UNIVERSITI Teknologi Mara’s (UiTM) refusal to accept ethnic minority postgraduate students into its cardiothoracic surgery programme has larger implications for the nation as a whole, said pro-reforms group Aliran.

It said this refusal also has a critical impact on the nation’s public healthcare system, apart from the affected students themselves.

As it is, government hospitals are saddled with long queues of patients of all ethnicities who desperately need surgery, added Aliran in a statement.

“Instead of entrenching the ethnic divide and protecting one’s own turf, we must look for solutions that prioritise the needs of the entire country, including those of the students and of the patients who badly need surgery,” it said.

Aliran also said politicians such as Umno Youth chief Akmal Saleh should counter arguments against the opening up of UiTM with a civilised discourse that would be instructive for everyone else in the country.

“Incidentally, if UiTM should remain solely in the hands of the ethnic Malays because there are still so many Malays who need education at a cheaper rate, Akmal and his friends should explain why there is so much poverty after six decades of independence,” it said.

In recent days, Umno leaders and others have defended UiTM’s status as a bumi-only educational institution after calls were made for the university to open its cardiothoracic surgery programme for others.

Akmal has also focused his attack on a Malaysiakini columnist who had labelled UiTM as an “apartheid academy”.

In his column, the columnist Andrew Sia had criticised a protest by UiTM’s student council against calls to admit non-Bumiputera students to the university’s cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme.

Police are investigating Sia over his opinion piece for allegedly intentionally insulting to provoke a breach of the peace under the Penal Code, and the alleged use of insulting words under the Minor Offences Act.

Wanita Umno chief Noraini Ahmad, meanwhile, had said UiTM’s role to safeguard the interests of Bumiputera students should not be disrupted.

“The number of higher public institutions and higher private institutions in this country is enough to cater for all, including non-Bumiputera.

“As such Wanita Umno calls on all communities to use one’s freedom of speech responsibly and stop trivialising religion and race to the extent of disrupting the country’s harmony,” she added in a statement.

False narrative

Meanwhile, Lawyers for Liberty criticised a group of academics calling themselves “Public University Vice-Chancellors and Rectors Committee” in defending UiTM’s stand against admitting non-Bumiputera students.

LFL director Zaid Malek said this group perpetuated a regressive and false narrative in ignorance of the Federal Constitution and the dire need of the nation’s healthcare system. 

“It is also appalling to see senior academics publicly supporting the continuation of single-race universities or colleges in modern Malaysia,” said Zaid. 

He added that the Federal Constitution has been repeatedly and wrongly cited to defend the racial exclusivity of UiTM. 

“There is absolutely nothing in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution that prevents or prohibits the admission of non-Bumiputera to any public institution, which would include UiTM. 

“Article 153 prescribes that a reasonable proportion of quota for educational purposes can be assigned by the king, who is bound by the advice of the cabinet on the matter. 

“The determination must also be made with the legitimate interests of other communities in mind,” he added.

Zaid also said that there was nothing in the Federal Constitution that allowed the creation of any public learning institution to be exclusively for Bumiputeras. 

“The government must immediately take the necessary steps to ensure that UiTM’s students admission policy complies with the Federal Constitution,” he said. – May 25, 2024.