SHOULDN’T public universities be for the public? No, this is not a trick question.
Recently, netizen @SathishSarma drew some flak online with his post on X, stating that public universities are paid by all Malaysians, but not accessible to all Malaysians.
This was in reply to another post where a netizen disagreed that UiTM be open to the non-bumiputeras.
Paid by all Malaysians.
Not accessible to all Malaysians.So that’s is the problem.
Plus there are no thousands of other unis available in Malaysia.
When the topic is about IPTA, pls remain within the issue. Do not conflate unrelated things.
And B40 exists among non Bumi too. https://t.co/LgormZmpam
— Sathish Sarma 🇲🇾 I’m Malaysian. (@SathishSarma) April 18, 2025
“By the way, 33% of intake is just for UiTM alone while all other IPTA is sharing the balance 67% intake. This is based on 2023 statistics. And UiTM has multiple branches in various states. It is not a single university alone,” he said among other things.
When bumiputera rights is being mentioned, which we all know can be an explosive topic, expect a good deal of flame throwing to follow in the cyberspace.
Take it from netizen @MBilalZA who said that the Indian and Chinese should realise that both of the respective races are adopted, that they should not feel entitled.
According to @MBilalZA, they existed in Malaya because of Britain. “If I were Tunku Abdul Rahman, I wouldn’t give jus soli citizenship and make all Indians and Chinese persona non grata,” he said.
@FairuzJumain added that if the non-bumi wanted to enter UiTM, then vernacular schools should be removed.
The picture comments were equally interesting:
One netizen further evoked a quote from Tun V.T Sambanthan.
Also, @4zharabdullah engaged X platform Ai, Grok to give @SathishSarma an advise on the Malaysian constitution and how he can be a good citizen.
This was Grok’s reply:
However, there was some rare support for @SathishSarma among the Malays, as can be seen through @kmal_kinase.
“As a Malay I agree with you. Most of my unfortunate Indian friends end up not continuing their studies because they don’t have money. But they have potential. But my Malay colleague in UiTM gets the opportunity but plays hard,” he said.
@winethespine added that if UiTM was truly about empowering the weak, it would open its doors to any Malaysians who needs a chance, and not just the ones with the right race. “Protection shouldn’t look like exclusion,” said @winethespine. —Apr 20, 2025
Main image: Universiti Teknologi MARA
