Government should expend university places to allow more Malaysian youths opportunities of higher education.
Related to the question of urban stability is the matter of providing opportunities to youths to develop their potential and capabilities to the fullest, which will cut down a source of discontent and frustration among the younger generation.
I have just received an answer to a written question which I asked last month in Parliament, which showed the seriousness of this problem.
I had asked the Minister of Education for breakdown figures of university intake this year, and this is the answer given by the Minister of Education, Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamed.
According to the Education Minister, 53,791 persons applied for admission to the universities and institutions of higher learning in Malaysia for the year 1975/1976, and 39,476 were rejected.
Out of the successful 11,042 applicants, the breakdown according to race and institution is as follows:
University/Institutusi Malay Chinese Indian Others Total
University Malaya 1,041 916 102 17 2,076
University Kebangsaan
Malaysia 843 73 22 – 938
University Sains
Malaysia 350 181 31 2 564
University Pertanian
Malaysia 740 83 22 2 847
University Tecknoloji
Malaysia 774 75 2 – 851
Institut-Teknoloji MARA 3,790 – – – 3,790
Kolej Tunku A.Rahman 11 1,499 66 2 1,518
Politeknik Ungku Omar 297_ 139_ 22_ -_ 458__
7,846 2,906 267 23 11,042
However, these figures given by the Minister of Education, Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamed, to my written question needs to be modified, for I do not think the students taken in by the Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman, which comes to 1,518, should belong to this category, as we are talking about the post-sixth from educational opportunities, and not places for sixth-form studies. So when we exclude the Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman from this category, as they provide mostly sixth form classes, the number of students who were given university or higher educational opportunities this year is 7,835 Malays, 1,467 Chinese, 201 Indians, 21 others, making a total of 9,524 students.
Anyone reading these figures will know why there is such discontent about the whole matter of opportunities for higher studies, especially the 40,000 students who have the qualifications but are denied places.
These are the problem that goes to make up the urban discontent and instability which deserve governmental attention.