Higher Education Minister Mustapha should ensure fair and transparent appeal process to ensure students with good results are not denied higher education opportunities because of economic hardships

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Tuesday) Higher Education Minister, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad should ensure a fair and transparent appeal process to ensure that students with good results are not denied higher education opportunities because of economic hardships.

I have, for instance, received the following email from one student:

“I just received my IPTA acceptance results today. With utmost disappointment, I fail to secure even a single place in any public university. This really means I am at a dead end as IPTA is the only mean of tertiary education as my family could not afford private degree."

"I scored 3 A's and 1 B for STPM, obtained Band 6 for MUET, participated actively in co-curriculum since junior secondary school. I also scored 9 1A's and 1 3B in SPM with an 1A in GCE O Level. With these qualifications being considered in IPTA selection, I already fulfilled most of the requirements. Knowing the competition, I steered clear from my main options and settled for only dentistry and biomedicine at various places, including the less prestigious ones."

"However I am clearly in a dilemma. I've already been disappointed many times for many years including my SPM year when JPA and other scholarships are at stakes. What have I done wrong? Why didn't the UPU state as well the reasons of rejection? There must be transparency in this selection as this affects my tertiary education and my future which will soon trail from that point."

"I have considered appealing via E-Rayuan but many people advised me that this is futile. I do not know what to do now. Frankly at this point, I don't mind being offered any other courses in any university as I am desperate. The impact of this rejection is really disheartening and I really hope the Ministry would look into the matter as it matters the future of many students who share the same predicament. Thank you.”

"Please think of the hundreds who are immensely affected by the same dilemma. Most of us had dreams to achieve, expectations to fulfill and responsibilities to shoulder. Some of us even had only education as a way out of poverty and work really hard. Let us all be heard and helped.”

I am contacting Mustapha on this and other grievances about the results of the public universities intake this year, and I hope that the Higher Education Minister can ensure that Malaysian students with good academic results are not denied higher education opportunities because of economic hardships as this will be a major setback to the Prime Minister’s objective to create a “first class mentality” among Malaysians under the Ninth Malaysia Plan as a prerequisite for Malaysia to achieve the fully developed nation status  in 15 years’ time as envisaged by Vision 2020.

(20/06/2006)