Matriculation no longer relevant but ending it is political suicide, says Daim

Sheridan Mahavera Vasudevan Vamadevan Sheridan Mahavera, Vasudevan Vamadevan Updated 4 years ago · Published on 12 May 2019 7:00AM · 9 Comments

Former Council of Eminent Persons chairman Daim Zainuddin says the matriculation programme is no longer relevant but getting rid of it is political suicide. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Seth Akmal, May 12, 2019.

THE matriculation system is no longer relevant today, 20 years since it was first introduced, said Daim Zainuddin, as the former finance minister weighed on in the controversial education policy.

Matriculation was originally used to correct an ethnic imbalance which no longer exists, said the former Council of Eminent Person (CEP) chairman.

However, Daim admitted that abolishing the system now would be detrimental to the government’s standing among Malays, as the Malay nationalist opposition parties would use it to label the government as being anti-Bumiputera.

“The Education Ministry has always been biased towards the Bumiputera agenda and you can see it now. They increased matriculation slots to 40,000. (Matriculation) is a short cut,” Daim told The Malaysian Insight in an interview.

“When it started early on, it was a good reason to correct an imbalance. But now it’s no longer relevant, we can do away with it. But if you do it now the opposition will straight away make an issue out it.”

The Pakatan Harapan government has increased the number of seats in the matriculation programme to 40,000 from 25,000 after receiving complaints that non-Malay SPMs graduates were not able to secure places despite scoring high marks.

The increase in matriculation seats is seen as a compromise to demands that the quotas for non-Malays entering matriculation be increased, while not compromising on the intake of Bumiputera students.

Currently, 90% of all matriculation seats are reserved for Bumiputera students while the remaining 10% are allocated to non-Bumis.

Daim said the whole education system needed to be reformed as it is producing graduates that lack the skills to compete in today’s job market.

“Basically, the education system has failed, that is why we have to ensure that there should be no more playing politics in education so that we can compete with the best.”

He said the belief of entitlements in the Bumiputera agenda in education must be changed and that Malay parents have a duty to teach their children good values.

“The Bumiputera agenda must start from home. Parents must give correct moral values. Teach them what is good what is bad, that corruption is bad and hard work is good.

“That there is no such thing as a free lunch and that you have to work.” – May 12, 2019.

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Comments

  • Glad that the decades old curse is coming to an end.

    Posted 4 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • I agree that this ethnic imbalance against the Malays and Muslims does not exist in Malaysia. It is like ghost stories to frighten children, in this case the Malays and Muslims. If there is any ethnic imbalance it is tilted heavily in favour of the Malays to such an extent that it has killed the spirit of fair competition. Anthropologists will tell us that fair competition is very important for progress and the survival of any race. Look at the Maoris of NZ, they were the majority but they did not depend on hand outs. We have a lot to learn from them.

    Posted 4 years ago by Citizen Pencen · Reply

  • While we learn the theories of Charles Darwin, I guess some people grasp the ideas intensively.

    "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent but the most responsive to change" -- Charles Darwin

    Posted 4 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • Was it necessary to call the end result via matriculation a university degree in all cases? What is wrong with the word Diploma? The respect a Diploma holder from MIM gets in the job market is not even accorded to some degree holders from our local U. Why?

    Posted 4 years ago by Citizen Pencen · Reply

  • The first step is to replace the non-performing Minister of Education. Was he a product of the matriculation system?

    Posted 4 years ago by Yoon Kok · Reply

    • Agree. He is the one who suggested the 40,000 matriculation seats - a very stupid suggestion. It seems like every suggestion he has made is not going to reform our education system. The faster he is replaced, the better.

      Posted 4 years ago by T E · Reply

  • agreed.

    Posted 4 years ago by Lan Lan · Reply

  • The question that begs to be asked is why the Universities are producing graduates who lack skills to compete in the job market. Could it be that the academics ensconced in their ivory towers are disconnected from reality and do not know the skills required of their undergraduates to meet the job requirements of employers in the private sector. If so, the solution is obvious and the Education Minister needs to start wielding the axe on the ineffective academicians. Or maybe the Universities need to increase their collaboration with the employers in order to identify the weaknesses in their current curriculum and teaching methods.

    Posted 4 years ago by Panchen Low · Reply

  • Why can't students get serious and just sit for one single format assessment? What imbalance? Simpletons and the inept will always be just that. Opportunities to study and perform should be given to all students but they should be judged by a single standard. We need to stop churning out graduates by the thousands. Even in USA and Europe, many go into technical vocations and other work that does not require matriculation.

    Time to come to terms with the fact that we have a significant percentage who need to be redirected.

    Posted 4 years ago by K Pop · Reply