JULY 16 — You would think that deep in the dusty bowels of the MCA and MIC headquarters, there are folders devoted to Chinese and Indian students who had been denied entry to public universities.

Truth is there has been no conscious plan by both parties to put these productive assets into mainstream public education. How else would you explain their political approach to an educational system that does not cater to minority communities?

Malaysia is the only country where there is widespread dissatisfaction when it comes to university admissions every year. This year is no different and the usual arguments involving politicians over the low intake of Chinese and Indians students to public varsities have begun.

As expected, their response to the issue has been pessimistic and unconvincing.

The MCA and the MIC — both politically-challenged members of Barisan Nasional — appear crankier than a bag of cats. They have upped annoyance with their scratchy loss of direction.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek groaned that although the intake of students in public universities had increased this year, the successful Chinese applicants only formed 19 per cent — lower than about 23 per cent in previous years.

Describing this figure as “totally unacceptable”, he spewed statistics: Out of the 41,573 enrolments this year, only 7,913 were Chinese students compared to last year when they constituted 8,986 of a total enrolment of 38,549 and 9,457 of a total enrolment of 41,267 in 2011.

Sir, why would the number of Chinese gaining entry decline when student intake increases? Has someone been sleeping on the job? Wouldn’t you, Sir, see it as a gross negligence on the part of your party?

Why would the MCA be doubtful that meritocracy was the basis for the selection process when it is an annual affair? Doesn’t the party have the clout to demand a more transparent process in what it deems a “great injustice” in depriving qualified students to higher education?

The blame’s on you, not the country for the brain drain. Blame yourself for Chinese students not gaining entry to courses of their choice that had also been on the decline over the last three years.

Clearly, the MCA that has no representation in the Cabinet has shirked its responsibility of defending the interests and welfare of the Chinese.

Similarly, the MIC has lost its political compass and has been weak operators in this matter of great national interest.

It makes noise, so much noise that everything it says becomes indiscernible background clutter, like an annoying mosquito buzzing around ears. And then it moves on. It forgets.

Typical rhetoric ruled when MIC treasurer Datuk Jaspal Singh swung at fellow party comrade P. Kamalanathan, the deputy education minister, over the poor intake of Indian students in public universities this year.

He lashed out that discrimination against minorities must stop, singing that lame, unfair tune: “The majority of Indians in Malaysia are poor.”

Sure, hold Kamalanathan responsible for the fate of Indian students, but accept that the MIC leadership is equally hypocritical.

The MIC, not just Kamalanathan, has to explain why Indian students only made up around 1,800 or a “miserable” four per cent of the total 41,573 intake in public universities.

To be sure, the brightest and the best of our students should be accepted into the courses of their choice, but if the MCA and the MIC cannot ensure this occurs, then that would explain why many loathe and disbelieve politicians.

Politicians are increasingly seen as a burden to society, unable to yield happier citizens.

You hardly get positives from them. They thrive on negativity and machine-gun the public with unconstructive, downbeat stories about their rivals.

They fail, or rather lack the sharpness, to address the scale of the real strains the nation is weighed down with. Naive politics that makes light of imbalances that frustrate Malaysia’s recovery from hot-button challenges.

Surely, they are not expecting the current trial of higher education to work itself out. It’s extreme complacency that causes intense worry.

It’s a complicated issue prone to unhelpful generalities. Such tinderbox issues should not involve stinging empty and meaningless rhetoric.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.