Batu Kitang assemblyman Dato Ir Lo Khere Chiang has called for fairness in Malaysia\u2019s higher education system, stressing that cases like that of top STPM scorer Edward Wong highlight deep flaws in admissions policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim travels abroad, he speaks as a statesman of principle about fairness, justice, equality and inclusivity,\u201d Lo said. \u201cBut at home, the reality paints a very different picture, starting with the foundation of every nation: education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pointed to the case of Edward Wong, a STPM graduate with a flawless 4.0 CGPA and a near-perfect merit score of 99.9 per cent, who was denied entry into the accountancy programmes of all five public universities he applied to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlmost immediately, prestigious universities abroad offered to welcome him with scholarships. What does this say about our priorities?\u201d Lo questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He criticised the imbalance between matriculation and STPM students in university admissions, noting that matriculation \u2014 a shorter and less rigorous route \u2014 produces thousands of perfect scorers each year, while STPM, equivalent to the A-Levels, produces only a handful. Yet matriculation candidates dominate entry into top courses such as medicine, pharmacy, law and dentistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf even the most outstanding STPM student cannot secure a place in his chosen course through UPU, what confidence can others have in the fairness of the system?\u201d Lo asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing claims that Wong\u2019s rejection was due to his not taking STPM Mathematics, Lo clarified: \u201cFor accountancy, the requirement is only a credit in SPM-level Mathematics \u2014 which Edward already achieved. At STPM, he went further by taking Accounting, Economics and ICT, scoring straight A\u2019s across all subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lo also linked the issue to Malaysia\u2019s declining university rankings. \u201cUniversiti Malaya was once among Asia\u2019s best, but today it struggles to maintain its standing. This decline mirrors policies that undermine merit and discourage perseverance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contrast, he praised Sarawak\u2019s approach under Premier Abang Johari. \u201cFrom 2026, Sarawakian students \u2014 irrespective of race or religion \u2014 will enjoy free tertiary education in selected courses. The state has also recognised the UEC, opened its universities to deserving UEC graduates, and provided hundreds of millions of ringgit in support for Chinese schools. Through UNIFOR, unity across faiths and communities has been strengthened,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is how a society is built \u2014 by encouraging excellence, nurturing scientists, technologists, doctors and engineers to become world-class leaders, and inspiring them to serve Sarawak and her people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lo stressed that Malaysia must not close its doors to its brightest students. \u201cIf we continue to shut our doors to the nation\u2019s best and brightest, others will gladly open theirs. A country that abandons fairness in education abandons its own future,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Batu Kitang assemblyman Dato Ir Lo Khere Chiang has called for fairness in Malaysia\u2019s higher education system, stressing that cases like that of top STPM scorer Edward Wong highlight deep flaws in admissions policies. \u201cWhen Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim travels abroad, he speaks as a statesman of principle about fairness, justice, equality and inclusivity,\u201d Lo said. \u201cBut at home, the reality paints a very different picture, starting with the foundation of every nation: education.\u201d He pointed to the case of Edward Wong, a STPM graduate with a flawless 4.0 CGPARead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33809,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33808\/revisions\/33809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}