Scrap meritocracy calls - part of the Muhyiddin-Najib chess game ahead of Umno polls?

Ahmad Hamzah, the Member of Parliament for Jasin, has called for meritocracy in the education system to be 'scrapped' so as to help and benefit Malay students. He was immediately jeered by members of the Opposition, who accused him of deliberately provoking a "racial discourse".

Ahmad had stood up and interjected while his Umno party mate Mohd Fasiah Bin Mohd Fakeh, the Sabak Bernam MP, was addressing the Lower House on Thursday.

"This is part of a scheme by Umno to provoke racial discourse," MP for Batu Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"While the Opposition supports affirmative action to help specific groups including the Malays and bumiputera, merit must be the basis for any academic assessment."

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who also holds the Education portfolio, insists the government has always been transparent when it came to education.

"The government has never cheated the rakyat, it was a wild allegation especially on the commitment made by the government," Bernama reported the DPM as telling Parliament on Thursday. He was responding to a question from Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran about the fate of 1,500 places allocated to Malaysian Indian students at matriculation programs.

Revenge, usual Umno racism or Umno polls racism?

Nonetheless, there are signs that Prime Minister Najib Razak's Umno party is fanning the fire. There has been a clear and gradual buildup in the government-controlled media, particularly in the Malay press, about how 'meritocracy' was hampering and disadvantaging Malay students.

Some even went so far as to blame meritocracy of creating "Chinese supremacy".

“Today meritocracy has created Chinese supremacy. There is nothing to benefit Malay students. Imagine Malay students only make up 35 percent of those in higher education institutions and the rest are Chinese. In term of scholarship, Malay students have failed to dominate the allocation of scholarships. Last year, 80 percent of Chinese students received scholarships as they obtained outstanding results based on the government’s policy of meritocracy.”,” the Umno-controlled Utusan reported Ibrahim Abu Shah, president of the Malay Consultative Council, as saying.

“All this while, the government has been thinking too much about ways to win the hearts of the Chinese and Indians apparently out of the national interest, to the extent that it has actually mistreated the Malays too long,” Raof Husin, the president of the Retired Educators Association, was also reported to have said.

The latest spate of racist and provocative comments from prominent Malays with links to Umno are seen by many Malaysian Chinese as a form of "revenge" against them for having voted for the Opposition during the May general election.

Who is stirring it up?

Political observers are also watching to see from which camp in Umno was the latest racial smoke blowing and in whose direction was it targeted to cloud.

The party has to hold its internal polls before October and August has been identified as the most likely time. Hence, the scramble among the leaders to outdo each other in terms of being Malay and championing the Malay cause.

"Well, Muhyiddin Yassin is the Education Minister. All this pro-Malay talk is very much his style and it is not inconceivable he is stirring up the soup to gain profile for himself," Eddie Wong, a PKR veteran, told Malaysia Chronicle.

"It could also be from Muhyiddin's enemies to make him look silly and outdated by making ultra-Malay comments like these. Basically, they would all be sabre-rattling and trying to out-Malay each other until the Umno election is over."

Muhyiddin's 'enemies' would include Prime Minister Najib Razak, who faces the prospect of being challenged for the Umno presidency by colleagues such as Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh and Muhyiddin himself.

What meritocracy?

Malaysia's  'meritocracy' system was introduced by former premier Mahathir Mohamad in 2002 to replace the previous racial quota system that had reserved 55 percent of places in universities for Malay and 'bumiputera' students. The system does not apply to Mara institutions, which reserves almost 100% for Malays and 'bumiputera' students.

"It is ridiculous because the reality is there is no real meritocracy. It only sounds meritocratic but our education system is hardly fair or based on merit at all. So to the Chinese, the Indians, all the non-Malays groups, this is a joke. They are wondering what meritocracy is Umno talking about. It is the complete reverse," said Eddie.

Be that as it may, it has not stopped academic Zainal Kling from suggesting meritocracy be implemented within each ethnic group rather than across the board.

“Meritocracy should only be practised (separately) among Chinese students, among Malay students and among Indian students,” Utusan reported Zainal Kling, a member of the National Professors Council, as saying on Monday.

Malaysia Chronicle