Not a single Malaysian university is of world standard

Isn't it time to concede that our universities are just substandard? After failing to be in the list of top universities in any university academic ranking for years, some of our politicians and citizens still prefer to live in a state of denial.

In the 50s and 60s, UM is one of the top universities in this region, on par with top Australian universities at that point in time. What led to its downfall is years of policies that rejects meritocracy in place of a quota system. This policies have produced tonnes of unemployed graduates, since many of those who were enrolled were simply not 'qualified' in the first place, akin to the 'garbage in garbage' out analogy.

I still have vivid memory of JPA's rejection to my scholarship application to pursue architecture many years ago. Out of the 6 choices submitted to UPU, I've made it my second choice. Being the son of a former civil servant and obtaining near perfect results, I thought I would at least be given an interview. But to my horror, I was rejected. Unsatisfied, I went to JPA in KL to clarify the matter, only to be told that since I'm not a BUMIPUTERA, putting JPA as my second choice will automatically disqualify me from the selection. I was still a simple minded student at that point in time and hence quietly accepted the decision. But the words from the officer will forever remain in my memory - the confirmation of my status as a second class citizen despite being born in this country, despite being a proud and patriotic Malaysian all my life. It was the same time that many of my friends felt the same in the process of applying for local universities. Some failed to obtain the courses they had chosen because they would need significantly better results to succeed compared to bumiputera students, due to the quota system.

Hence it is not too difficult to imagine that after years of such discriminatory policies, the quality of our universities have gone down the drain. Lecturers need to lower down the standard so that these group of students could pass their exams, some of these graduates will end up as lecturers in universities as the corporate world would not accept them due to their many inadequacies. Brilliant students on the other hand, will end up being average graduates since their potential will not be developed. Slowly, UM's ranking slipped out of the list of top universities and may never be back again until such discriminatory policies are abolished. The same applies to few other once reputable local universities such as USM.

Many in this country, including politicians prefer to live in their own state of denial, using our own rulers to measure ourselves, such accrediting developed status to cities and states based on our own criteria. We even have our own Malaysian Book of Records to hold records such as the most eggs boiled in hot spring or the biggest national flag.

As a patriotic citizen, I can't help feeling sad for my beloved nation. In this ever competitive world, many less developed nations around us have worked hard and improved and have overtaken us. In this globalised world, our survival will depend on our competitiveness and yet we are not addressing the root of the problem. It is difficult to imagine where we would be in year 2020. At the rate we are going now, it is nearly impossible to see this vision achieved.

Wake up Malaysians! We really need to progress as a nation!