[UPDATED] Education quotas for Bumiputera to remain: Anwar

SINTOK – Education quotas for Bumiputera students need to be maintained to balance their numbers in higher education institutions, said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The prime minister said if the system was not retained, it could cause an imbalance in the number of Malays – who form the majority of Bumiputera – in higher learning, including in certain disciplines.

“There are some principles in the constitution about guaranteeing opportunities for Malays and Bumiputera to be given placements so that they are better able to compete, we will maintain this.

“If not, we will see the same disparity that occurred at Universiti Malaya in the 1970s and 1960s, where in the engineering faculty there were zero Malays, and only 12% in the medical faculty, so there was an effort by (the university’s then-vice-chancellor) the late Ungku (Abdul) Aziz and the ministry at the time... to help the Malays so that they can better compete,” he said.

He was responding to a student’s question regarding the quota system and meritocracy in the current national education system, during a programme at Universiti Utara Malaysia here today.

The prime minister said, however, having the quota system did not mean that meritocracy was dead, and if there were students from among non-Malay and non-Bumiputera who excel, the government must find ways to give them opportunities as well.

"I agree to retain this quota programme, but we have to find another way to give opportunities to smart non-Malay, non-Bumiputera children, whose results are good, so that they are not left out,” he said.

Anwar stressed that if the government took action to set aside the quota policy, it would cause tension and be turned into a political issue by certain parties.

Anwar said he had instructed Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek for the system to be maintained, and at the same time, open up opportunities for students who excelled to further their studies.

Meanwhile, Anwar said that Malaysia was among the countries with the best treatment of minority groups, although he acknowledged that there were matters that could be improved in that regard.

“There are other countries where the Muslim minority do not get a place at all, but let’s not use them as an example,” he said. – Bernama, July 8, 2023