SHAH ALAM, May 17 — Yesterday was the culmination of a protest organised by the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Student Representative Council to deter Putrajaya from opening up the university currently exclusive to the Bumiputera majority.
As some students wore black to show support, some of them told Malay Mail that their protest and insistence to keep UiTM open only to Bumiputera was not racial in nature — pointing out that the public university remains affordable for needy Malays.
“We may be seen as racist, but it has nothing to do with that. Some people think that we are selfish by fighting for the university’s enrolment policy to remain as it is, but they must remember, this was how it started back in the day when the university was set up.
“So we just want it to remain the way it is. It is not as easy as an overnight change, and everything will fall into place, there are many things to consider,” first-year degree student Natasha said.
Natasha said UiTM was established for lower-income Malays, and there are still many Bumiputera and Malay families in the financial bracket.
“This university was made to help these people, if it changes its policy to enrol non-Bumiputera students, there will be competition. And why make the already struggling lower-income families face more difficulties in finding a spot in local institutions like UiTM?” she asked.
The institution was established in 1956 as the Rural and Industrial Development Authority (Rida) Training Centre, a brainchild of the late Dauk Onn Jaafar — one of the founders and former president of Malay nationalist party Umno — after his visit to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1951 to learn about rural development programmes.
In 1965, it changed its name to Maktab Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) — the government agency formed to aid and train the Bumiputera in business and industry. In 1967, it was renamed again to Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM, or MARA Technological Institute).
Later in 1999, it achieved its current university status.
A student, who only wanted to be known as Nissa, said that UiTM’s fees have remained affordable to low-income households — claiming that it is the most affordable out of the public universities.
“Compared to other local universities, we pay as low as RM700 to RM800 per semester, depending on the course, for medical it’s slightly more, while other local institutions could go up to thousands [of ringgit] as they need to pay for accommodation as well.
“I chose UiTM because of its affordable fees, and that is an opportunity for other low-income Bumiputera students to afford higher education. If this policy is changed, it will open the university up to a lot of other factors that may pressure it to raise its fees,” she said.
Meanwhile, another student who wished to remain anonymous said if non-Bumiputera students are temporarily admitted to UiTM as suggested by certain parties, there is a fear that it would eventually “push out” Bumiputera students.
“Let’s say they have achieved the numbers of professionals in a certain field by taking in the non-Bumiputera students, then how are you going to stop the programme?
“More and more non-Bumiputera will come in, and it is a worry that it will take up places for the Bumiputera students. Eventually, it could even arrive at a point that UiTM is no longer only for the Bumiputera students,” the student said.
A spokesman of the student council which organised the #MahasiswaUiTMBantah protest said the university should continue to aim at reaching out to the bottom 40 per cent households (B40) before it ventures beyond that.
“This is my personal view, because when I met with many B40 families in Sabah and Sarawak, I realised that there are still many who can’t afford higher education in other public universities and UiTM was able to meet their needs.
“If the university quota is opened up for non-Bumiputera, the lower-income Bumiputera students may lose out, so as long as there are lower-income families who need help we should help them first before we think about any other non-Bumiputera,” he said.
While Malay Mail’s observation yesterday showed many students were wearing black either while eating at the cafeteria, waiting at the bus stop or walking to lectures, not all students agreed with the sentiment.
Student Muhammad Harith said he was fine with the idea of the university taking in non-Bumiputera students.
“I feel that the university is just like when we were in school, so I don’t see a difference as in school we had other races.
“But yes, from what I hear is that, students here want to keep the available spots for Bumiputera students who cannot afford to look at other local universities due to the price difference,” he told Malay Mail.
His coursemate, who wished to remain anonymous, agreed that the price point was one of the main reasons he picked UiTM.
“I came here too because of the price, it’s very cheap. We agree that it should not be open to non-Bumiputera,” he said.
“There are many other institutions apart from UiTM, but UiTM focuses only on the Bumiputera while other intuitions don’t have the same principles,” he said.
The UiTM Student Representative Council in a statement had said that it was calling for the status quo to stay, and for UiTM to “protect the special position of the Malays”.
In response, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir earlier this week denied any discussion within the government to allow non-Bumiputera students to enrol into UiTM.
The issue was sparked by a news report claiming that UiTM is considering opening up its cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme to non-Bumiputera trainee doctors, as the programme with the National Heart Institute is currently the only Parallel Pathway Programme in the country.
Last month, the Health Ministry said it would recognise the Parallel Pathway Programme and planned to amend the Medical Act 1971.
This came after four graduates from the cardiothoracic surgery programme with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh sued the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) for refusing to register them on the National Specialist Register (NSR).
