KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — The future of education for the Malay and Bumiputera communities must move beyond quotas towards greater self-reliance and resilience.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir said the success of the communities should instead be measured by their ability to excel in critical fields such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), develop new technologies and own intellectual property.

“The measure is not only the number of students entering university, but how many can think critically, master STEM, build global companies and lead world-class institutions,” he said when officiating the Malay Education Convention 2026 here today.

Zambry said that to achieve this goal, the country’s education ecosystem needed to move beyond simply providing access towards improving quality, building competencies, promoting entrepreneurship and advancing from technology use to technology ownership.

He said Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) should no longer be viewed as a second choice, but as a key pathway for developing national talent and producing highly skilled technicians and problem-solving experts.

Addressing the narrative of Bumiputera dependency, Zambry said affirmative policies remained relevant as long as structural imbalances persisted, but their ultimate objective must be to empower the Bumiputera community to achieve excellence and become independent.

“Malay and Bumiputera education cannot forever be built on the narrative that ‘we need to be helped because we are weak’.

“The narrative of the future must be: ‘We are given the opportunity to become strong, stand on our own, lead and help others’,” he said.

Zambry also stressed that mastery of the Malay language was important as a language of knowledge and identity, while proficiency in English and other languages was essential to competing globally without compromising integrity.

“In the pursuit of global excellence, we must never lose our identity and values. Education must produce not only intelligent people, but individuals of good character, integrity and the moral courage to lead,” he said.

On the convention, which is a continuation of the Bumiputera Education Congress held on May 1, Zambry said it would culminate in the formulation of a comprehensive resolution.

He said the resolution would subsequently be submitted to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for consideration and further policy action by the government. — Bernama