Akmal Seeks Wee S Apology For Blaming Faulty System After 99 9 Merit Stpm Scorer Denied Um Accounting Course

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MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong must personally apologise to the Higher Education Ministry for prejudicing civil servants after it was revealed that outstanding STPM achiever Edward Wong Yi Xian missed out on pursuing his choice accounting course in University Malaya (UM) because there are a thousand more qualified applicants.
UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh made the call after the Higher Education Department (JPT) clarified that although Wong achieved a perfect 4.0 CGPA and scored 99.9% for co-curricular activities, he was ranked 1,129th among 2,291 eligible applicants for UM.
Only 85 places for accountancy are available this year in the top choice university of the Bukit Mertajam, Penang-hailed 20-year-old top STPM achiever.
“No doubt he obtained 99.9% overall merit but the fact is there’re more STPM candidates who achieved 100% merit while places are limited at UM,” penned the rightist Merlimau state assemblyman on his Facebook page.

“When you blame (the Unit Pusat Universiti or UPU pathway as a) broken system, I think that’s an inappropriate accusation which tarnishes the good name of the Higher Education Ministry.”
Added the Melaka Rural Development, Agriculture and Food Security Committee chairman:
“You should therefore apologise to the apology to Higher Education Ministry as I think civil servants have carried out their duties diligently without any prejudice to any group which is expected of them.
“If you are ashamed to apologise publicly, you can call on the minister to apologise privately.”
Recall that Wee had on Monday (Sept 8) staged a media conference after Wong and his family turned up at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur to share their side of the story.

This led the Ayer Hitam MP to raise three pertinent questions as to why Wong who achieved a perfect 4.0 CGPA in STPM (straight As), 9.9/10 in co-curricular activities and 99.90% in overall merit had his application to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting at six public universities rejected.
The six universities are UM, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
Why was Wong’s UPU application (admission into public universities based on merit) not accepted?Why is an excellent pupil like Wong only offered admission through the open channel instead of through the UPU? Editor’s Note: Wong was offered admission into UM for accounting which happens to be his first preference in July through the open channel which requires high tuition fee (RM83,800 compared with about RM8,000 under UPU).At the same time, Wong also received an offer from USM for management studies when his choice was accounting. Why did this happen?Meanwhile, MCA Youth has defended Wee in that the predicament faced by Wong “is not a racial issue but one of fairness and transparency in the student admission system”.
“Public universities are institutions funded by taxpayers. They should not be run as businesses or treat students as sources of profit,” MCA Youth Education Consultative Committee chairman Ong Chee Siang pointed out in a media statement.

“Their fundamental principle is to provide access to quality education for all, especially outstanding students regardless of their background.”
In this regard, MCA Youth wanted the Higher Education Ministry and the public universities concerned to provide a transparent explanation as well as “to urgently address flaws in the system so that students who truly deserve a place are not unfairly denied”. –  Focus Malaysia

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