PM Mahathir's call for meritocracy upsets Malays

PM Mahathir's call for meritocracy upsets Malays

By Joceline Tan

KUALA LUMPUR: On A cloudy Wednesday afternoon last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that entry into Malaysian public universities would soon be based on a merit system.

Malay students eyeing a university place would have to start studying from now on or be left out, he said in his "take-it-or- leave-it" style.

That very evening, he flew out of the country for a fortnight of work-cum-vacation. The following day found United Malays National Organization (UMNO) leaders, and particularly Education Minister Tan Sri Musa Mohamad, trying their best to explain matters.

The Prime Minister is still abroad and the reaction to his controversial policy change is still rippling through Malay circles. The reaction has ranged from concern and confusion to opposition and outrage.

Dr Mahathir, president of the 2.7-million-strong UMNO, had evidently caught everyone by surprise.

He had been talking about the poor performance of Malay students, of their propensity for anti-government politics rather than their studies, of the way the Malays had taken UMNO's efforts for granted and of the need to jolt them out of their complacency.

But few had expected him to start cracking the whip this soon.

The New Economic Policy, implemented in the 1970s, enabled Malays to gain entry into university on less stringent qualifications than their non-Malay counterparts. Dr Mahathir's proposal aims to dismantle the handicap on an incremental basis beginning next year.

UMNO politicians know it is not going to be easy rationalizing with the rural populace, which still forms the bedrock of UMNO's support. Many are even expecting a backlash.

Said an UMNO politician from Terengganu: "The Malays are not ready. Maybe those in the town and city are ready, but come down to the kampong and you will see that the Malays still need a lot of help and support."

Just how unready some Malay figures are was apparent at a convention organized by the Peninsular Malay Students Federation several days ago.

A young undergraduate who took the microphone spoke of how he and his friends were brought on a tour to the new administration capital, Putrajaya, and about how a senior civil servant, during a briefing, urged them to prepare themselves for the system of meritocracy because it would be implemented in the civil service as well.

"The civil servant has only three more years before he retires. It is easy for him to talk about burning the bridge because he has crossed it. But we are just about to cross the bridge," the student said to loud applause from his colleagues.

The federation, or GPMS as it is known by its Malay abbreviation, has over the years acquired a reputation as the ultra voice of the Malays.

GPMS is clearly critical of the plan to submit Malays students to more rigorous entry qualification into university and its representative at the convention insisted that university quotas were "a Malay right which no one should question".

It is quite likely that a number of UMNO leaders are quietly pleased GPMS is taking such a strong stand on the meritocracy issue.

Thirty years of protective measures and special quotas have enabled close to two generations of Malays to leapfrog the highway of progress, but it has also made them complacent and highly dependent on the government.

Therefore, it is unsurprising if segments among the Malay community are reluctant, afraid even, of letting go of what they are used to.

As one of the participants at the above forum put it: "It is like asking us to throw away our walking stick. We will surely fall."

Among some Malays, the idea of having to compete on merit with other races is akin to venturing into the unknown. They find it scary and they feel they have yet to acquire the coping skills.

Yet, none within UMNO seems prepared to tell the Prime Minister how unprepared the Malays are for such a radical move, and at a time when UMNO is still trying to regain the Malays' confidence.

Malay self-confidence is also at an all-time low.

The high profile financial woes of Malay business figures such as Tan Sri Halim Saad and Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli have dented the Malay psyche much more than can be imagined. Questionable as their rise to the top may have been, these businessmen were symbols of what the Malays could aspire to.

In that context, many Malays question why Dr Mahathir is doing this now.

Those in the academia say he is fed up with the anti- government sentiment brewing in Malaysian campuses since the sacking of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Pro-Parti Islam SeMalaysia students in Universiti Malaya had campaigned vigorously against him days before he was due to open a conference at the university.

In many ways, what is happening on Malaysian campuses is a microcosm of Malaysian society. The Malays are deeply split and extremely emotional over whom they think is fit to run the country.

Up till a few months ago, those who dared suggest adjustments to the racial quota in universities stood the risk of being accused of sedition for questioning Malay special privileges.

In that sense, the most positive aspect of the controversy over the meritocracy issue is that it is being publicly discussed at all and, more importantly, among the Malays themselves.

They are dead against it, that is for sure.

But the debate should signal the reality that quotas and other protective measures cannot remain intact for eternity if Malays aspire to hold their head high -- not only within the country, but also internationally.

-- The Straits Times/Asia News Network