Monday, July 11, 2005

Pahang Menteri Besar Talks Some Sense

In an apparent snipe at the remarks made by the Johor Menteri Besar (MB) which was also derided in my post yesterday, Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob thankfully spoke some sense!

Meritocracy should be a catalyst to spur bumiputra students to do better and not take things for granted, said Pahang Umno chief Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob.

“The system is good because bumiputra students would have to work hard to enter public universities,” Adnan said in his speech at the party convention here yesterday.

“I would prefer to go to a doctor who entered a public university based on merit rather than someone who gained entry because of his bumiputra status.”
Hear! Hear! There is hope yet! (Is the Pahang MB a spokesperson for Pak Lah, our dear Prime Minister?)

Pak Lah clearly disagreed with our Johor MB, but was more diplomatic in his direct response, as reported by Bernama here, Berita Harian here and Utusan Malaysia here.
"Tidak ada tujuan untuk menindas mereka, tidak ada langsung. Dan kalau ada masalah yang dilihat berlaku apabila sistem (meritokrasi) itu dilaksanakan, maka pada saya pandangan-pandangan berkaitan masalah itu perlulah disampaikan kepada mereka yang berkenaan.''
Let's hope Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman will now sit down quietly with his tail between the legs, and learn the error of his ways...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are we to believe a meritocratic system is in place and is practice in Malaysia today. Ok maybe not 100% some say, how many percent then? Where is it implemented.., is it implemented and practice across the board? Or is it as uneven a development as our country?

How can I tell, if it was actually practice 100%?

How would I trust what the government say and actually do?

-- Old Man

Anonymous said...

July 14, 2005 13:20 PM
Smart Students Not Ignored, Alternatives To Public Varsities Sought


PETALING JAYA, July 14 (Bernama) -- The government will not neglect smart students, especially Malay students, who failed to secure places in the 13 public universities in the country, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Thursday.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Cabinet, in its weekly meeting Wednesday, had directed the Higher Education Ministry to find alternatives for the students to continue their studies.

"These students who did not get places must be given due assistance. The government will continue to play a role to as far as it can.

"The Prime Minister had asked the Higher Education Ministry to take appropriate action to expand educational opportunities at diploma level and also at polytechnics.

"If they did not get places in public universities, not necessarily they must give up," he told reporters after opening an international conference on "MediaMorphosis Communication, Technology and Growth".

Najib was asked to comment on Utusan Malaysia's front-page report today that the Higher Education Ministry would confer with several ministries to discuss the fate of nearly 120,000 smart Malay students who failed to enter public universities.

The ministries would find immediate ways to absorb the students in alternative tertiary learning institutions.

Asked to elaborate on the matter, Najib said before taking the next course of action, the government needs to first study the relevant information such as the actual number of students who failed to enter public universities and total number of places available, especially for diploma-level study programmes in polytechnics and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).

A Higher Education Ministry source said about 70,000 Malay students were not offered seats in public universities despite having excellent results, prompting the ministry to convene a special meeting with the other ministries to find alternative ways to enable the students to continue their studies.