Post Wawasan 2020: Where to, Malaysia? Part 4Continued……….. In 1989, I sat for my SPM examination. As I mentioned earlier, there were 3 science stream classes in my school, out of which there was only 1 Malay student. The rest have all disappeared to MARA colleges, Boarding schools, military college, agama schools etc. I took the maximum of 9 subjects and received […]
Continued………..
In 1989, I sat for my SPM examination. As I mentioned earlier, there were 3 science stream classes in my school, out of which there was only 1 Malay student. The rest have all disappeared to MARA colleges, Boarding schools, military college, agama schools etc. I took the maximum of 9 subjects and received 7A1,1A2 and 1C3(in BM). I applied for JPA scholarship but decided not to attend the interview as I was told beforehand that medicine is only for Bumiputera. Some of my friends who attended the interview were told point blank that medicine is only for Bumiputera but they can request for other fields. For those who are from the 21st century, scoring 8As in those days were less than 10 students per state, unlike now where we have 10K students scoring straight As in the country!
Thus, I had to bite the bullet and go on to do STPM which is a 2-year program run by national schools (not all but selected national schools). It is considered as the toughest pre university exam in the world. Two years of knowledge tested by 1 exam at the end of the 2 years. We are allowed to choose 5 subjects. It was the only way for us to attempt to enter the public universities. There were only 3 universities offering medical program. Matriculation/Asasi science were reserved for Bumiputeras till 2003 when 10% of seats, in some programs were given to non-Bumiputeras.  Most Asasi programs in major universities are still reserved for Bumiputeras, till today. By God’s grace, I scored 5As in my STPM science examination, the only Indian student to do so in Malaysia. There were 72 students who scored 5As in the country, in 1991 STPM.
As I had mentioned in my earlier articles, our universities work on a quota system. While the Bumiputeras enter via an exclusive matriculation pathway, all non-Bumiputeras must use the STPM pathway. Two different system with 2 different standards. Further to this, we had the quota system. There were hardly any private colleges except for some which were running twinning law programs. Otherwise, you need to go overseas under your own parent’s sponsorship. As far as the medical faculty is concerned, 60% is given to the Bumiputeras, 30% to the Chinese and 10% to the Indians. The total intake for the 1992 UM medical faculty was 180 students. The ratio is the same for all other faculties. It supposed to follow the population ratio of the country. The number of intakes were fewer in UKM (150) and USM (110). Chinese students will need at least 5As or 4As in their STPM while the Indians can get away with 3As, to enter the medical faculty. Well, we had to accept the fact that we are treated differently. It became part and parcel of our life. It made us a better person and a fighter as we need to fight for entry into local public universities for 40% of the seats that are allocated to the non-Bumiputeras. BUT we were all Malaysians and I only had Malaysia as my country.
It was in the university that we yet again see all the 3 major races coming together. It is also here that I realised what “educational segregation” at primary and secondary school levels has done to our social integration. Many of the Malays were totally isolated for at least 7 years before they start to see non-Malays again. Many of them were from boarding schools, MARA colleges and agama schools, before entering matriculation. All these schools were reserved for the Malays. For some, even their primary schools were predominantly Malays as they were from rural schools where there were hardly any non-Malays. Some did do up to SPM in a national schools before entering matriculation/Asasi. As a non-Malay, I could clearly see the difference among these people. The ones that mingle around without any issues are those who were in the national schools up to SPM or from a major city where they are used to non-Malays. Many seem to have a culture shock looking at the non-Malays, not to mention the inferiority complex, being brought up in a non-competitive environment. They don’t mix around much and tend to keep to themselves. They did improve along the way especially when we started our clinical years. But I must say that there were some excellent Malay students as well, who had now achieved successful career in their respective field. It is sad that the society may still look down upon them just because of the different entry pathway and the quota system. Society’s perception cannot be changed unless everyone is at a level playing field.
Similar issue could also be said about some of the Chinese students. Many were from Chinese vernacular schools up to Form 5 or even STPM. I could clearly see how they prefer to be among themselves and speak their own dialect even when they are among the non-Chinese, because they are so used to do so. They don’t realise how rude it is, to the others. While the national school educated Chinese were able to mingle around more freely and more proficient in English, the vernacular school educated prefer to stick to themselves. As they enter the clinical years, some of them do improve and mingle around more with the other races.
As for the Indians, all of us are from national schools. If I can remember, there was only 1 among us who was from a Tamil primary school. As there are no secondary Tamil language vernacular school, even if they do go to Tamil primary schools, they will end up in a secondary national school. We were among the students who can get along with anyone in the university. Almost always we speak in English as even many among us are not Tamilians. We were a rojak group.
Did religion affect us in any way? Yes, it did. When I was in the 1st year, the Malays will form their own study group and the Chinese will form the own study group. The Indians usually play around. We don’t form any study group. We only play football together. So does the national school educated Chinese. We are happy go lucky kind of people. There were also some Malay boys who are in the same category. In my batch there were 2 Indian Muslims who entered the medical school under the Indian quota, via STPM. They used to mingle around more with the Indian students at first. Both were approached by the so called “dakwah people” who are usually students from the religious faculties. They were told openly that they should not be with the non-Muslims. They should only help the Muslims. They were told that they should avoid being close friends with the non-Muslims but spend more time with the Muslim students. One of these Indian Muslim student heeded their advice and moved away from the other Indian students. He eventually came closer to us when we started our clinical years. The other student remained close to the Indian students and became one of my best friends. We were roommates from Year 2 to Year 4. He now heads one of the top cardiothoracic unit in KKM.
Every residential college in UM use to organise respective religious festival celebrations. We had Malam Raya, Chinese New Year celebration, Deepavali Night and even Chrismast night. Everyone in the college will participate as it is considered as a cultural event. I was the Director of Deepavali night in 1996 for my 6th residential college. I even worn the best director award for the college. Deepavali night is considered the biggest event of the college every year. Unfortunately, I was informed that 2 years after I graduated, UM banned any other religious celebration in individual residential college. I am not sure what is the current status.
It is also in the university days I realise that many of these Malay students do not know what is happening out there. The more you talk to them, the more you understand that they are totally unaware of the racial policies in education and scholarships. While they understand that the Malays are given privileges in boarding schools, MARA colleges and Matriculation, they felt that the “others” are also given equal opportunities. They felt that the special opportunities given to them were because they are from rural /poor areas. Some are not even aware of the quota system and lack of scholarship for poor non-Bumiputeras. Many do empathise with us as they learn about the situation.
Five years of my medical school came to an end in May 1997. What appeared to be a long journey at the beginning, appeared rather short when I completed the course. It was a fun filled journey. I made new friends and learned a lot. Our lecturers were excellent. It was the days when Professors teach undergraduate students. I could still remember those great names like the late Prof John Bosco, Prof CT Chua, Prof Siva, Prof Raman, Prof Deva, Prof Fatimah, Prof Annuar Zaini, Prof Alan Teh and many more great teachers who thought us at the time. Many of them had retired but many did resign when I was about to graduate. As the private hospitals began to mushroom from late 1990s, many of our great lecturers left for greener pastures. It was a great loss to the faculty.
It was when I was about to start my Final year that I met my wife, who apparently is in the same batch! Since we had 180 students, sometimes we only knew those who are in our group or partner group. It was very difficult to get to know everyone in our batch by name. Sometimes we can recognise that they are part of our batch but do not know the name. How ironic! My wife was in my partner group starting Year 4. We first got to know that we exist somewhere towards the end of Year 4 and became friends when we started Year 5. By the time we sat for our final exams, we had confessions to be made! The rest is history…..
To Be Continued …………
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Post Wawasan 2020: Where to, Malaysia? Part 4
