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 Last weekend, Utar held its convocation for 1,313 graduands. Of the graduating cohort, 99.9 percent were non-Malay. Aside from a sprinkling of Indians, the university enrolment is overwhelmingly Chinese even though there is no bar on Malay entry.
Utar’s mono-racial counterpart is UiTM which on the other hand does close its door to the other races. A Mara entity, UiTM is presently home to almost 120,000 predominantly Malay students. Aimst University – the brainchild of Samy Vellu – is a private institution established by MIED the education arm of MIC, whose marquee courses include medicine, pharmacy and dentistry.
Only in Malaysia do we find universities segregated by race, either officially or informally. But first, a short explanation on my article headline: ‘Like chicken and duck talking’ is a Chinese idiom on how two parties are unable to communicate and interact. The polarised college enrolment has more to do with the politicisation of education. In Aimst, all courses are taught in English. In Utar, English is the main medium of instruction. In UiTM, the courses are in English too. An ironic convergence, one must say. Utar, established in 2002, traces its genesis to TAR College. MCA past president Dr Ling Liong Sik, dubbed ‘Father of TAR College Development’, is chairman of the Utar council. In the council are MCA Cabinet Minister Ong Ka Chuan, former MCA Minister Fong Chan Onn and former Star CEO Steven Tan, among others.
The recent Utar convocation was held in the hall of the party headquarters Wisma MCA. Graduands received their scrolls from former MCA president Ong Ka Ting, the guest-of-honour.
UiTM added ‘university’ to its name in 1999 after upgrading status from Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM). It has 27 campuses and 19 affiliated colleges. Its chancellor is the Agong, no less. Last year when Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim suggested that UiTM admit more non-bumiputera, its vice-chancellor Prof. Ibrahim Abu Shah warned ‘Jangan kacau UiTM’ and promptly pledged to defend the university’s role as “the last Malay bastion” (for uplifting Malays through education). It seems not to have crossed Prof. Ibrahim’s mind about the pribumi who are not Malay. But that said, the Mara institutions have indeed contributed tremendously to educating Malays in a wide range of disciplines, and has an impressive spread across the breadth of Malaysia. Mara has prepared students for post-grad study overseas, has turned out a number of the country’s renowned public figures and overall been a success story for the affirmative action plan. Likewise TAR with its cheaper tuition fees and marketable certificate and diploma holders has made itself an institution dear to the heart of the Chinese community. By providing handy access (especially before private colleges took off under Mahathir Inc.) to higher education and professional attainment, both Mara/UiTM and TAR/Utar are great achievements if one adopts the communal development point of view. Replicating the BN formula
It is hardly surprising then that their student populations are communal-oriented given the Barisan-type politics behind Mara and Utar, exemplified for instance when the UiTM vice-chancellor took Khalid to task. Prof. Ibrahim declared that some 119,000 UiTM students and 350,000 alumni were upset with Khalid, an ‘orang Melayu’, for mooting such an idea out of the blue, especially when the ‘bangsa asing’ (Prof. Ibrahim’s words) themselves did not bring it up.
The vice-chancellor implying that Khalid is betraying his race marks this academic-cum-political appointee as dyed-in-wool BN material … and possibly a future holder of political high office. An instrument of the NEP, UiTM tuition fees are very heavily subsidised by the government. Shut out from NEP, Chinese have resigned to straddling a semi-private and parallel education plank by embracing vernacular schools, given that state-supported Mara junior colleges, residential schools, and elite and ‘smart schools’ (pity the ‘dumb’ schools) are not for them. The quid pro quo is that the community got to keep their mother tongue. Socio-political researchers might want to examine if this unwritten bargain was part and parcel of our elusive ‘social contract’. Adapting to English
Utar students have come mostly from the vernacular schools. They learned their Math and Science in Chinese but at tertiary level do Accounting, Business, Engineering and Computer Science courses in English. They adapt to the language switch.
Going by the indicator that TARcians have passed external exams and Utar students have the option of twinning with foreign universities, one would assume they adapted successfully. Anecdotes related by science workers and post-grad students having Chinese education background lend credence to this belief.
UiTM students adapt to English as well. For the Malay kids under KBSR who learned about ‘klorofil dalam proses fotosintesis’ (‘chlorophyll’/‘photosynthesis’), the shift in terminology is easier compared to the linguistic effort pulled by Chinese kids. BM has been Anglicised to an uncomfortable degree (I personally prefer older words like ‘Ilmu Hisab’ and ‘Ilmu Alam’ to ‘matematik’ and ‘geografi’) leading some to argue why bother with teaching Science in Malay if it only pirates scientific jargon? The reason is, understanding the subject is crucial, spelling is secondary. In any case, one should not forget that English had also borrowed heavily from Latin and Greek. Can anyone envision a semester’s student exchange programme between Mara and Utar? After all, on paper, there’s no barrier since both teach in English.
But English language commonality notwithstanding, the Utar campus is Chinese speaking and UiTM campus Malay speaking. Their respective social environment is occasioned by the politics of the country. Whether such a swap holds an appeal depends on the comfort level felt with other languages. Unfortunately the strong polemics occasioned by the politicisation of education have coloured feelings, thus depriving our multi-racial youth of the chance of becoming accomplished polyglots. Education Ministry’s ‘Yes sir, Mahathir sir’ It’s politics when the authorities will not announce any decision on PPSMI until after the conclusion of the Umno general assembly. It’s political posturing when Mukhriz Mahathir wants to scrap vernacular schools. It is political capital when MCA claims to stand firm in its objection to Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris (PPSMI) but remains strangely silent, and its mouthpiece The Star blacked out the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMMS) report. When the PPSMI experiment was first implemented six years ago, MCA held the Deputy Education Minister portfolio. MCA’s Hon Choon Kim should have resigned as Deputy Education Minister if his party genuinely adhered to principle. (Zaid Ibrahim quit when as Law Minister he objected to the use of ISA). Current Deputy Education Minister MCA’s Wee Ka Siong now disclaims responsibility. He was quoted in the NST as saying, “We [Education Ministry] don’t make decisions on the behalf of the government. We are only the executing authority. The decision to use English for the teaching of Science and Mathematics was a collective decision made by the cabinet in 2002.” In deflecting accountability from the Education Ministry, Wee has as good as conceded that decision-makers in his Ministry set-up are political animals first and foremost, and not inclined to put pedagogy first. MCA started life as a party for business interests and is known for catering to businessmen. Umno (Lama) on the other hand had its 1946 roots in idealistic schoolteachers. MCA is known to listen to Umno; Umno should return to its roots and listen to what the teachers have to say on PPSMI. Please trust the educators to know best. Next: Dr Mahathir still riding hobby horse of his pet project Related: Mahathir merajuk, ‘let them eat silicon chips’
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It was once said that Burma is a country of intellectuals run by elementary school students.
Malaysia is heading that way, fast and soon.