movement’s survey at various public universities showed a disturbing trend in the enrolment of Malays in critical faculties such as law and pharmacy (as reported on 7th May, 2005,in The Star).
In the statement, Khairy said: “I am not asking for the meritocracy system to be reviewed but remedial measures must be taken if Malay students form the minority group in critical faculties.” Khairy was responding to the statement made by Higher Education Minister Dr Shafie’s comment that the meritocracy policy would continue to be adopted.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The stand and statement made by Khairy, an Oxbridge graduate himself, (the Ivy league university in UK) who is a sample of a successful and intellectual Malay and who had self-made himself to what he is today (uhm added when he married the PM's daughter), and potentially someone who might be the not too distant future leader of the country, were absolutely perplexing and disturbing, particularly to the Malays and the non-Malays.
His statement can be construed to mean that the Malays are incapable to compete with the other races unless, they are parked into the universities without the need of merit and hardwork. It demean the ability of the Malays, that denotes incapability, lack of hardwork, and cannot compete with the rest of the world.
But this is not the truth. If the survey is honest and truthfull, it should include those Malays that were sent overseas via government scholarships and in particular, those from UMNO-rich plus those from MCAs & MICs' Ministers children (they too are considered UMNOputras). The statement by Khairy is absolutely misleading and reckless. The simple fact is that those capable Malays with good results were given scholarships to study overseas at Ivy league universities, such as Oxbridge, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, etc. Only those that do not score great results are left to be slotted in the local public universities. At such, the balance number of Malays left in local public universities may not be that many left while those from the other races had to compete amongst themselves to share the balance of the crumps left-over for them. They are considered the "not that fortunate" class of people as compared to many of those that were anointed with "King's scholarships", "UMNO-sponsored scholarship", and include those few who had "Rich-Papa-Mama" scholarships to study overseas.
At such, is Khairy trying to suggest that the crumps left-behind should further be shared with those that managed 4-Ds or 5-Es? Is Khairy suggesting that those others non-Malays who could not afford to pay their own way to private or foreign universities, but who had excellent results in their STPM, (but felt fortunate to have a place in local public universities) be eliminated and replaced by UMNOputras who have 4-Cs or 5-Ds in STPM?
A personal advice to Khairy: The non-Malays will not compete with his politically-motivated agenda, for places in local universities; those less fortunate had parents who, no matter how poor they are, will struggle and suffer to save some money so as to ensure that their socially-deprived childrens will have the necessary basic education, whether in local public U or local private U, and if it be possible, sending them to overseas U. But for that reason of deprivation resultant from UMNO-atrocities, you do not expect them to respect these unmeritocratic and unjust leaders.
It is sad to note that a talented young guy who had previously fought for justice and the interest of the society as a whole, but his crave for political power, he would forsake his idealistic philosophy in exchange for an executive position that are tainted with kleptorism and cronyism.
The Malaysian social fabric does show that All non-Malays paid tremendous respect to all the ordinary Malays, including the civil servants and the Kampung people; for these Malays are honest and hardworking people, and they have similar respects for all other races; and they, the ordinary Malays, believes in meritocracy and have proven it once too often to UMNO that they absolutely are. As an example, take a good look at the Kelantanese people - they are the best examples of the deprived sector; yet they have been successful due to hardwork and being frugal. Look at the cabinet and civil service and you can find many of them are successful Kelantanese and they are there by merits. Look also at Marina Mahathir who is the best example of a great and successful leader and social activist, who had never abuse her position as a daughter of a Prime Minister (in those years when her father was PM..). She had never sought political position for herself or her husband. Pak Lah and Endon should consider to emulate this "quality" of Mahathir and Siti Hasmah.
At the packed hall at the PWTC filled with UMNO grassroots leaders from the country, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Malays should stop wasting time and focus their efforts on building themselves into “Towering Malays” who are well-rounded people who have developed high intellect, high-value system, a successful career, a good economic standing and a well-respected culture and religion, so much so that they would be marvelled at by others. To do that, he said the Malays need to change their attitude to be more constructive, to use their time wisely so that they can better themselves and become more successful. “Don’t waste your time in excessive politicking to get up the political ladder of stardom, [son (-in-law)]… spent time to look for good ideas.”
Has the Prime Minister misdirected his statement to his son-in-law and his cronies on clutches, or he was intentional to tell him of such?
In Pak Lah's ideology and philosophy, “Only People of such high calibre, capability and talent will be an asset and contribute greatly to the race and nation."
"The Malay race [in UMNO, particularly, the leaders of UMNO] need to have such personalities who excel in everything they do and become a reference point,” Badawi said after meeting some 2,000 UMNO leaders at PWTC on 5th Feb 2005.
According to the well-respected Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, "UMNO members should not shout slogans about 'keturunan Melayu' without improving their attitude and competitiveness in all fields."
Najib said that Malays [in UMNO] would not survive in a rapidly globalising world if they failed to adapt to changes around them. “Improving the Malays attitude and competitiveness especially by mastering new technologies should be the new focus” Datuk Seri Najib urged all the UMNO members during his speech at the Kuala Krai UMNO Divisional meeting on 23rd May 2005.
“UMNO’s survival depends on its ability to serve the people,” says Datuk Seri Najib Razak. “We will only remain in power when the interests of the people are the basis of our struggle. There is a need to highlight more success stories of the Malays to inspire others to emulate. We should not dwell on tales of weaknesses and failures if we want to succeed,” Najib said.
In Najib's own word, “UMNO members should discard unethical attitudes such as spreading lies and slander to tarnish the image of others.”
I hope Khairy understand his own lies, which was probably fed unto him by his cronies and which caused him to lie sparingly.
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