KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — The disparity between urban and rural schools means merit-based education will be injurious to Malay students’ chances, a coalition of Malay rights NGOs has asserted.

At a press conference today, the Malay Consultative Council (MPM) also decried the state of education today for producing youths who are ignorant of the nation’s history and the “special rights” of the Malays.

“If you’re on the same playing field, then you can apply meritocracy ... Otherwise in the end it’s like stabbing your own self,” the chairman of MPM steering committee, Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Hilmi Ismail, told reporters here.

“(If) you introduce meritocracy, you’re stabbing the Malays who have the special rights to be awarded scholarship.”

Hilmi claimed that the power to award scholarships had previously belonged to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, but suggested that his authority has now been usurped by meritocracy.

“The government these days has lessened the power of the Agong. They’re using meritocracy instead,” he said.

MPM steering committee member Tan Sri Prof Ibrahim Abu Shah, who is also the former deputy chancellor for Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), had last month proposed that the education system be restructured in order to return “justice” to Malay students.

“Today, meritocracy has created Chinese supremacy. There is nothing to benefit Malay students. Imagine Malay students only make up 35 per cent of those in higher education institutions and the rest are Chinese,” Ibrahim said during a forum titled “Malay and Bumiputra Education Convention” last month.

“In terms of scholarships, Malay students have failed to dominate the allocation of scholarships. Last year, 80 per cent of Chinese students received scholarships as they obtained outstanding results based on the government’s policy of meritocracy.” he said.

Other Malay academics who echoed Ibrahim’s opinion were former education department director-general Alimuddin Mohd Dom, and Retired Educators’ Association president Raof Hussin, who was Ibrahim’s fellow panelist in the forum.

In 2002, the then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had replaced the racial quota system for public university with meritocracy to spur healthy competition among Malay students.

The quota system had previously reserved 55 per cent of university places for Malay and Bumiputera students.