LETTER | University quota: Advice to non-bumi parents

LETTER | Of late, the issue of racial quotas for admissions into public universities has resurfaced.

This is thanks to a viral clip of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's recent town hall session with students. Racial quota is an issue as old as the New Economic Policy, which dates back to the 1970s.

I’m a non-bumiputera and my kid completed his SPM last year. He has now enrolled in a private college which is starting late this month. Let me offer my two cents on this issue.

Here's the harsh reality: the quota system is here to stay. That's the political reality we live in today. Whoever gave you the idea that it'd be abolished by the Madani administration is just building castles in the air.

Anwar made it clear during the town hall session that the reason that the quota system is here to stay is all about winning elections.

Let's cut to the chase, this issue has always been about winning elections, never about what's necessary or for the greater good.

And Anwar is no different from any prime ministers of the past, and possibly in the near future.

All 10 of our PMs have “Umno DNA”, in that they were either from Umno or had been Umno members. As we know, Umno fully supports the quota system for political reasons.

Here's my advice to non-Malay parents: Invest in your children's education (send them for tuition, buy reference books, etc), save up and when the time comes, forget about public universities.

‘Settle down abroad if needed’

Send them to private tertiary institutions or those abroad. If you can't afford it, then borrow from friends, relatives or PTPTN. After that, ask your kids to stay there and don't come back if they feel Malaysia is no longer their oyster.

It's better to be realistic about this for our children's future. Don't trust politicians on this even for one moment, and that includes the prime minister. Don't expect any changes to the quota system in the near future.

To me, the bigger problem than this existing race-based quota system is our misplaced trust that the system will be scrapped.

Those are lies politicians tell to gain and stay in power. And if we buy those stories, we set ourselves up for unrealistic expectations that jeopardise our children's future.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.