The Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (DAPSY) has condemned UMNO Youth chief Akmal Saleh for linking the matriculation programme and the single university entry system to vernacular schools, calling it “cheap politics” aimed at stirring racial sentiments and distracting from the real issue.
Koh Ling Xian, Director of Varsity Affairs Bureau, DAPSY, stressed that vernacular schools are not the problem. These schools are open to all races and admission is not based on ethnic quotas.
“At the secondary level, all students, regardless of background, sit for the same national examinations such as the SPM and are subject to the same university entry criteria. Comparing vernacular schools with the inequities of the matriculation system, it said, is a false equivalence,” he said in a statement.
Koh urged reforms to address systemic flaws instead of scapegoating schools. He pointed to Pahang speaker Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin’s suggestion of a special pathway for high-achieving SPM/STPM candidates to enter public universities, bypassing the often flawed UPU system, as a more constructive approach.
Koh argued that the real issue lies in the disparity between the matriculation and STPM systems. Differences in grading standards and co-curricular assessments often marginalise top STPM scorers, driving many talents to pursue education abroad.
Koh said that unifying the entry system is not about race but about procedural justice, ensuring all candidates compete under the same standards. This, it argued, would improve course-matching efficiency, reduce feelings of marginalisation and optimise the nation’s talent development.
“Young people demand progressive, fair and constructive policies, not slogans, scapegoats or racial sentiment,” the statement concluded.
