Scholars Laud Nahvin For Speaking Up On Meritocracy Issues

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Following the viral speech given by top student Nahvin Muthusamy, at which he raised the issue of meritocracy during an award ceremony, several professors are calling for further engagement on the issue.
“It is good of him to speak up. But we must engage to make sure there is proper change, not just something that is forgotten by next week," said Prof Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, chairperson of the National Council of Professors.
Shamsul (above) said the issues in question have developed gradually and generally since the NEP was introduced in the 1970s.
"While there is a correlation between poverty eradication and education, this guy would not be happy about affirmative action and the way it has manifested. There are many issues to be discussed,” said Shamsul.
He said that at the same time, meritocracy is supposed to be there once the quota of the entry point is crossed.
“I just helped with the appeal of an Indian girl who got straight As in STPM but not SPM, to help her in her application to study medicine.
“Now you see even with the quotas, there are still many Chinese and Indians in medicine and sciences, while you have many Malays in the arts.
“For me, that is related to the failure of Stem (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teaching at other levels. We also need to ask why are there so many SPM students who don’t want to do further studies?” he added.
Royal Education Award winner Nahvin, 23, told Malaysiakini that he used the opportunity to draw attention to the lack of meritocracy in our education system, particularly honouring a friend who is no longer with us.
“Addressing the issue of unfairness in education has been a topic close to my heart, especially witnessing friends who, despite possessing outstanding qualifications, face challenges in securing placements," said Nahvin who recently graduated from Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) with a Bachelor’s in computer science (artificial intelligence).
Royal Education Awards are handed out annually to two students in each of the 20 public universities. The award itself is based on race - one award for a bumiputera student and another for a non-bumiputera.

Regarding Nahvin’s right to speak out at the award ceremony, Shamsul said it was good that "we have openness to voice out issues", something he pointed out had happened after the 2018 general election when the previously all-powerful Umno-BN administration was defeated.
“To be honest, this is not much compared to the student protests that we had in the 1970s when leaders like (current prime minister) Anwar Ibrahim were detained under the ISA.
“Once in the 1980s, they brought 2,000 motorcycles onto the UKM campus to protest a change in rules!”
"So I believe in students speaking up. We need to ask ourselves… why did this happen? Surely university lecturers can apply some critical thinking to this?” he said.
Sharifah Munirah AlatasIndependent scholar Sharifah Munirah Alatas said that she backed Nahvin's sentiments and was opposed in principle to the awards being based on race in the first place.
"It's not right to dish out two categories of awards based on race, and when either or both recipients accept the award and in the same breath speak out against race-based quotas. I find this problematic.
"In principle, I accept everything Nahvin said and stands by, in addition, to this one caveat," she said. - Mkini

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