It was very interesting to see over the weekend the strong opposition against the prime minister's suggestion that the next academic year may be the first year in which a merit system s implemented in the university intake process. It was quite amusing to see hats change - Umno youth leaders making all the grumbling about how they don't agree with the PM and DAP saying how much they agree with the proposal!

But that little item of note aside, it is very distressing for the future of the Malay race to see that so many people are so strongly against the proposal, a proposal that should have been taken seriously a lot sooner before the unfortunate malaise amongst the Malays set in.

Let's examine the arguments for a merit based university admission system

Firstly, does anyone truly believe that the Chinese and Indians are more intelligent that the Malays? Some may say so, thereby justifying the quota system. Or some may say that inherent inequalities in British colonial rule has made the Chinese and Indian societies much more capable than their Malay counterpart, thereby justifying the quota system in education. Rubbish.

The Chinese and Indians are not more intelligent on average, and the years of inequality perpetuated on them by the Government since independence from the British doesn't seem to have affected them that much - the Chinese and Indian communities are prospering and their most brilliant students will beat the best Malay students anytime, not because they are inherently better but because their pro-Malay environment of Malaysia all these years have made them more competitive

The Malays are just as smart, just as capable. The Malays have the talent, they have the capability to succeed. The problem is that by pampering them all these years, the Malays on a whole have become dependent, less hardworking and complacent. This is not a broad condemnation; it certainly doesn't apply to every Malay, but put aside your initial averse reaction to that difficult statement and think: take a group of people (they don't have to be Malays - it may apply to any group or race), give them everything they need, don't push them to their limits, don't make them compete to get what they want and need and what do you think they'll become?

They will become dependent, less hardworking and complacent. It is just an unfortunate fact (remember, it could have happened to anyone in that position) that "they" in this scenario are the Malays in this country.

On the other hand, you have the Chinese and Indian students. Since Independence, they have had their privileges and benefits slowly taken from them. This was the right thing to do because the British had simply given them too much during the colonial period. Possibly, it was the best thing the government ever did for them, otherwise, we might be discussing the issue of Chinese complacency today. After the incident of May 1969, more drastic steps were taken to reduce their privileges and benefits.

Soon, Chinese and Indian students found it very, very tough to get into the local universities and their scholarship opportunities from the Government became even rarer. The cases where a less smart ("smart" being defined by the results obtained in the national level exams such as the SPM) Malay student got admission into university while a smarter (higher scoring in exams) Chinese student was denied became more and more frequent. What choice was left to the Chinese?

They were given a very limited number of tertiary education opportunities and financial scholarships from the Government but there were and still are many Chinese students who aspire to go to university. Faced with this reality, you can be sure they worked very hard, worked their guts out to remain competitive.

And people still wonder why they make up a majority of the top scorers in this country. It's not because they are smarter, or because or some "mysterious Chinese network" but because they were simply forced to be competitive. Any first-year economics student will tell you that competition breeds efficiency which in turn increases productivity.

In is within this "sphere of competition" that the Prime Minister wants the Malays to be. Years ago, with the quota system, he believed that the Malays would grab the opportunity with both hands, and independently make the most of the opportunities given them. He believed the quota system would act as a platform to push the Malays into the upper echelon of the intellectual elite.

Just like a man who will gulp down water after being denied it for so long, he felt that the Malays would make the most of the education opportunity given to them after so long of British denial. He was wrong and he is now admitting that mistake with his latest proposal.

Give a man a fish everyday of his life and he will be happy and content until the day you die, then he will die too because no one is around to feed him anymore. Withhold your favour and he will resent you but he will soon realise that he needs to learn how to fish in order to survive. Want to take bets on whether he will push himself to learn if you withhold the fish-a-day policy?

Secondly, and more importantly, is the fact that Malaysia wants to become a developed nation in the next few decades. Look around. Are there any nations today that enjoy the developed nation status who practice such a widespread and deeply-rooted affirmative action policy as Malaysia does? The US has an affirmative action policy for the Afro-Americans (blacks), but they are a minority in that country and even then, the community themselves with Resolution 209 in California two years ago voted to remove the affirmative action privileges that they were enjoying because they began to realise the negative effects it was having on their society.

Affirmative action or AA is fine as a theoretical concept but only in very limited areas. One such area would be AA for the very poor or AA for the physically disadvantaged. But when you apply AA on such a wide spectrum of society such as a particular race, then you will face many of the problems the Malays face today, the most problematic of all being the inability of Malay students to compete head-to-head with students from the other races. The state of the problem has progressed to such a level that even with the AA policies to back them up, the Malays are still falling behind.

Unsurprisingly, we have PAS through Mahfuz Omar saying the call for a merit based system being "irrational" and a "revenge tactic" against the Malays who do not support Barisan Nasional.

No, Mahfuz, what the Prime Minister is doing is not revenge. If you could see beyond the cloud of politics, you would understand that what he is doing is actually in the best interests of the future of the Malay race. What do you intend to do to make the Malays more competitive against other races? What are your policies to break the complacent malaise Malay students are suffering from? If you don't have an answer of your own (or maybe you just want to ignore the problem), then it might be better to go with the PM's plan, no matter how bitter a pill it will have to be swallowed.

And, oh yes, let there be no denying it. It will be a bitter pill. If the plan comes to fruition, the situation will be very, very bad for the Malays. Possibly, a whole generation of Malay students will be lost in the "catch-up" period that will inadvertently follow. You will probably see one generation of university students mostly made up from the minority races in this country. The backlash will be great and the suffering will be greater.

The BN will certainly have to pay a very dear political price for this move; it might even cost them an election, with the sudden and immediate loss of support from the Malay community. But doesn't that prove the validity of the proposal and the severity of the problem? The PM knows that such a plan may cost his party the next election, and yet he goes through with it. To a critical mind, that would indicate that he is actually doing the right thing, the best thing for the community that he calls his own and that he so obviously loves. He would do it even though he knows it will cost him his job. What more proof do you need of his sincerity?

No one likes to have his rice bowl taken from him. The prime minister should expect heavy and fierce resistance from all quarters, especially the Malays, and even some Chinese and Indians who would prefer to have the Malays complacent rather than competitive. But he should remain true in his course and hold firm.