KUALA LUMPUR: Urgent reforms are needed in Malaysia's public university admission system after more top-performing students are being denied their preferred courses despite outstanding results, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
The MCA president said it was unacceptable that even candidates with a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 4.0 and near-perfect co-curricular scores under the Pentaksiran Aktiviti Jasmani, Sukan dan Kokurikulum (PAJSK) were being denied places in public universities.
"Even top students are being denied their preferred courses or completely rejected by public universities.
"If we don't retain these talents, countries like Singapore will take them, and that will be Malaysia's loss.
"What is the point of spending so much money on TalentCorp to lure Malaysians back later when we fail to keep them in the first place?" he said at a press conference at Wisma MCA yesterday.
TalentCorp has been spending heavily on initiatives such as the Returning Expert Programme (REP), which offers a flat 15% tax rate for five years and duty-free incentives for Malaysians returning from abroad.
Despite these efforts, he said Malaysia was still losing its brightest young talents to neighbouring countries.
A case in point, Dr Wee said, was that of 20-year-old Edward Wong Yi Xian, who scored a perfect CGPA of 4.0 in the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) and 9.9 out of 10 in PAJSK.
Wong applied through the Unit Pusat Universiti (UPU) to pursue a Bachelor of Accounting at six public universities - Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
However, Dr Wee said all six applications were rejected, and Wong was not even called for an interview.
Instead, UPU offered him a place in USM's management course.
Ironically, on July 23, Wong received an offer to study accounting at UM - his first choice - but only under the Saluran Terbuka Universiti Awam (Satu), or open admission channel.
The stumbling block was the cost: RM83,800 in tuition fees compared with about RM8,000 if admitted through UPU.
UM's Satu is a direct application channel for Universiti Malaya, offering an alternative pathway for eligible students to apply for admission to the university.
"This doesn't make sense. Wong should have been admitted under UPU with his 99.9% overall score. Yet he was rejected there but accepted under Satu, where the fees are more than 10 times higher. Does this not render UPU meaningless?" Dr Wee asked.
He said the UM's Satu system, which effectively operates as a commercial pathway, was deeply unfair to students from lower- and middle-income groups.
Dr Wee added that the case revealed systemic weaknesses that risked driving Malaysian talent abroad.
"This is another toxic example showing flaws in the system. Students forfeit their matriculation option but still cannot secure their preferred courses," he said.
He urged the government to treat STPM students from the science, arts and commerce streams equally and grant first-choice university and course placements to STPM students with a perfect CGPA of 4.0.
Dr Wee said he would raise the matter with Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and called on UM to explain why Wong was rejected through UPU but admitted under Satu.
"The government must not allow such unfair practices to persist. Confidence in the university admission process must be restored," he added.