Guaranteed places in matriculation programmes must benefit deserving students

Recently, the Prime Minister announced that students who obtain 10As in the SPM examination are guaranteed a place in matriculation programmes, a pathway to public universities alongside STPM and university foundation courses – while maintaining the quota for bumiputra students,

This has been a controversial issue within the Chinese community for decades. The MCA has faced criticism because many Chinese students with excellent results were not admitted to the programme.

The matriculation system, introduced in 2000, initially offered seats only to bumiputra students. Three years later, it opened 10% of the places to non-bumiputra (including Chinese and Indian) students.

The STPM is known for its tough syllabus. As a result, many students from poor backgrounds struggle with tuition fees, reference materials, transportation costs, and even part-time work to support their families. This often hampers their ability to achieve good results and secure the university courses they want.

The introduction of matriculation programmes has greatly helped these students because academic performance was not its only criterion for admission. In addition to a less-stressful syllabus, students are provided with hostel accommodation too.

Previously, Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional frequently criticised MCA because many top-scoring Chinese students were unable to secure places in matriculation programmes, deeming it unfair to the community. This situation has led the Chinese community to question why bumiputra students with lower academic results are admitted. They called for equal treatment across all races.

The Prime Minister said the 10As policy will not affect the quota system of 90% for bumiputra and 10% for non-bumiputra students. Of the 25,000 places in total, 2,500 are allocated for the non-bumiputra, so Chinese students, in estimation, get 1,500 places.

In 2019, the Pakatan Harapan government increased the intake for matriculation programmes to 40,000 but that year, the bumiputra student quota was not filled so the 10% quota for non-bumiputra places also fell short of 4,000.

Without changing the quota system, the original 2,500 places for non-bumiputra students remains at 2,500. The estimated 1,500 places for the Chinese will still be 1,500.

So what has changed? The only change is that if there are a large number of Chinese students who obtain 10As, those with fewer As will have to give up their places to the top scorers.

What does the Chinese community want? They want the "fair treatment" that Pakatan promised before the election. As MCA only managed to fight for 10% of matriculation places for the non-bumiputra, it was attacked and labelled as "betraying" the Chinese community.

Today, 1,500 places is still 1,500. The Prime Minister's policy appears to sacrifice good students from poor families and give places to students with excellent performance instead.

But then, these excellent students have more options than just matriculation programmes. Public Service Department scholarships, Bank Negara scholarships and other initiatives set up during the Barisan Nasional era could be considered. Additionally, they could also opt for the foundation courses at MCA-founded Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology, and of course, STPM.

This writer does not intend to list out the so-called achievements of MCA nor comment on the quota system but merely to address the promises Pakatan made to the Chinese community.

If Pakatan cannot honour its commitments, should the leaders who attacked the MCA before do the same to the Prime Minister? Or should they change their stance and back the quota system and apologise to the people they once condemned?

The views expressed in this article are entirely the author's own.

This article by analyst and lawyer Tai Zee How first appeared in Oriental Daily