(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): MIC President and Works Minister, Datuk
Seri S. Samy Vellu said yesterday that the Cabinet had empowered the Education
Ministry to find a satisfactory solution to the controversy over the merit-based
university entrance selection system.
This means that the future of some
10,000 diploma holders with the requisite CGPA marks to be admitted into public
universities are in the hands of the MCA Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Hon
Choon Kim, who must now decide whether he is prepared to take up the case of the
diploma holders whose university applications have all been rejected because of
a sudden, improper and illegal change of policy
not to consider diplomas for the merit-based university selection system.
This is unfair, as
diplomas have all these years been
officially recognized as one of the legitimate university entrance
qualifications. I have with me the
guidebook for university admissions for the
academic session 2002/2003 issued by the Higher Education Department of
the Education Ministry, which defined “kelayakan
lain yang di iktiraf setaraf dengannya oleh Kerajaan Malaysia”
with STPM as including “(a) Diploma dari Institusi Pendidikan Malaysia
seperti dari USM, UPM, UTM, UiTM, KUiTTHO dan Politeknik”.
This is why last year, some 4,800
diploma holders were admitted into the public universities alongside students with STPM and matriculation qualifications.
To refuse to consider diplomas for
university admission is not to treat them as qualifications “setaraf” but
“selepas” STPM, and this is not
only unfair but a unlawful misinterpetration of the Education Ministry’s own
regulations.
Hon has now the opportunity to put
right this grave injustice as the Education Ministry has been fully empowered to
resolve the university intake controversy, and I call on Hon to announce by
Tuesday that the legal right of all
diploma holders with the requisite CGPA marks to enter public universities would
be respected and that a new list of university admissions would be issued by the
Education Ministry.
If Hon cannot make use of this
“window of opportunity” to ensure that qualified diploma holders, including
those with the full CGPA mark of 4, are offered public university places, then
he should resign as Deputy Education Minister.
If Hon is not prepared to ensure that
the legal rights of the diploma holders with requisite CGPA grades to be
admitted to public universities are respected, then the diploma holders
should institute legal action to ask the courts to declare the reinstatement of their right to public university places based on the results
of their diplomas – and Hon
should be one of the parties who should be sued for wrongful denial of the right
of the diploma holders to entry into public universities.
(25/5/2002)