Politicians today continued to respond to the drastic shrink in placements in public universities, as scores of 4.0 students were denied places in competitive programmes like medicine and law.

Leading the charge, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang questioned the large drop from 16 percent growth in university intake in 2003, to a mere 5 percent this year, raising the issue of whether previous year's increase was a result of short-lived electioneering gimmick by the ruling Barisan Nasional government.

"Can the Higher Education Ministry explain why there was a 16 percent increase (5,282) in student intake before the general election, but this immediately shrunk to 1,888 or 5 percent after the landslide victory of BN after the general election?," the Ipoh Timor MP asked.

"I would have thought that there would be greater emphasis including bigger increase in student intake after the establishment of a Higher Education Ministry, but the reverse seems to be the case!"

Lim stressed that the cabinet on Wednesday must decide with urgency whether university intakes will need to be increased. He proposed that placements be hiked by at least 2,000 students, from the present 38,892 announced by the ministry yesterday.

He hinted that all DAP MPs would be behind any motion to approve a supplementary budget to achieve the extra 2,000 placements in public universities, "regardless of race or religion".

Invest in education

The issue of discriminatory selections based on gender was also raised.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali expressed concern that the ministry is said to have adopted the practice of providing preferential treatment to Malay males, at the expense of Malay female students who have stronger qualifying marks.

"Apparently, this move is to balance out the ratio of Malay male to female students, particularly in medicine. The Education Ministry must explain whether such policies are being practised."

Syed Husin, a former professor at University Malaya, said the best way to overcome the problems of intake of qualified students would be to increase the number of universities, and particularly raise the capacity of medical faculties.

"Investments in education is far more productive and useful than wasting our finances on physical development."

The shortage in doctors seemed to have reached crisis levels in recent years. Despite the government policy of hiring of foreign doctors - who sometimes pose communication difficulties - the doctor-patient ratio in government hospitals is at an alarming 1 to 5,000.

MIC raising to cabinet

The controversially low intake have also raised the issue of matriculation versus Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM), as the varying measurements have skewed the university entrance unfairly against non-bumiputras.

MIC has asked that students who excelled in the STPM but denied their courses of choice give their details to its social arm, Yayasan Strategik Sosial (YSS), who is compiling a list for MIC president S Samy Vellu, to be raised at the next cabinet meeting.

YSS director Dr Denison Jayasooria pointed to the restrictions placed against non-bumiputra students in matriculation programmes - only 10 percent of matriculation seats are currently set aside for non-bumiputra - as a major reason in accounting for the low 5.7 percent Indians in public universities.

"A large number of students eligible for public universities come from matriculation courses...(but) there are only 10 per cent non-Bumiputera students at these matriculation courses, so naturally non-bumiputera students fail to make it," he was quoted by Bernama as saying today.

"Furthermore, it is unfair to put the STPM students and matriculation students in the same basket in the selection to public universities," he added.