Press Statement

by Lim Guan Eng

(Petaling Jaya, Tuesday): DAP calls for a deferral to 2 years later of the new assessment of public university intake this year where university applicants are based on their academic achievement(90%) and co-curriculum involvement(10%) to avoid subjective manipulation and turn the so-called merit system into a disguised form of quota system. Ever since meritocracy was introduced in 2002 on the public university intake, the public has grave doubts about its implementation when top students fail to get university places or the courses applied for.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed had said in April this year applications would be assessed based on the student's academic achievement (90%) and co-curriculum involvement (10%). Mustapa said then that students have been informed about this system and it is also stated in the guide book. Only from next year, schools would be provided with a set of marks to assess the students.  

It is unfair that students were only informed when they were preparing for the exams and that schools would only be provided with a set of marks to assess the students which will determine the students’ entry into public universities. Like always the Education Ministry adopts an ad-hoc, haphazard and unplanned approach to the assessment system that not only is not transparent, not accountable, unfair but also creates great unhappiness amongst students.

This is a distinctly Malaysian malaise that top students do not get the recognition and reward they deserve as in other countries but always misses out on their preferred courses such as medicine(see table above) or university places despite all the hard work put in. Up to now the public is unclear as to how many top students will be victimized or miss out following Higher Education Management Department director-general Prof Datuk Dr Hassan Said warning that under the new method, not every student with a CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of 4.0 who applied would receive a place in medicine.

DAP calls on the government to publicise the list of names for successful students and their marks into such critical courses as medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy, accountancy, engineering and economics. Such transparency and accountability would dispel allegations of bias and double-standards in the new assessment system. This is necessary to establish the integrity of our assessment system as based on merit and not a continuation of the old quota system disguised as a merit system. Any failure to establish meritocracy would only hinder efforts to make Malaysia competitive and cultivate a “first-class” mentality to face the challenges of globalization.

DAP regrets that despite all the assurances and false promises made by MCA and Gerakan, all these problems denying qualified students entry into public universities or top students in preferred courses are still not resolved. Clearly these BN component parties do not want such problems resolved not only because they want to play the hero in a few individual cases but to hide their ineffectiveness and powerlessness within BN where the majority of qualified students loses out.