BERSATU Youth wants the Pakatan Harapan government to reject Hindu Rights Action Force’s (Hindraf 2.0) demand for Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) to admit students of all races.
The Youth members are calling on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to intervene and declare Hindraf 2.0’s claim irrelevant as it encroached on the rights of Malays and Bumiputera.
Bersatu Youth education exco Mohd Ashraf Mustaqim Badrul Munir said now was not the time for UiTM to admit non-Bumiputera because it was the sole institution established to provide higher education to the Malays and Bumiputera.
“It is still too early to discuss opening UiTM as demanded by Hindraf.
“They are many more key agendas that the PH government are doing for the people and Hindraf’s demands will disrupt what the government is doing,” he said in a statement.
Hindraf 2.0 had submitted 25 demands to the institutional reforms committee to improve the lives of the bottom 75% (B75) in the Indian community.
One of the demands is to open UiTM to non-Bumiputera.
Ashraf said Hindraf and any other party who wished to question this matter should also consider the Rukun Negara, which formed the heart of the constitution.
“The time is still far off to discuss opening UiTM to all races. It is not good to touch on an issue that will incite anger.”
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Alumni Association (PAUiTM) was similarly against the idea of open admission to all Malaysians.
“PAUiTM stands firmly and unanimously against any attempt to open UiTM to all races.
“It is based on the premise that UiTM’s position as a high-level education centre for Malay and Bumiputera children is part of Malay rights and privileges, as set out in Article 153 of the federal constitution,” it said in a statement.
PAUiTM said Hindraf’s suggestion would anger the Bumiputera, and called on the group to stop making seditious statements.
To ensure UiTM was safe from threats such as this, the alumni has proposed that the university be placed under the protection of the council of Malay rulers. – May 29, 2018.
Comments
Posted 5 years ago by KK Wong · Reply
Today all the historically black universities and colleges are now open enrolment and some are ranked quite well.
There still exists tribal colleges that provide subsidised access to higher education for Native Americans as well as additional federal grants. Other students may enrol but there is a quota and they have to pay full fees. Other minority-serving institutions in the US system include Hispanic and Asian-Pacific serving institutions.
There are a lot of models that can be explored to make the provision for higher education under Art 153 appear less discriminatory yet still fulfill the purpose of Art 153. A little less confrontation and demands on both sides would be a great start.
Posted 5 years ago by Bob Kee · Reply
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