Malaysian opposition casts doubt over university figures

Malaysian opposition casts doubt over university figures

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysian opposition leaders on Wednesday cast doubt over new figures for state university enrollment amid a controversy over whether bright students are missing out due to racial quotas.

The education ministry last week said intake into public universities this year was 20 percent below the projected figure of 38,000.

This was because there were not enough students to make up the 55 percent quota reserved for ethnic Malays and other indigenous races -- collectively known as bumiputeras.

Public universities reserve a 55 percent quota for bumiputeras, 35 percent for Chinese and 10 percent for Indians as part of an affirmative action program for Malays.

But amid calls for some 7,000 unfilled university places to be released to non-bumiputeras, the education ministry on Tuesday said it made a mistake and there were actually no vacancies.

It said it forgot to include two groups of bumiputera (sons of the soil) students and the intake this year actually exceeded its projections.

There are enough qualified Malays and other indigenous people to fill their quota for university places in Malaysia, the country's education minister was quoted on Wednesday as saying.

"This is wrong. There is no vacancy," Education Minister Musa Mohamad told the New Straits Times newspaper. He said the official who spoke of a lack of candidates had erred.

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP), questioned the turn-around in the statistics and said the ministry had put world famous magician David Copperfield to shame.

"By playing around with such figures, the Malaysian public has lost all confidence in the statistics given by ministers and government officials," he said in a statement.

Lim called for an independent inquiry into university admissions over the past three decades.

Syed Husin Ali, president of the Malaysian People's Party, said the ministry's move had given it a bad image.

He urged the government to review its criteria for university admission to ensure that no bright students were denied entry regardless of race.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Sunday said the government may abolish the race-based quota system for public university places to avoid a "brain drain" of ethnic Chinese and Indians. On Monday he said the quota system would stay but the ratio would be reviewed if places are unfilled.

More than 500 Chinese students who scored top exam marks are among those who initially failed to gain admission this year.