Debate over Malaysia's bumiputera policy hots up amid UiTM saga

Analysts do not see Anwar govt changing course as it cannot afford to alienate Malay voters

- Azril Annuar

KUALA LUMPUR - The political heat generated over a proposal to temporarily allow non-bumiputeras into Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) for the first time has spotlighted the New Economic Policy (NEP), an affirmative action policy started 53 years ago following deadly race riots.

Malaysians are debating whether ethnic Chinese and Indian students should be allowed to enrol in the postgraduate cardiothoracic surgery programme of UiTM, a bumiputera-only institution, as a stopgap measure to reduce a shortage of such surgeons that has delayed heart and lung operations and resulted in some deaths.

This was suggested in April by cardiothoracic surgeon Raja Amin Raja Mokhtar, a professor from UiTM's department of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery who is also president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons of Malaysia.

This faced backlash from the university's students and Malay politicians.

The heated debate has caught the administration of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in a bind, as his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition was voted into power in November 2022 on a multi-racial platform.

Yet the government that espouses the so-called "Madani" concept - moderate, modern Islam - cannot afford to alienate the majorityMalay population that largely sees the NEP as sacrosanct and UiTM as a bastion of bumiputera education that must be protected.

Columnist Andrew Sia at the liberal Malaysiakini news website poured gasoline on the fire on May 22 by calling UiTM an "apartheid academy", eliciting a police probe after at least 14 police reports were made against him.