Amid the rhetoric and controversy surrounding meritocracy in education, I would like to point out that what is being done now would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should be lauded for their attempts to introduce meritocracy in education. Although I am not disillusioned to think that the current attempt is nothing less than desperation to arrest declining standards, it at least shows that the leaders are not turning a blind eye towards reality.

What the political class in this country will discover eventually is that they cannot avoid the realities of the real world no matter how they like to believe in their own rhetoric and ideas.

Like free markets and globalisation, a small amount of meritocracy will eventually snowball once the benefits are realised — no matter what the nationalists would like it to be.

The truth is that a mistake has been made and it continues to be a mistake if we avoid competition and meritocracy. Protectionism breeds inefficiency that will eventually lead to a collapse. What has not stopped it all this while was a lack of political will.

Much as I would like to see full meritocracy, the poor leadership we have will continue to hinder us but at least we are not sliding down further the wrong path.