Share to help stimulate good governance, ensure future of people & M’sia
No News Is Bad News
.jpg)
The shameless duo in Malaysia's education policies - one from PKR and the other from Umno
Malaysian governments immune to shameless discriminatory policies in education and academic excellence
KUALA LUMPUR, June 29, 2025: Malaysia’s Governments (elected every five years) have never been shameful with discriminatory racial policies.
That includes education and academic policies that disregard talent and academic achievements.
Where in the world do you find Straight-A students being rejected entry into public tertiary education institutions.
You can be the best but if your skin colour is not right, then you are out/rejected.
That is Malaysia’s discriminatory kulitfication (skin qualification) that determines your right to further education - not merit or academic excellence achievements.
Is it any wonder that Malaysia’s human capital quality is in the pits and that tens of thousands of graduates fail to secure employment?
No amount of criticisms will change Malaysia’s education policies to recognise meritocracy because the politicians and government of the day are plain shameless.
No News Is Bad News reproduces below related news reports on Malaysia’s shameful state of affairs in education and talent:
Malaysian Straight A Student Near-Perfect Merit Score Of 99.46 Rejected Entry Into Matriculation – More Than 400 Top Students Also Being Rejected
29 June, 2025
When Ms Veronica’s daughter scored 10 As in her school-leaving exam, the family was confident she would secure a coveted place in Malaysia’s public pre-university course, known as the matriculation programme.
This was because Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had publicly assured on June 30, 2024, that all students who score 10 As – typically defined as a mix of A-plus, A and A-minus grades – in their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exams would be guaranteed a spot in the programme, regardless of race.
The SPM exam is equivalent to Singapore’s O levels.
The matriculation programme, which is akin to pre-university education here, takes one or two years to complete.
The latter is a public education route that is much highly sought after, as those on it are guaranteed places in Malaysia’s public universities, making it a cheaper option than private local colleges.
As a reference, the cost to study computer science at a public university can cost about RM10,200 (S$3,111) per course, while the cost of attending a local private tertiary institution starts from approximately RM62,000 for the entire course.
Ms Veronica’s 17-year-old daughter scored A-plus grades in six subjects, A in two subjects, and A-minus in another two, and got a near-perfect merit score of 99.46 out of 100 for her academic achievements and co-curricular activities.
But when the placement results were released in May, she was unexpectedly left out.
“We genuinely had high hopes of her getting into the matriculation programme. We believed she had a fair chance, so when she wasn’t offered a spot, it was a real disappointment for our family,” said Ms Veronica, a government servant who declined to use her full name for fear of repercussions.
“It’s deeply disheartening and frustrating. We understand there are limited places, but when near-perfect students are rejected with no clear explanation, it raises serious questions about fairness,” she said, adding that her daughter’s friend was similarly disappointed despite scoring even better grades.
Datuk Seri Anwar’s 2024 announcement had been lauded as a bold step towards meritocracy and raised hopes among students, in a system where 90 per cent of the available slots in matriculation colleges are reserved for bumiputeras – categorised as Malays and other indigenous ethnic groups.
But with a limited 30,000 spots available per intake and a longstanding racial quota, the latest disappointment faced in matriculation placements has reignited debate over fairness, meritocracy and the need for reform in Malaysia’s post-secondary education system.
It was also revealed in an April 30 circular by the Education Ministry that an A-minus grade will no longer be considered an A grade under revised matriculation entry requirements.
As a result, students must attain A and A-plus grades to get the straight As required for admission to the matriculation programme. The change was later confirmed by Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh via a Facebook post on May 9.
The policy shift has drawn the ire of hundreds of high SPM scorers, who got their results on April 24, many of whom would have qualified as having scored 10 As under previous grading interpretation.
The youth wing of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), which is part of the ruling unity government, said that more than 400 students have sought its assistance over the matter.
On June 4, the party submitted an official appeal, including academic transcripts, to the Education Ministry for the students to secure matriculation spots.
MCA Youth central committee member Ong Chee Siang said the grade classification was unfair and came without any warning.
“The government should have announced this earlier, at least three to five months before they took the SPM exams,” he said.
He also noted some inconsistencies, highlighting a case where twin sisters had both scored nine As and one A-minus for their SPM results and had nearly identical co-curricular points. One received a placement in the matriculation programme, while the other did not.
“If two students have similar SPM results but only one secures a spot in matriculation, something isn’t right,” Mr Ong said. He added that a 2009 circular had classified A-minus as part of the A range.
But considerations for matriculation placement do and should go beyond just getting straight As, several experts told The Straits Times.
And while the dashed hopes in the light of earlier assurances by Mr Anwar are understandable, guaranteeing admission based solely on top grades is not the answer to improving post-secondary education.
A government source familiar with the matter guidedST through the criteria for matriculation entry, explaining that admissions are multifaceted.
Socio-economic background and racial quotas play a significant role, in addition to merit-based scores.
These criteria vary across streams such as science, engineering, computer science and accountancy. A student’s merit score is calculated based on four core subjects – of which mathematics is compulsory – making up 90 per cent of the total score. The remaining 10 per cent is derived from co-curricular activities.
He explained that students from families in the bottom 40 per cent of income earners, known as the B40, are also given priority over academically stronger candidates from the middle (M40) and top (T20) income brackets.
Basing admission to matriculation colleges on just a straight-A metric itself is flawed, said higher education policy researcher Wan Chang Da, who is also a former director of the National Higher Education Research Institute, a government agency.
“Using grades alone is a narrow way to measure talent,” he told ST. “Students who can afford tuition are more likely to get top scores. It perpetuates inequality.”
The discussion has devolved into a “hair-splitting” debate, said Dr Lee Hwok Aun, senior fellow and co-coordinator of the Malaysia Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, adding that the initial promise of guaranteed placements should not have been made in such a “knee-jerk” manner.
“I understand that the government seeks a clear and straightforward method using an easily understood metric, but any ‘guarantee’ of admission is bound to become problematic because the real world is more complex and diverse,” he told ST.
Spots in matriculation colleges are also extremely limited.
And while the government tried to increase the yearly intake to up to 40,000 students for the 2020 academic year, a review determined that only 30,000 students could be admitted owing to the limited capacity of the matriculation colleges.
he current intake for the matriculation programme has not changed. And, of these, 27,000 spots are allocated to bumiputera students, while 3,000 are reserved for non-bumiputera students – maintaining the 90:10 quota ratio.
For the non-bumiputera allocation, the 10 per cent quota is further divided by ethnicity: 5.43 per cent for Chinese students, 3.72 per cent for Indian students, and 0.85 per cent for students of other minority backgrounds.
Circling back to the discussion about matriculation spots, Dr Wan said: “This is a critical moment for Prime Minister Anwar to reform post-secondary pathways and improve university access to retain Malaysia’s talent.”
As for Ms Veronica’s daughter, if she is unable to secure a spot in the matriculation programme for medicine, she plans to study traditional Chinese medicine.
Her parents believe her academic performance may qualify her for a scholarship, to help offset the cost.
“Initially, she couldn’t accept the idea, but after discussing and analysing the situation with her and some friends, she is now open to considering it as her Plan B.”
SourNews
Non-Malays Must Attain Grades That Are 3 Times Better Than A Malay Student In Order To Gain Access To A Local University
29 June, 2025
This month is perhaps the most trying time in the lives of Malaysians aged 16 to 17. They are sitting for the SPM examination.
For many, the exam will determine the course of their lives. Can I be a doctor? Can I be an engineer? Or a pilot? A researcher in tropical diseases? Their dreams will be shaped by the exam, given that the next critical stage of their young lives – the path to university education – is decided by their SPM grades.
More than half a million students are going through the exam, which has been made harder this year by their having to endure studying through a pandemic that has crippled the usual modes of classroom education and social learning.
Given all this, one would think that the institutions of the state, if not society at large, would be well aware of the mental stress being imposed on these young people and their parents and thus understand they have an obligation to assist them in all ways possible.
However, these stressors are just the tip of an iceberg. The larger truth is hidden under the superficially calm yet cruel waters, in the silence of unseen forces under the waterline.
The iceberg is only getting larger with every passing year and the country is being steered towards it by an apartheid system inflicted upon even the children of this country. It is manifested at all the levels of our education policy. An example is the 90% quota for Malays for the pre-university matriculation course.
If one is a non-Malay and an aspiring doctor, one may never be able to realise one’s dream. A creative genius will be shunted out of the system or the country. A young person with a desire to become an ambassador will be deprived of the opportunity to study liberal arts and win a government scholarship.
The bitter reality is that we have a system of racial discrimination in education that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.
The sad truth is that innocent Malay children suffer from this system too by virtue of having privileges that others do not. The disenfranchised from poor families are taught in bad schools where standards are low because it appears the system does not believe that gaining access to the best education is critical. They are thus less able to compete and they grow up believing they are entitled.
Indeed, the sense of entitlement applies across the economic spectrum. Such is the perverse nature of discriminatory policies.
What is the large-scale discrimination that everyone knows about but only whispers of? It has nothing to do with how affirmative action should be used to benefit poor Malays, but everything to do with a deep psychosis at the heart of the political and economic system. That psychosis is institutional racism.
Racism that discriminates against children who cannot fight back is a sickness, and the political architects and perpetuators of this system should be exposed and shamed. So should all the well-heeled beneficiaries of such a system, especially the members of the Malay political and business elite who remain silent over this great injustice.
Here are some details:
The average student at a national school takes between eight and ten subjects, a mixture of science and liberal arts.
Depending on the grades they get, there are three pathways to the intermediate stage before they can get access to tertiary education.
The three pathways are:
Matriculation: This is a one-year pre-university preparatory programme offered by the education ministry that is heavily subsidised and guarantees a place in a university if one passes. However, since 2005, almost 90% of the positions available per year are reserved for Malays. This is a case of bad maths or plain racism in policy making.
A-levels or equivalent international qualifications: As these are international gradings, they are most often taught in private schools and are therefore the most costly option, prreventing many from taking it.
STPM: This pre-university course is affordable but considered extremely difficult. Only the top scorers secure places at local universities.
In all these options, the discrimination of children based on race is the determining factor. This is the simple and vulgar way in which it works:
All non-Malays must attain grades that are on average two or three times better than a Malay student in order to gain access to a local university or to obtain a scholarship. Of course, this does not mean there aren’t many smart and hardworking Malay children who attain excellent grades and deserve the slots. But it is also widely known that the grading system can be manipulated to lower the passing rate, with the primary goal of allowing a larger proportion of the Malay majority to pass. This is a core factor that has eroded education standards across the country and has had a large-scale detrimental effect on the job market.
What is wholly unacceptable is that a Malay student with two or three A grades out of eight to ten subjects will still have access to the easiest path to university education by way of the matriculation system, which is the least costly and which by right should serve all citizens irrespective of race.
As mentioned above, the problem is the race-based quota system which dedicates typically just 10% to 20% of places to non-Malays. No nation practices such blatant racism against its children. Yet, there is silence from nearly every corner, from the top institutions of the country to individual corporate leaders. One of the most racist education systems is simply accepted as the norm and no one is held accountable . With no leadership or unified voice on this matter, we are headed quietly for the iceberg, with the lives of young Malaysians, especially those from poor backgrounds, being dismantled or destroyed in the process.
Some national schools in KL have good reputations built on their past achievements, but racially discriminative polices have lowered standards. Many Malay children in these schools have innate potential that they should be allowed to unleash, but through healthy and fair competition. But this becomes a challenge because the system assures them an easy path to success irrespective of their grades or economic status. Thus it is only natural that they feel they do not have to work as hard as their non-Malay classmates.
When these Malay students achieve above average grades – four to five A grades – then the floodgates of Malay privilege will open for them. These include fast tracks into the best universities in the country, scholarships to the best universities in the world and, on their return, guaranteed jobs in the government or the Malay-dominated GLC ecosystem. Their future is assured. But the sad thing is that the more privileged their background the easier their path. Those left in their wake include the poor Malays who are already at a disadvantage given the bad-quality education they have received.
If you are non-Malay, your nightmare begins now, unless you are in the minority group of the wealthy. If you attain seven A grades or above, you are still not guaranteed a place in the top local universities because your Malay classmates with three A grades will be given priority, even if they are the children of million-dollar-a-month executives.
As a non-Malay, your parents and even extended family will now have to huddle to decide how to give you a proper chance in life because the system will do all it can to suppress your potential despite your hard work and excellent results.
The system wants to deny you your basic rights so that it can continue with its supremacist policies. It wants your parents to be bled of their savings. If they somehow manage to save to pay for the more expensive education options, the system will make it hard for you to get jobs in government departments or the gravy-train GLC ecosystem. Meanwhile slots will remain reserved for your Malay classmates who did not do as well as you but went to the best universities, funded by the state. They would have come back to jobs where they would typically not have to compete with you in a system devoid of meritocracy and steeped in racism, a system that includes even esteemed institutions like Petronas, PNB and Khazanah. You would have to be twice as good to get in.
Yet you, the non-Malay, will find a way and will emerge stronger and better. In a perverse way, by being stoical and tolerant of blatant racism as a child, you have in-built resilience and a great chance to succeed as a professional. You are helping to build the country. You fortify the country against the risks arising from the lack of meritocracy in key institutions, which allows many of your Malay classmates to reach elevated positions and earn shockingly high salaries without competing with you. You become the backbone of the country. Without you, the economy of the country would be in tatters. By staying and building the country, you have become a proud patriot, the true Bumiputera.
And what of your Malay classmates? They too are victims of this racism. Institutional racism is a sickness they catch by being ensnared in it. These innocents are being indoctrinated to become racists. As adults, they will learn to defend their privileges, and this helps to further prop up institutional racism. But more troubling, they are being diminished by these very privileges, which do not allow them to fulfill their full potential. Their value systems are stuck in the swamp of racism and privilege. Many who rise to elevated positions no longer even notice this. The gravy is too tasty to allow values to get in the way.
These innocent Malay children are being taught the language of inferiority, prejudice and race resentment by their Malay elders. This is a terrible disservice to them and their potential, one that can only be realised if they are treated as equals, given good education and made to compete. The excuse of affirmative action is a lame one. To tell them that they are inferior and unable to compete with others is to saddle them with injuries that they will carry for life.
We as Malaysians have come to accept that the racist politicians will never speak up against blatant discrimination against children in the education system. This is an acceptance of the status quo that we should reject and find ways to challenge.
At the same time, why is there silence from the so-called well educated and globally attuned CEOs of the GLCs? Surely they as major employers know that this is morally wrong and will lower standards and affect the economy in a multitude of ways. Their silence is inexplicable and an indictment of the value systems of the business community. It would be good to have a response from them since they should know better and should understand the importance of meritocracy.
As for those who like to use the lame argument that this is an anti-Malay position because it seeks – according to them – to reverse affirmative action programmes, they need to be told that a nation which discriminates against its children by race has no values and that to seek to correct it is in fact to be pro-Malaysian and a true citizen.
Source : FMT
Source : SCMP
ce : Straits Times
Malaysian Girl Accepted Into Harvard & UCLA But Was Rejected By Matrikulasi Was Marred By Inequality
29 June, 2025
“I love Malaysia, and I feel proud to be a Malaysian. But I hope to love it in a state where I am recognized for my own abilities and achievements.
My experience represents a glaring example of educational inequality when applying to local universities. I acknowledge my fortunate position, having alternative pathways even after being rejected by matrikulasi (Pre-university).
However, there are many more deserving individuals who deserve this opportunity, and one rejection can significantly impact their future life choices.
This is the educational inequality that I see. May there come a day when all children, regardless of socioeconomic background, gender, and race, can receive quality education they deserve based on their merits.”
Ho Shu Xin, a brilliant 19-year-old student born and bred in Ipoh, Perak, is standing on the brink of a world full of opportunities.
Having recently completed her A levels at Kolej Yayasan UEM, she has received acceptance letters from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Harvard University, and also University College London (UCL).
However, prior to this, she applied for Matrikulasi (A pre-university program to enter a public university) but was rejected.
Shocked & disappointed
To some, getting into Matriks is crucial as this is one of the few ways you can get into a public university.
I was confident back then, and I was very disappointed when I was rejected,” she told WeirdKaya in an exclusive interview.
This, she felt, was a blow to her confidence, especially when she believed she had a solid chance based on her SPM results.
However, this setback did not deter her.
For Shu Xin, she was lucky as she subsequently enrolled in another scholarship to continue her A-level studies and ultimately got accepted to the world’s most prestigious universities.
It fueled her aspirations to study in a US university, where she felt that learning extended beyond just textbooks and traditional classrooms.
Shu Xin also highlighted the lack of transparency in local selection processes as a significant issue.
I think the most important thing is the opaque standard, where only some factors are taken into consideration. This is very unlike UK and US universities, where you can apply to read your own admission files to know why you are admitted. It’s very transparent,” she said.
She felt that the local education system was marred by inequality on multiple levels, from opaque policies to the socioeconomic divide determining access to resources.
Getting into Harvard
Shu Xin’s disbelief was palpable when she first saw the acceptance notifications from these prestigious institutions.
At that moment, it was hard to believe. I refreshed the page, saw the banners, an autoplay video and then I was doubtful. I was only sure after I got in.
Her application had been based on predicted grades of A levels and academic results from Form 3 onwards, a method which was filled with uncertainty but ultimately proved to be effective.
Shu Xin also shared that she previously was unaware of the existence of these prestigious universities and had no knowledge that Malaysians had the opportunity to be enrolled there.
It wasn’t until Form 5 that she came across a news story about a Malaysian student being admitted to Harvard University.
Despite the low acceptance rate,I decided to take a chance and give it a try,” she added.
According to Shu Xin, the secret to her successful applications was a deep-seated passion for a specific field.
She expressed that the shared characteristic among those who were admitted to Harvard is their intense dedication to a specific field.
It goes beyond mere interest, as we have conducted extensive research, engaged in NGO work, pursued extracurricular activities, internships, and demonstrated a thirst for knowledge.
How she made it
After her SPM, she interned at ‘Teach For Malaysia’. This was her first official venture into the educational sector, opening doors to numerous opportunities.
This was her first official venture into the educational sector where she interacted with numerous teachers, NGO representatives, and startup founders.
She also participated in ‘Project 30,000 Hours‘ where she realized the shortcomings of Malaysian education, which often overly emphasizes academics at the expense of other essential skills.
While waiting for my SPM results, I interned at Teach for Malaysia, stepping into the field of education and getting to know many teachers, NGOs, and startup founders.
“Later on, my friends and I established Project 30,000 Hours, a student-led project which aims to address the post-pandemic learning loss by developing students’ self leadership skills. Additionally, I also ventured into low-cost housing areas in KL to educate children on mental health care.”
Learning beyond classrooms
Achieving top scores in SPM was a combination of enjoying learning beyond the classroom and applying effective study strategies.
I prefer learning outside the classroom, my academic performance is moderate, reading skills, doing past year topics in SPM/A level, making notes in my own way,” she explained.
She also told WeirdKaya that the biggest difficulty was the transition to A levels.
“In SPM, if you memorize the textbook, you can definitely score. But for A levels, particularly economics, it requires critical thinking,” she added.
Throughout her application, Shu Xin received significant support from friends, family, and teachers. She credits them for guiding her through the application process, coping with uncertainty and stress, and supporting her ambitions.
Being rejected to matrikulasi is not the end of the world
When asked about the key message she wanted to convey, she expressed to WeirdKaya that she wanted to emphasize that being rejected from matrikulasi is not the end of the world.
For many, after being rejected by matriks, they may feel despair and believe that their lives are ruined. However, what I want to say is that there are still plenty of opportunities in life. So even if you face rejection, you should not easily give up or reject yourself.”
Source : Weird Kaya
Many Non-Malay Straight-A Students Could Not Get A Spot In Any Of The Country’s 20 Public Universities
29 June, 2025
The 26-year-old from Perak state capital Ipoh, where Chinese and Indians make up just over half the population, said he had many non-Malay friends who were straight-A students but could not get a spot in any of the country’s 20 public universities.
“They can’t afford private universities so their parents had to take loans while a less qualified Malay who is not even interested in studying was given a place in the university,” he told ST.
Such racial quotas in education foster division rather than unity, said college student Syarifa Meddina Suheimi, who is of Malay, Chinese and Indian heritage.
“I don’t personally support the Malay special rights in education because it creates a mindset and lifestyle of separation between Malays and non-Malays. It feels like it divides us rather than bringing everyone together as one nation,” said the 20-year-old from the capital Kuala Lumpur.
A recent survey showed that most young Malay respondents are not in favour of equal rights for all races. The Straits Times travels across the country to find out more.
Twenty-three year old student Aidil Azmady hails from a suburb in Melaka, the west coast state where more than 70 per cent of the population is made up of ethnic Malay/Muslims like him.
He has lived in Bangi, a Malay-majority enclave on the fringes of Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur for the last three years, and has few friends from other races.
He is also a beneficiary of affirmative action, which has secured him a spot to study engineering at Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute on a scholarship from a government agency.
For him, the special privileges given to his community are equivalent to “citizen’s rights”, and should be kept.
“I studied in a private college before – the fees are not affordable for Malay students,” he told The Straits Times.
Race and the privileges attached to it continue to create dividing lines in multicultural Malaysia. Malays form the majority with 60 per cent of the 32 million population, while Chinese, Indians and other ethnic groups make up the remaining 40 per cent.
A survey of young people released by independent think-tank Merdeka Center in September revealed that respondents across all ethnicities were evenly split over whether Malaysians should be treated equally regardless of race and religion, with 48 per cent agreeing with equal treatment and 49 per cent in favour of retaining special rights for bumiputeras, or sons of the soil, a grouping comprising mainly Malays and other indigenous people.
But when the survey of 1,605 young people aged 18 to 30 drilled down to answers from Malay respondents, it found that 73 per cent of them backed the continuation of bumiputera privileges and only 24 per cent were in favour of equal rights for all Malaysians.
This point of view seems to be based less on bigotry or bias, and more on a genuine concern for their economic security and cultural identity – to uplift disadvantaged Malay communities and maintain bumiputera representation, as ST found after speaking to dozens of young Malay people across the country in October.
A matter of economic survival
In the northern rice-bowl state of Kedah, Mr Syakir Hamzah told ST that special rights are not privileges. They are instead a vital safety net for his community in a rural, low-income area.
The 30-year-old padi farmer from Kampung Teroi in Yan, a 45 minute drive from state capital Alor Setar, fears that stripping away these protections could leave those below the poverty line, like him, in dire straits.
Mr Syakir’s 1ha rice field is on Malay reserve land that has been in his family for generations, thanks to affirmative action. He has no savings and earns only between RM900 (S$270) and RM950 a month, which puts him in the hardcore poor category in Kedah.
Being among the bottom 40 per cent of income earners in the country, he receives some financial assistance from the Malaysian government in the form of RM350 a year in cash, and an undisclosed sum from zakat, state-administered alms donated by Muslims.
A large part of his income goes into servicing a loan from local Chinese traders who sell him farming supplies such as pesticides and fertilisers. He claims that many Chinese own sizeable padi fields and often charge Malays higher rice milling fees while offering better prices to their own community, though he has not encountered such practices.
He said these matters make him wary of Chinese traders, even though he is on friendly terms with his Chinese neighbours.
“If we give (bumiputera rights) away and the Malay economy collapses, it will be difficult for us to get back up,” he said, referring to the traditional economic activities associated with the Malay community such as agriculture and fishing.
Malaysia adopted its New Economic Policy (NEP) more than 50 years ago to address economic inequalities between ethnic groups, following the May 13, 1969, racial riots that claimed nearly 200 lives and injured hundreds more.
The affirmative action programme, aimed at eradicating poverty, and social restructuring, has evolved over the decades but generally gives preferential treatment to bumiputeras in the form of government jobs or contracts, discounted housing, requirements on bumiputera shareholding for listed companies, and racial quotas in education.
In 1970, the median household income for bumiputeras was 28% below the national median. In 2022, it narrowed to 9% below the national median.
While the policy has succeeded in raising the economic status of millions of bumiputeras, it has also been criticised for fostering dependency on government support and creating a sense of unfairness felt among other ethnic groups, potentially hindering Malaysia’s competitiveness.
Rural youth see the policy as a “social ladder they can use to climb up the social economic class”, Merdeka Center’s senior research manager Tan Seng Keat told ST. Meanwhile, urban Malay young people are exposed to different experiences and see that the competition is not within Malaysia, but with the rest of the world, he said.
Supporters of the policy say it has succeeded in creating a confident, professional Malay class of doctors, lawyers, engineers, bankers and accountants, and vastly reduced poverty levels for this ethnic group.
Former top banker Nazir Razak told ST in June that one affirmative action success story was Malaysia’s near eradication of poverty, from 60 per cent in 1969 to 6 per cent in 2022.
Based on figures from the Department of Statistics Malaysia, about 19 per cent of bumiputeras fell within the country’s T20 band or top 20 per cent of income earners (comprising households with a combined gross monthly income of RM11,001 and above) in 2022 . This is compared with the Chinese and Indians who had a higher proportion of their communities in this income tier at 34 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, the proportion of bumiputeras in the B40 band or bottom 40 per cent of income earners stood at 41.6 per cent – higher than that for its middle class at 39.6 per cent. For the Chinese and Indians, their middle class numbers comprised 38.2 per cent and 42 per cent of their communities respectively. These far exceeded the proportion of their B40 band earners at 27.4 per cent and 34.1 per cent respectively.
Bumiputeras are less likely to be in Malaysia’s top-earners band, and more likely to be in the low-earners band compared with other ethnic groups.
This continued wealth disparity between the races is a key reason why the Malay community still needs to rely heavily on educational and economic assistance, says Mr Fariz Md Zain, a 26-year-old Islamic religious teacher from Pokok Sena, a rural town in Kedah.
His family members are beneficiaries of bumiputera policies that allowed them to access training and scholarships, and improve their circumstances.
His oldest brother Ridzuan trained to become a technician through a vocational training course at a GiatMara technical institution under Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), a government agency created in 1966 to give Malays a leg up in education and the economy.
His older sister Nur Mazni is now a syariah lawyer after studying at Universiti Teknologi Mara or UiTM, a bumiputera-only university. “My sister received a Mara scholarship, otherwise we would not have been able to afford to send her for studies,” he told ST.
Factory technician Mohamad Firdaus Abdullah, 26, puts it bluntly, saying: “I wouldn’t be where I am today without bumiputera rights.” He was referring to his sponsored studies at a Mara-run institute in Melaka.
Mr Firdaus, who lives in Ipoh, in the north-west state of Perak, is critical of those who say these rights should be scrapped, pointing out that it is often the successful who call for change, forgetting those who still struggle.
Still, he notes that the Malays should not be comfortable with just getting assistance. “We need to work hard like the Chinese, especially since we have this advantage. We need to better ourselves.”
For those like Mr Firdaus, these rights are less about privileges, and more about ensuring them a fair chance to thrive in a competitive landscape.
Recognising cultural identity
A common refrain from the youth ST spoke to was that Malaysia was “Tanah Melayu” or Malay land. They see their community’s bumiputera rights as a recognition of their birthright, cultural identity and status as the indigenous people of Malaysia.
For them, it is a matter of pride, and the preservation of the Malay identity and culture in a multi-ethnic society. Affirmative action policies are seen as a way to protect bumiputera representation in every aspect of it.
“Malay rights should not be abolished because Malays have been here from the start. Malaysia was called Tanah Melayu, and the Chinese and Indians came here from China and India only a few years before independence,” said Ms Sharifah Dania, an 18-year-old student in Johor Bahru.
In fact, millions of Chinese and Indian migrants arrived in Malaysia in the late 19th century to work in tin mines and rubber estates when the country was under British colonial rule. They were granted citizenship when Malaysia became independent in 1957.
While Malaysia’s communal relations have been largely peaceful since 1969, differences in language, customs and religious beliefs have on occasion heightened misunderstandings and tensions.
Dr Serina Rahman, a lecturer in the department of South-east Asian studies at the National University of Singapore, and associate fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, said how different races interact boils down to exposure and positive experiences with people different from oneself.
“Urban youth are more likely to be in multi-ethnic, multi-religious situations, and are able to find out more about different cultures and faiths,” she explained. “So there is less fear and more understanding that we are all in this together.”
According to Dr Serina, fear of the unknown and few opportunities to engage with people of other ethnicities could fan mistrust and conflict, especially among the youth on social media.
“This is why people believe negative stories or divisive and hateful TikTok posts and WhatsApp messages. They have no positive personal experiences to (make them) believe otherwise,” she said.
Today’s youth have more opportunity to move beyond ethnic bubbles, particularly if they are working or living in the urban centres, she added.
“But a lot rests on their willingness to learn more about other ethnicities and practices. As they are generally better educated and internet savvy, they should have access to more information. And hopefully, (they) will decide to look beyond online racist tropes to determine for themselves whether there is much difference between people.”
For the Kelantanese, assimilation and unity begins with speaking their local Malay dialect, commonly referred to as Kecek Kelate. In this east coast state, which has been governed by the conservative Parti Islam SeMalaysia since 1990, Malays make up 95 per cent of the population.
“Regardless of whether you’re Chinese, Bugis, or Siamese, we all live in the same village… We adapt to the local environment. We speak Kelate,” said Mr Mohd Iruanzi Mohd Ghazali, a 30-year-old motorcycle workshop owner in the small Kelantan town of Kuala Krai.
Over in state capital Kota Bharu, Mr Muhammad Aizuddin Ghazni, who runs a smash burger stall, believes that a common language makes it easier for different races to establish ties, and is against having separate schools for different ethnic groups.
“We prefer people here to speak Malay. It’s easier for everyone to integrate… These (separate schools) divide us from a young age. How can we foster unity?” he said, referring to Malaysia’s vernacular schools where the medium of instruction is Mandarin or Tamil.
Malaysia’s public schools use the national language, Malay, as the medium of instruction. But vernacular schools remain part of the education system for ethnic minorities to preserve their cultural heritage and language. In recent years, Chinese vernacular schools have also seen enrolment of Malay students keen to learn Mandarin.
Malaysians are generally tolerant and appreciative of cultural diversity, said Dr Lee Hwok-Aun, senior fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. He acknowledges, however, that race relations can be “multi-faceted and complicated”.
“There are differences in terms of putting the national Malaysian identity first versus ethno-religious identity first,” he told ST.
National unity and the way forward
For some young Malays, the affirmative action policy has run its course and the country should move towards equal rights for all races.
Their views were in the minority – 24 per cent of young Malays in the Merdeka Center survey and ST’s own poll of 51 respondents across Kedah, Perak, Kelantan, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor in October.
Notably, however, 28 per cent of the young Malays ST spoke to said bumiputera privileges should be kept, but reformed to focus more on socio-economic needs rather than race.
Reflecting some of the younger Malays’ views that focus on fairness and inclusivity, bank employee Megat Dzulhisham said special rights for Malays remain important, but the government should increase opportunities for non-Malays in education to foster equality.
“When it comes to race relations for Malaysia’s future, we shouldn’t (touch) Malay special privileges because we are still the majority and a lot of Malays will be left behind,” he said. “But I think the government should review the public university quota system to help impoverished non-Malays elevate themselves.”
The 26-year-old from Perak state capital Ipoh, where Chinese and Indians make up just over half the population, said he had many non-Malay friends who were straight-A students but could not get a spot in any of the country’s 20 public universities.
“They can’t afford private universities so their parents had to take loans while a less qualified Malay who is not even interested in studying was given a place in the university,” he told ST.
Such racial quotas in education foster division rather than unity, said college student Syarifa Meddina Suheimi, who is of Malay, Chinese and Indian heritage.
“I don’t personally support the Malay special rights in education because it creates a mindset and lifestyle of separation between Malays and non-Malays. It feels like it divides us rather than bringing everyone together as one nation,” said the 20-year-old from the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Ms Izzati Hassanuddin, a 25-year-old from Johor’s rural Kota Tinggi district who works in administration, says bumiputera rights help reduce the socio-economic gap between ethnic groups. But she thinks the system can be reformed to prioritise need over ethnicity.
“I think there needs to be a better balance – a system that recognises student merit while ensuring that those who genuinely need support, regardless of ethnicity, are given equal educational opportunities,” she said.
Moving forward, the Malaysian government needs to invest more on education and narrow the socio-economic gaps, focusing on needs-based aid, said Merdeka Center’s Mr Tan.
This approach, to shift the discussion from ethnicity to economic class, is echoed in recent moves by the government to phase out blanket subsidies and put cash in the hands of those who really need it, irrespective of race.
In the Budget 2025 initiatives announced in October, Malaysian Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim took aim at the “mahakaya” or ultra-rich, saying they will no longer enjoy petrol subsidies that cost the government RM20 billion annually. He also said that his government would look at getting the wealthy to pay higher education and healthcare fees, which are also currently subsidised for all citizens.
Over in the sleepy town of Kuala Kubu Bharu, about an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur, a century-old coffee shop is a promising example of multicultural unity at work.
The Chinese owner of Sun Sun Nam Cheong restaurant, Mr Tan Sew Sewan, 77, is preparing to hand over his business to his employees, as his three children are pursuing other careers.
Source : Straits Times
