'Royal varsity status plan for UiTM makes no sense'

The proposals to make Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) a ‘royal university’ so that its bumiputra-only status would not be challenged makes no sense, as the government is already has plans to open it to non-bumiputra students.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang’s political secretary, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, said the urgings by the BN parliamentarians are in contradiction with what Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan had told the parliament on Oct 1.

Citing from the Hansard, she said the deputy minister had told the Dewan Rakyat that the government has plans to open the university to non-bumiputras, while one of its faculties International Education College (Intec), is already open for admissions to all students regardless of race and religion.

“I believe that the Kuala Selangor MP (Irmohizan Ibrahim) is aware of Intec’s existence because he himself had been a lecturer at UiTM.

“The contradictory stance amongst BN parliamentarians and some politicians pretending to be academics regarding the UiTM issue is very confusing to the people,” she said in a press statement today.

She asked if the ‘royal’ status would be revoked if the plan goes ahead in the future since the university would no longer be restricted to bumiputra students.

In addition, she pointed out that the ‘royal’ status is not restricted to Malays as the Agong and the Malay Rulers are monarchs for all Malaysians regardless of ethnicity.

“For example, isn’t a police officer of Chinese descent a member of the Royal Malaysian Police?” she said.

Dyana Sofya (left), who is also a UiTM graduate, was responding to Irmohizan’sstatementyesterday and Mersing MP Abdul Latiff Ahmad’s statement on Oct 1 - both in parliament.

Abdul Latiff had suggested that the university open its gates to Indonesian aboriginals, Southern Thailand Malays, and Fijian aboriginals.

Proposals to open up UiTM to non-bumiputera students by several quarters have been criticised by Malay rights groups, who deem the varsity as the “last bastion for Malays”.   

Dyana said Abdul Latiff’s suggestion makes no sense, too.

“(He is) more eager to fight for natives of other countries than giving space to Malaysian citizens simply because they are born in non-bumiputra families,” she said.

She urged the parliamentarians not to belittle her alma mater with the “ridiculous suggestions”.