6. Opening up UiTM

Commentary by Wan Hamidi Hamid, The Malaysian Insider

It may be politically incorrect at the moment for Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim to ask the federal government to allow a small number of non-Bumiputra students into Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).

But it should also be no surprise to those who have been following Khalid's Parti Keadilan Rakyat's (PKR) agenda towards a more equal opportunity society as espoused by the party's de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Before and after the March 8 general election, Anwar has been consistent in his promise towards uplifting the poor and marginalised Malaysians while ensuring continued protection of Malays.

For the former deputy prime minister, this means that while the pro-Bumiputra policy will be pursued despite the end of the affirmative action New Economic Policy, dismantling it is a process that must be done in stages.

It is for this reason that Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid is only proposing a 10 per cent intake of non-Bumiputra students into UiTM instead of suggesting the Bumiputra-only university be open to all.

Even with that, thousands of UiTM students, almost all of them Malays, took to the streets yesterday to protest Khalid's suggestion, claiming that their institution must forever be in the hands of Malays.

Anwar, who was sacked by then premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and subsequently jailed a decade ago, has been voicing his concern after his release from prison, over what he termed as abuses of the NEP, alleging that the poor Malays benefited little while the rich Umno leaders gained all the perks from the affirmative action policy.

"By far the most damning case against the NEP is that it has been hijacked by the ruling elite to satisfy their lust for wealth and power. No doubt this was a multiracial rip-off of the most systematic kind: the leaders of the component parties of the ruling coalition working hand in glove with Umno to deprive the deserving Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans and Kadazans of the benefits that were to be derived from the NEP," said Anwar, who is now preparing to contest his old Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election on Aug 26.

He lambasted "a small number of very wealthy Malays and Umno leaders" who were inciting fears among the Malays to deflect their electoral defeat and the party's failure to gain support in the March 8 elections.

Although he keeps moderating his views depending on the crowd, PKR leaders and members have understood the message that although the Malays still need to be protected, the open-to-abuse NEP should be replaced with a policy that should assist the poor, regardless of race or religion.

Anwar himself had explained that the multiracial affirmative action would automatically protect marginalised Malaysians – the problem he claimed was that billions of ringgit allocated by the government never reached the poor because only the Barisan Nasional cronies would utilise the allocations for their businesses.

Although it might be read as a political propaganda, the former finance and education minister insisted that it would be money well spent if those billions of ringgit were channelled to schools, colleges and universities, instead of a few Malay families.

Anwar has also been reported as saying that for a start a 30 per cent quota of university places would be based on merit if the Pakatan Rakyat takes over the government. The remaining 70 per cent intake would be based on the multiracial affirmative action according to needs, i.e. the poor.

But he too knows that abrupt changes will never be accepted by the mostly conservative Malaysians. After all, BN and its predecessor the Alliance have been ruling the country since independence, and changing attitude and tradition is not easy.

As expected Khalid's UiTM proposal has been attacked by the pro-BN crowd including academics and NGOs who see it as nothing but a political ploy to please PKR's non-Malay ally DAP as well as the non-Bumiputra communities.

UiTM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Abu Shah told the press yesterday that Khalid's statement was politically motivated, meant to garner support from non-Malays.

"UiTM is one of the special rights of the Malays under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and its chancellor is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. But what is strange is that the suggestion had come from a Malay," he said.

What the critics did not bring up was the idea of healthy competition among Malaysians. There have been serious concerns over other public institutions of higher learning (IPTA) including UiTM over their world rankings, and it has a lot to do with quality education and competitiveness.

And for Khalid to mention the reasons for his proposal – to instill a sense of competition and improve quality – is again merely echoing Anwar's concept of opening up as many sectors to create a real world class system for the country.

"Certain detractors have pointed out the road to a more deregulated free market economy will lead to the abandonment of social instruments. We would answer this by saying that we have no intention of abandoning of our electoral promises among which is the promotion of social justice," said Anwar at the CLSA forum in Singapore last May.

"We advocate no doubt Hayekian free enterprise but we don't think Adam Smith's invisible hand will be that responsive to the changing times. Hence, whenever necessary, to paraphrase John Kenneth Galbraith, we temper free market with an appropriate dose of state intervention to rectify the social inequities attendant on the interplay of pure market forces.

"We don't think that we need to apologise for advocating a policy on fuel, health care and education which is calculated to ease the burden of the rising cost of living. We call this humane economics."

Khalid is expected to receive more flak for his idea but his critics will also have to question Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's position as "a leader of all Malaysians" to find the meaning of being Malaysian.

After all, the prime minister in his Ninth Malaysia Plan's National Mission agenda has promised to strengthen national unity and to bring about a better distribution of income and wealth and higher quality of life among the people.