Wee unhappy with UPU’s race requirements

Stating sub-ethnic groups on university admissions forms is against the principle of 1Malaysia, says Wee Ka Siong, who is also the MCA youth chief.

KUALA LUMPUR: It is already tough identifying yourself as a Malaysian but now the Higher Education Ministry also wants to know which dialect group you come from.

And to top it all, the Education Ministry and the Higher Education Ministry are not seeing eye to eye on this one.

Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong is not amused that the Higher Education Ministry has requested that students filling out the Universities’ Application Units online application forms specify their sub-ethnicity.

Applicants filling up the form were required to indicate their sub-race or dialect group so that it could be tallied with data from the NRD.

Higher Education Ministry’s management of student admission division principal assistant director Rosmin Md Amin said that this was so the ministry could check citizenship status when processing applications.

Wee, who is also the MCA Youth Chief , however questioned this system, saying that all citizens carried an identity card which proved one’s identity as a Malaysian.

“Your IC number can tell if you’re Malaysian. I really don’t see any reason for having to specify your sub-ethnicity.”

Counter-productive

Yayasan 1Malaysia board of trustees chairman Chandra Muzaffar echoed this sentiment, saying that it was counter-productive as far as the concept of 1Malaysia was concerned.

“The point of 1Malaysia is to develop the notion of a common shared citizenship. By emphasising sub-ethnic categories, the Higher Education Ministry is undermining that. I hope they rethink this move, as it’s purposeless.”

He added that if there were doubts about a student’s citizenship, it could always be identified and investigated on a case-by-case basis.

“1Malaysia is about transcending sub-ethnic loyalties – indeed, even ethnic loyalties. It’s a formidable challenge which will take a long while, but we should be moving in that direction instead of backwards.”

The application forms were available on the UPU website, where applicants were required to fill up the “race” column and indicate their sub-race or dialect group.

For example, the Chinese are sub-divided into Cantonese, Foochow, Hainanese, Henghua, Hokchia, Hokchiu, Hokkien, Hakka, Kwongsai, Teochew, Kongfoo and Hylam while the sub-divisions for Malays are Bugis, Boyan, Banjar, Jawa, Jawi Pekan and Minangkabau.

The sub-divisions for Orang Asli include Negrito, Semai, Semalai, Temiar, Senoi and Penan; while under the Indian category there are eight sub-divisions: Malayalee, Punjabi, Sikh, Tamil, Telegu, Malabari, Indian Muslim and Orissa.