If MIC ministers cannot right the wrong and fight for justice and fairness for the Indian community, they should all resign as ministers.

Media Statement by M Kula Segaran, DAP National Vice Chairman and MP for Ipoh Barat in Parliament on Tuesday, July 16, 2013

If  MIC ministers cannot right the wrong and fight for justice and fairness for the Indian community, they should all resign as ministers.

The recently announced student intake of public institutions of higher learning has caused much public anger and suspicion. Even BN component parties have come out to attack the unfairness. 

Three days ago, MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said successful Chinese applicants were the lowest for the 2013/2014 session, comprising only 7,913 students or 19 per cent from a total of 41,573 applicants.

He said that since the implementation of the meritocracy policy, the percentage of successful Chinese applicants has never gone below 20 per cent.

Apart from Chinese students, 30,903 Bumiputera, 1,824 Indians and 933 other races made up the total number of successful applicants.

MIC treasurer-general Senator Datuk Jaspal Singh has also questioned the reduced intake of Indian and Chinese students. He said it was the "most unfair and biased public university intake in the history of Malaysia."

The immediate thought that has come to the mind of many is that is the reduced intake an act of political vengeance as a result of BN’s dismal performance in the recent concluded 13^th general elections?

This is certainly a serious issue which warrants the personal and immediate attention and action from the Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin.

I therefore call on the Education Minister to  ensure total transparency  on the intake issue by not only explaining reasons for the reduced intake , but also to publish the full list of  all successful and unsuccessful students on the website of the Education Ministry.

General explanations will not be sufficient and the list published must include the grades obtained by each student.

Most important of all, he must right the wrong and ensure all deserving students are offered places and courses which they qualify for.

The cries of unfairness about varsity intake for Chinese and Indian students come hot on the heels of Indian community’s frustration over the unfair Matriculation intake of Indian students.

If the Deputy Education Minister II P Kalamanathan cannot even ensure that the 1500 Matriculation places promised to Indian students are delivered, it is not a big surprise to me that he has failed on the varsity intake issue.

He has to explain what he has been doing at the Ministry.

Datuk Jaspal is right to express his disappointment with P Kamalanathan.

With such strong public and justified attacks from his own party man, if Kamalanathan has any sense of honour and responsibility, he should resign his deputy minister’s position.

Nevertheless, an undeniable fact is that MIC has ministers represented in the Cabinet.

If MIC ministers cannot right the wrong and fight for justice and fairness for the Indian community, they should all resign as ministers.

In fact, MIC should even quit BN coalition as it is clear that BN is not a coalition that can bring hopes, justice and fairness to the Indian community.