The Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Student Union are protesting against the opening of admissions to non-Bumiputera, although the proposed opening only affects the postgraduate program in cardiothoracic surgery.
The UiTM Students Representative Council (MPP), in its #MahasiswaUiTMBantah campaign, urged students to wear black on Thursday and use the hashtag on social media platforms.
“The objective of the formation of Universiti Teknologi MARA was to protect the special position of the Malays, Orang Asli, and natives of Sabah and Sarawak to ensure that lower-income Bumiputera students have access to higher education,” the UiTM MPP said in a statement yesterday, citing Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.
“UiTM MPP believes that this sacred university is the one Bumiputera education institution protected till now. Therefore, we as one voice call for UiTM to preserve the original objective of its foundation, which is to protect and develop Bumiputera students as the fortress of the privilege and development of our race.”
In the UiTM MPP statement, there was no mention of the postgraduate course in cardiothoracic surgery, which was established in collaboration between UiTM and the National Heart Institute (IJN) of the UiTM Faculty of Medicine.
The campaign by the UiTM Student Association marks the growing resistance to the proposal by Professor Dr. Raja Amin Raja Mokhtar – member of the Board of Studies of the UiTM-IJN cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme – to “temporarily” open the programme to non-Bumiputera as a solution to the non-recognition of Malaysia’s parallel pathway in cardiothoracic surgery with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC).
According to Dr Raja Amin, the opening of the cardiothoracic surgery programme to non-Bumiputera was only for a limited period until Universiti Malaya launched a similar programme.
Yap Xiang, vice chairman of the PKR student wing, criticized the UiTM MPP’s “misleading” statement and stressed that the issue in question only affects a postgraduate programme.
Netizens react to UITM Students ‘Wear Black’ protest
Netizens are reacting to this news on Twitter.
Most people strongly oppose the protest and believe it is a big step backwards for society and the nation.
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