Prof James Chin defends Edward Wong, insists a “shadow quota” exists in Malaysia’s educ system
RENOWNED political analyst Prof James Chin has emerged the second educationist to question the existence of meritocracy in the nation’s education system after political scientist-turned-politician Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy having blasted the Higher Education Ministry foe continuously repeating untruth that admissions to public universities are based on merit.
The inaugural director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania pointed to the “unofficial quota system operating in the background using different entry routes, namely “Matrikulasi/Asasi (pre-university foundation programmes typically for Bumiputera students) vs STPM” into public universities.
Fending off brickbats hurled at him for defending outstanding STPM achiever Edward Wong Yi Xian who scored a perfect 4.0 CGPA and 99.9% merit for co-curricular activities that mathematics is not a pre-requisite to do an accounting course, Chin hit out in a follow-up post on X:
That is how they keep this shady system alive!
“But no, these brainless fools – including some Chinese clowns – keep chanting: “No quota, no quota” because the MOE (Education Ministry) says so.
Seriously? Are you that gullible?”
Are you kidding me? Another round of direct attacks against me, spewing the same tired, nonsense arguments!
(1) More Chinese graduates in accounting at UM last year, with the famous pie chart
(2) Quota system scrapped in 2002. “You Chinese “pushed to ditch the quota system, and Show more
Bitter pill to swallow?
Chin who is also the a senior fellow and the Governance Studies director at the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia at Sunway University went on to reveal “the government’s own admission in a parliamentary reply that this crap is real” from a ‘buried’ 2023 question posed by MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong in his capacity as the Ayer Hitam MP.
To the question what is the total number of students admitted to each public university by race and what are the five most popular courses that STPM and Matriculation candidates are competing for to enter public universities, the Higher Education minister in his parliamentary reply stated:
1) 81.9% of Bumiputera students in 2022 while non-Bumiputera students comprised 18.1%.
2) Top five courses for STPM entry: Bachelor of Entrepreneurship (Tourism); Bachelor of Commerce (Engineering Enterprise); Bachelor of Management and Education; Bachelor of Commerce; and Bachelor of Commerce (International Business).
Top five courses for Matriculation entry: Bachelor of Accountancy; Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering; Bachelor of Civil Engineering; Bachelor of Business Administration; and Bachelor of Medicine.
“Since my critics keep saying the government is correct, then you have to accept this parliamentary reply from the government!” snubbed the fan of Sarawak Laksa and bah kut teh (herbal pork rib soup).
“Yep, there is no shadow quota system operating. Remember, this 81% does not include Bumiputera students enrolled in UITM (Universiti Teknologi MARA). UITM has more than 150K students.”
Understanding the consequences of him being vocal on the matter, Chin added:
Don’t worry. I expect the cybertroopers and KMI (Ketuanan Melayu Islam) supporters to keep attacking me.
They will find another angle. Why? Because there’re lots of brainwashed people in Malaysia who cannot think. You can never convince them because that is how brainwashing works!
For the rest of you – please wake up and accept the reality!”
Oddly enough, the Sarawak-born Chin did receive moral support from human rights activist and lawyer Siti Kasim who encourages him to dig deeper. – Sept 14, 2025
Editor’s Note: Below is the earlier X post by Chin which triggered the current post in his quest to silence his critics:
Of course there is a quotela system.
ReplyDeleteThe population of Malaysian applicants to universities is Salami-sliced into dozens of categories , each with their assigned weightage.