YOURSAY | ‘If what Maszlee said is what the cabinet thinks, then all ministers should be sacked.’

Mujahid: Stop issuing statements about matriculation quota

Anonymous 820581439249394: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa wants everyone in Pakatan Harapan to stop issuing press statements about the racial quota in the matriculation programme.

But he cannot shut out the voice of the people. Instead, he should be telling members of the cabinet to articulate the message that Malaysia is for all of its citizens, and not one particular group.

At this point, what is the difference between Harapan and BN? Very little. Retaining racism through the bumiputera agenda was not part of the manifesto.

Frankie: Mujahid, if it's not a fair policy, how do you expect people to keep quiet?

Do you see how PAS leaders always ask their supporters to keep quiet and not ask questions, saying that it’s the right thing to do?

Appum: Mujahid, if you are saying that Education Minister Maszlee Malik was just announcing what the cabinet had agreed to, that would mean that it believes that the Chinese are rich and can send their children to private universities, and that Chinese employers are not employing Malays because they can’t speak Mandarin.

If this is true, then the whole cabinet should be sacked.

Obviously, the top leaders of this new government do not understand, or refuse to understand, the aspirations of the people who worked so hard to get them into power.

It is not the quantum of students – especially non-bumiputera students – getting into matriculation that the people are perturbed about. It is the Umno-style racist quota that is being kept in place by Harapan today. I can’t believe the entire cabinet is so thick as to want to retain BN-era policies.

The people do not expect overnight changes if quotas are required to stabilise the equation. The people are also not against any policy to help poor students, bumiputera included.

But as promised in the manifesto and the plethora of campaign promises, Harapan is supposed to move forward with needs-based policies. With such policies, race will not be a factor.

In short, the cabinet is not a god that makes pronouncements that all should abide by. If ministers cannot make fair and transparent decisions, then they should be removed.

But I cannot believe the cabinet in its entirety is so dumb. I believe what Maszlee said to the Universiti Sains Malaysia students is his own myopic view, as with all the other so-called policies he has announced over the course of the past year. No solid structural or institutional changes and proposals have been seen from his ministry.

Non-bumiputera are prepared to help poor Malays, but at the same time, the government must not forget and take for granted the deserving and poor in other communities.

If Harapan really moved forward on a socio-economic basis, nothing like this episode would have cropped up. Alas, it is the implementing of the same Umno-style approaches and race-based criteria that most people today do not and cannot accept.

We can ensure poor Malays are assisted, but not at the expense of deserving non-bumiputera. Throwing tokenistic sweets at the latter group is unacceptable. That’s not how New Malaysia works.

Harry Mou: Indeed, it is very sickening to realise that we chased away a wolf, but let in a tiger.

It is unprincipled to dump the non-Malays who had supported Harapan with the hope of a New Malaysia agenda of equal opportunities.

Tholu: Mujahid, if we the rakyat had respected all the decisions – and indecision – of the previous cabinet as you are exhorting us to do now, you wouldn't be a minister today.

Clearwater: Yes, the cabinet can make its decision, the public can make up its own mind. If the cabinet makes an ass of a decision, don't expect us to keep silent and respect it.

Tidak Harapan: The criticism is against the nonsensical argument from the clueless Maszlee. Matriculation should be abolished altogether as it further downgrades the standard for university entrance.

Time, too, to look also at the appointment of vice-chancellors for public universities. Low-grade management produces low-grade graduates, who become unemployable, except in government service.

The whole process just degrades the management of the civil service and the nation. The private sector does not want graduates who cannot compete.

Undecided: This was an opportunity to do away with a system based on race, and Harapan blew it big time. Most non-Malays do not mind helping those who cannot afford to get into public universities.

Harapan should have tailored entry into matriculation for the B40 income group, instead of retaining it as is.

Kangkung: Mujahid, it would’ve been easier for you to just come out and honestly say that to win the hearts and minds of the Malays, institutionalised racism has to continue.

Idiocracy: Matriculation helps cover up poor performance. Check the statistics. This is a fact, and it is not because bumiputera students are not smart, but the education system is poor.

The STPM is mainly meant to kill off and disqualify non-bumiputera students from entering local universities. The reason why non-bumiputera parents sell their souls to work in this country is because they need to salvage their children from racist policies.

And even after getting poor results for lower-grade local universities, graduates are given well-paying government jobs. So there’s a triple quota – lower standard to enter university, easier ride in university, and the promise of government jobs.

If Harapan cannot understand that this is also corruption of the system, then it is not much better than BN.

The core of corruption is unfairness and inequity. People who work harder and do better are not rewarded fairly.

Anonymous_671958ef: Why prolong something that has proven to not work over 60 years? You cannot do the same thing and expect better results.

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