'Swift removal of affirmative action destabilising'
Regina LeePublished: Mar 4, 2011 7:19 AM | Updated: Mar 5, 2011 12:04 AM
The swift removal of race-based affirmative action that is present in the country now will be potentially destabilising for the nation, a Universiti Malaya academician says.
The swift removal of race-based affirmative action that is present in the country now will be potentially destabilising for the nation, a Universiti Malaya academician says.
Lee Hwok Aun (left) of the Economics and Administration Faculty's Department of Development Studies said it was also unrealistic to call for an immediate and complete abolishment of the race-based policy.
"To completely do away with race-based affirmative action means taking away the matriculation colleges and some universities. It can be quite destabilisng," he said in his paper, Affirmative Action in Malaysia: Education and Employment Outcomes since the 1990s, at UM this morning.
The programmes of both BN and Pakatan Rakyat for reforms, Lee said, were still ambiguous and incoherent.
"Needs-based, class-based, merit-based and market-friendly affirmative actions still remain complements and not substitutes for race-based affirmative action," he said in the paper presented at a seminar organised by the faculty.
Asked about concerns over the seeming discrimination against the bumiputera in the private sector, resulting in their low-representation in the sector, he said it could possibly be a perception that was enforced even before the start of employment.
"The same could probably go for the non-bumiputera who think that public sector jobs are not very lucrative, and that is why they do not want to apply for them. There are many factors to applying jobs.
"But if the public sector is already meeting a certain group's needs and the private sector is meeting another group's, there will not be an overlap (of racial representation). There will not be cohesion where public policy is concerned," Lee said in reply to a question from the floor.
‘Affirmative action causing decline in education quality'
From data gathered for his doctorate dissertation, he said, there were indications that the quality of tertiary education was going downhill at the expense of affirmative education.
While the unemployment rate as per education attained for the Malay-bumiputera with tertiary education stood at at 4.3 percent, the non-Malay bumiputera fared worse, with 9.5 percent.
At the same time, the unemployment rate against education attained for the Chinese and Indians who have tertiary education only stood at 2.2 and 4.0 percent in comparison.
"While this shows a clear evidence of increase in quantity of tertiary education, there are indications that the quality has declined," he said.
Quoting an earlier study, Lee pointed out that students entering university from matriculation programmes, on average, performed fairly poorer.
The slip in the quality of the country's tertiary education was also evident from a 2005 World Bank study in which 70 managers surveyed complained of a lack of capable graduates as a constraint on higher technological investment.
Lee said the study also showed that employees' assessment of the most important skill they lacked was proficiency in English.
"While Malaysia remains racially divided, with deeply embedded institutions and mindsets surrounding relative positions of race groups, it is arguably more judicious and viable to negotiate a steady and systematic transition away from the status quo.
"This should be done by precisely defining the justification and scope of race-based affirmative action by critically revising and modifying programmes to make them more effective, and by setting time limits or cut-off points for preferential treatment.
"Charting a passage from the current affirmative action regime requires broader and deeper analysis and policy debates, which in turn demand full disclosure of relevant data and open, informed and critical national dialogue," Lee said in his concluding remarks.
Lee Hwok Aun (left) of the Economics and Administration Faculty's Department of Development Studies said it was also unrealistic to call for an immediate and complete abolishment of the race-based policy."To completely do away with race-based affirmative action means taking away the matriculation colleges and some universities. It can be quite destabilisng," he said in his paper, Affirmative Action in Malaysia: Education and Employment Outcomes since the 1990s, at UM this morning.
The programmes of both BN and Pakatan Rakyat for reforms, Lee said, were still ambiguous and incoherent.
"Needs-based, class-based, merit-based and market-friendly affirmative actions still remain complements and not substitutes for race-based affirmative action," he said in the paper presented at a seminar organised by the faculty.
Asked about concerns over the seeming discrimination against the bumiputera in the private sector, resulting in their low-representation in the sector, he said it could possibly be a perception that was enforced even before the start of employment."The same could probably go for the non-bumiputera who think that public sector jobs are not very lucrative, and that is why they do not want to apply for them. There are many factors to applying jobs.
"But if the public sector is already meeting a certain group's needs and the private sector is meeting another group's, there will not be an overlap (of racial representation). There will not be cohesion where public policy is concerned," Lee said in reply to a question from the floor.
‘Affirmative action causing decline in education quality'
From data gathered for his doctorate dissertation, he said, there were indications that the quality of tertiary education was going downhill at the expense of affirmative education.
While the unemployment rate as per education attained for the Malay-bumiputera with tertiary education stood at at 4.3 percent, the non-Malay bumiputera fared worse, with 9.5 percent.
At the same time, the unemployment rate against education attained for the Chinese and Indians who have tertiary education only stood at 2.2 and 4.0 percent in comparison.
"While this shows a clear evidence of increase in quantity of tertiary education, there are indications that the quality has declined," he said.
Quoting an earlier study, Lee pointed out that students entering university from matriculation programmes, on average, performed fairly poorer.
The slip in the quality of the country's tertiary education was also evident from a 2005 World Bank study in which 70 managers surveyed complained of a lack of capable graduates as a constraint on higher technological investment.
Lee said the study also showed that employees' assessment of the most important skill they lacked was proficiency in English.
"While Malaysia remains racially divided, with deeply embedded institutions and mindsets surrounding relative positions of race groups, it is arguably more judicious and viable to negotiate a steady and systematic transition away from the status quo.
"This should be done by precisely defining the justification and scope of race-based affirmative action by critically revising and modifying programmes to make them more effective, and by setting time limits or cut-off points for preferential treatment.
"Charting a passage from the current affirmative action regime requires broader and deeper analysis and policy debates, which in turn demand full disclosure of relevant data and open, informed and critical national dialogue," Lee said in his concluding remarks.
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