Shocking, UITM has foreign students - over 5,000 but it BARS entry of Malaysian students who are not Malay or are not natives of Sabah and Sarawak, this is a SERIOUS INCONSISTENCY - AND a DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICE that must end.
This government(not Private) that was established with monies from ALL Malaysians - has the door shut to certain ethnic groups of Malaysians. Rightly, it is an 'APARTHEID like' institution, and the door must be open to ALL Malaysians, and maybe shut to all FOREIGN nationals.
Higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir said a total of 5,571 international students have been accepted to study at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) from 2019 to 2023. - FMT, 18/7/2024
So Indian Nationals and Chinese Nationals can enter UITM, but not Malaysian Indian and Malaysian Chinese students?
WHY? For the sake of UNITY and the Malaysian identity. Any institution of learning, involving children or young people that is EXCLUSIVE for certain ethnic groups - has a high tendency to cultivate RACISM. People of Malaysia, a multi ethnic, nation state must encourage interactions between the ethnic groups to cultivate respect and understandings between its people from the different ethnic communities, religion and classes.
When the UITM student Union came out protesting the entry of non-Malay and/or non Sabah/Sarawak natives who are Malaysians into UITM, it was SHOCKING. When did these young people develop such racist beliefs. Again it was ODD that their opposition was just to fellow Malaysians, not to foreigner students??
THE student union of Universiti Teknologi MARA’s (UiTM) has voiced strong opposition to a proposal for the institution to take in people of all races for a medical programme.It was recently suggested that the university open its cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme to non-Bumiputera students.
The UiTM Student Representative Council (MPP) urged students to wear black tomorrow to protest the idea. Students were encouraged to join the #MahasiswaUiTMBantah campaign and use the hashtag on social media.
Remember, Art 153 currently even excludes the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia(the indigenous people or aborigine who were there long before the Malay population) - and even later Malays, who do not satisfy Article 160 definition of Malay.
"Malay" means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay custom and—
(a) was before Merdeka Day born in the Federation or in Singapore or born of parents one of whom was born in the Federation or in Singapore, or is on that day domiciled in the Federation or in Singapore; or
(b) is the issue of such a person;
Now, a perusal of Article 153, we see that it is about 'Reservation of Quotas..' it does not talk about 100% students being Malay and/or natives of Sabah and Sarawak. This means entry of other Malaysian students should never be 100% barred.
Anwar Ibrahim came in believing that the 'benefits' should not just be based on ethnicity - but really, it should not be available to the already rich(the top T20 group) - for they do not need any 'assistance' or 'preferential treatment' - and he was right to move to abolish subsidies to T20 when they perform their Haj, etc..
“Furthermore, in terms of the Haj subsidy, the price hike did not affect the people as the increase only involved the T20 group. “If you are already filthy rich, you don’t expect Tabung Haji (TH) to subsidise your trip to Makkah. Some have complained, but I have to be firm on that," he said.
In fact, Anwar has been talking about this being the direction of his government - focusing assistance to the POOR and Marginalized.
Such should be the REFORM in the 'reservation of quotas' for Malays and natives of Sabah/Sarawak as provided for in Art.153 > the rich can afford to get the children into the best schools(be it in Malaysia or overseas), afford the additional tuition for their kids - so WHY should the government be 'wasting' money and quota places for those that come from T20 families? The preference should be to assist the POOR and marginalized...
When in University Malaya, the Residential College policy was to ensure that your room-mate was from a different ethnicity/religion - and the reasoning was to cultivate better relationship between Malaysians of different ethnic/religious/cultural background.
UNITY is and must be a priority, and hence we must bring an end to especially public schools and institutions of higher learning that are exclusive for just certain ethnic groups - but BARS students of other Malaysian ethnic groups. There can still be QUOTA to ensure higher number of places for the ethnic groups that still need it > but at least all institutions will be open to ALL Malaysian students.
Founded in 1956, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) is the largest public university in Malaysia. Its main campus is in Shah Alam, the state capital of Selangor, with 13 autonomous state campuses and 21 satellite campuses. UiTM is not just the largest university infrastructurely but also in terms of staff strength and student enrolment. UiTM has 17,000 academic and non-academic staff and 515 academic programmes, ranging from foundation to postgraduate levels and is home to about 160,957 local and international students - UITM Essential Guide
9. I am an overseas student – can I study at this University?
Yes, we offer postgraduate programmes as well as mobility programmes for international students.
Kindly visit our Institute of Graduate Studies website for postgraduate courses offered and our Office of International Affairs website for the mobility programmes
BN, which was led by ethnic based parties UMNO, MIC and MCA, was rejected by the people in favour of Pakatan Harapan, made up of parties open to all Malaysians, - so, PM Anwar Ibrahim (the leaderr of PH) must bring about REFORMS - and do away with the old BN's 'divide and rule' based on ethnicities policies of old.
In 1957, it was a reality that there was INEQUALITY amongst the different major ethnic groups in terms of educational achievements, business/economic ownership/control, etc - and to bring about EQUITY among the major ethnic groups in Malaysia, the preferential quota provisions were even introduced in the Federal Constitution. Under BN rule, this equity amongst major ethnic groups was not achieved - and today, there is a realisation that such a policy seems to have just benefited the RICH amongst these various ethnic groups - it did not 'impact' and bring about equity amongst all the different members of the said ethnic groups. This government now acknowledges this flaw - and is trying to focus attention to the POOR and MARGINALIZED. Should not this change of policy and approach bring about changes in the OLD, now archaic laws that simply focused on ethnicity but not economic class or wealth factors?
Remember, that the term 'BUMIPUTRA' is a political construct introduced by the then BN government - it does not mean the same preferred ethnic groups as mentioned in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution. It is time for us to legally define the term 'Bumiputra' - including whether it ONLY includes those mentioned in Art.153, or also others??
Today, in 2024 -we need to re-evaluate again the status of the different ethnic groups in Malaysia - in terms of educational achievement, numbers in various professions, numbers in business, etc - ARE WE STILL IN A SITUATION OF INEQUALITY AS IN 1957? OR HAVE THINGS CHANGED, AND EQUITY HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED FROM THE ETHNIC CONSIDERATION POINT OF VIEW?
INEQUITY may still exist by reason of poverty and marginalization - hence, national focus may need to be shifted to the POOR and MARGINALIZED now. Making one person in a particular ethnic group RICH at the end of the day really does not improve the position of the peoples in the same ethnic group, does it now?
More than 5,000 international students accepted at UiTM since 2019
Higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir says the admission of international students is one of the requirements for UiTM to be included in the QS World University Rankings.
In a written parliamentary reply to Pang Hok Liong (PH-Labis), Zambry said international student admission is one of the requirements for UiTM to be included in the QS World University Rankings, an annual ranking of universities based on eight key indicators.
“For example, in 2019, UiTM was ranked 751st-800th and moved to 555th in 2023 in the QS World University Rankings.
The
admission of international students is also one of the elements measured
in the Malaysia Research Assessment, also known as MyRA,
Zambry said UiTM only accepts international students for its postgraduate level courses.
He said the university accepted 1,634 international students in 2023, 1,873 in 2022, 1,241 in 2021, 547 in 2020 and 276 in 2019.
He said the increase in international student
enrolment at UiTM shows that the university is increasingly becoming a
choice for international students, which is in line with the
university’s goal of becoming a globally renowned university by 2025. - FMT, 18/7/2024
Students say ‘no’ to opening UiTM to non-Bumi
Group says university was founded to protect special position of Malays, natives.
Updated 2 months ago · Published on 15 May 2024 2:58PM
THE student union of Universiti Teknologi MARA’s (UiTM) has voiced strong opposition to a proposal for the institution to take in people of all races for a medical programme.
It was recently suggested that the university open its cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme to non-Bumiputera students.
The UiTM Student Representative Council (MPP) urged students to wear black tomorrow to protest the idea. Students were encouraged to join the #MahasiswaUiTMBantah campaign and use the hashtag on social media.
MPP said UiTM was incepted to protect the special position of Malays, Orang Asli, and natives of Sabah and Sarawak.
Citing Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, it said the university was built to ensure that lower-income Bumiputera students had access to higher education.
“UiTM MPP believes that the university is the one Bumiputera educational institution that has been protected till now,” it said in a statement.
"We urge UiTM to preserve the original objective of its foundation, which is to protect and develop Bumiputera students.”
Prof Dr Raja Amin Raja Mokhtar – who is on the board of studies of the UiTM-IJN cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme – recently proposed that the university open the programme to non-Bumiputera.
He said such a move would be temporary pending the development of a similar programme in Universiti Malaya. – May 15, 2024.Vibes
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