No talks about opening UiTM to non-Bumi students, says Zambry

 

UiTM’s student representative council had called on the university’s students to dress in black tomorrow to protest a proposal to temporarily open up its postgraduate cardiothoracic surgery programme to non-Bumiputera students.

PETALING JAYA: There have been no discussions on opening Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) enrolment to non-Bumiputera students, says higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir.

In a statement, Zambry said the ministry had not considered altering the university’s admission policies and said that speculation about opening UiTM to non-Bumiputera students had been turned into polemic by certain parties, which had caused unnecessary confusion and conflict.

“This matter has not been discussed in any meetings at the ministry or the Cabinet level,” he said.

“The ministry firmly adheres to Clause 1A of Act 173 – UiTM was established according to and under the provisions of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution,” he added.

Zambry’s remarks follows a call by UiTM’s student representative council for the university’s students to dress in black tomorrow to protest a proposal to temporarily open up its postgraduate cardiothoracic surgery programme to non-Bumiputera students.

The student body said all 214 of its members firmly defend UiTM’s founding objectives as an institution for Malays, Orang Asli, and the Bumiputera of Sabah and Sarawak.

Last Thursday, the Malaysian Medical Association called on UiTM to prioritise public health needs by temporarily opening its postgraduate cardiothoracic surgery programme to non-Bumiputera students.

MMA president Dr Azizan Abdul Aziz said the country’s acute shortage of specialists, especially cardiothoracic surgeons, had led to prolonged waiting times for critical surgeries and caused fatalities.

Health news portal CodeBlue previously reported that UiTM was willing to “temporarily” accept non-Bumiputera trainees from parallel pathway programmes into its cardiothoracic surgery programme.

Dr Raja Amin Raja Mokhtar, from UiTM’s medical faculty, had suggested this as a solution to the non-recognition of some trainees’ qualifications.

However, Zambry said there had been no discussions on this matter.

Malaysiakini later quoted the institution’s vice-chancellor Shahrin Sahib as saying that UiTM would remain closed to non-Bumiputeras, but would accept whatever the government decides with the king’s blessings. - FMT