If only UiTM was opened to students of all races

I taught journalism at ITM-Shah Alam in the mid-1980s, shortly after returning from the Philippines. 

Career-wise, it was uncertain. But the collegiality at Kajian Sebaran Am and the polite eager students gave me a good reason to stay.

My students felt free to talk about any issues. I was, however, aware of the implications of our spirited discussions of media and politics, race relations, special rights of the Malays - even my prospects at ITM.

The administration somehow got wind of our exchange. 

I was summoned to explain if I understood the mission of ITM and my responsibilities to the Malay students. The interrogation left a stain in my short memorable tenure.

More than 40 years now, UiTM’s leadership has shifted further right, far from what its founding director, Arshad Ayub (below) had envisioned in the late 60s when 95 percent of the lecturers were non-Malays, foreign and local, and English was widely used in class.

While English is preferred in the majority of world universities, the obsession in keeping UiTM exclusively Malay in every facet of its operations, teaching and governance will only leave the bubbled institution hovering among the lowest-ranked universities in Asia.

According to the QS World University Ranking, UiTM is ranked 119 out of 200 universities in Asia compared to University of Malaya (13), UPM (33), USM (37) and UKM (39) even if its vice-chancellor had dismissed the reliability of university rankings except for “marketing and branding” purposes.

The same old argument that the Malay-empowerment agenda must be protected, as UiTM’s vice-chancellor Mohd Azraai Kassim implied, begs the question - protected from what?

Much has been written on this topic. But, for context, it’s worth reiterating these facts: The special position of Bumiputeras is protected under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution. 

Race-based affirmative action policies have historically favoured the Malays who currently accounts for about 65 percent of the population. 

And, Malays have been the dominant numerical, sociocultural and political force since 1957. The chancellors, vice-chancellors and deputy vice-chancellors appointed to the 20 public universities to date are all bumiputeras. 

Would a non-Malay ever become a vice-chancellor at UiTM? One can only imagine.

Corrupt politicians and kleptocrats aside, Malays are warm, courteous, trusting, generally non-confrontational and ever ready to help a stranger.

Drive through the good old kampung windy roads, away from the stark highways and you will know what I mean.

Among my closest friends are Malays. I harbour no bitterness that Malays have long reaped the socio-economic benefits of simply being born a Malay. 

But my friends and their children certainly don’t need to rely on special privileges to get ahead for another 60 years under whichever Malay-dominant party governs the country. 

This has to stop somehow, someday.

Non-Malays are in fact the silent frustrated victims of institutionalised discrimination under decades of Umno-BN rule. 

I doubt if Pakatan Harapan would make any real difference given its perceived poor performance and reneging of its electoral promises.

Millennials and those born in the 80s may think racial discrimination is part of normal life in Malaysia. 

Baby boomers, however, would know what it felt like to get the short end of the straw when applying for a place in a public university, competing for scholarships or even in purchasing a low-cost flat.

As I wrote previously, UiTM’s focus on the Malay-empowerment agenda and isolating students from their non-Malay peers is pedagogically archaic and intellectually self-defeating. 

It unnecessarily limits their learning and life experiences in their formative years – for many, it could be the first time that they would actually interact with students from another culture - even as the vice-chancellor had vouched to “internationalise” the students’ outlook through study abroad programmes.

UiTM’s Malay-centric agenda and governance are emblematic of what race-based policies have wrought on the higher education sector, much to the detriment of enriching the social capital, cross-cultural literacies, and entrepreneurship of Malay students.

UiTM’s racial agenda should be relegated to the history books and replaced with an inclusive governance under the direction of far-sighted leaders who have the moral courage to rise above race and religion.

Imagine what the educational outcomes might have been if ITM had opened its gates to students and lecturers from all races when it became a university in 1999. 

The move would likely liberate students from the tunnel vision of an ethnocentric viewpoint. It’s self-evident - we learn more from people who are different from us than we do from people who are similar to us.

What a momentous re-birth if UiTM had, as a trial, allocated 10 percent of its student places to non-Malays and intentionally promoted a multiracial faculty, all employed based on their experience and merits rather than exclusively on race and religion. 

UiTM should evolve to become an institution where students of all races and respectable educators are proud to be associated with.

Education at UiTM should be more than Malay students acquiring knowledge and training in technical skills in a racial bubble. 

Cross-cultural literacies and intercultural experiences are as critical to their employability in the competitive corporate sector as in their ability to deal with the complexities of life in a pluralistic world. 

That also is self-evident.

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ERIC LOO is a senior fellow (Journalism) at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He is also the founding editor of the Asia Pacific Media Educator. - Mkini