KUALA LUMPUR: Pusat Komas has called on the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) student body to adopt a more nuanced approach in addressing the calls for admitting non-Bumiputera students to its cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme.
Expressing deep concern over the recent protests by the student body, especially in light of the nation's ongoing shortage of cardiothoracic surgeons, the non-profit social organisation stressed that denying qualified individuals the opportunity to train in such fields based solely on their race hindered the nation's progress and jeopardised the well-being of all citizens.
"Malaysia is facing a critical shortage of specialists, particularly in fields like cardiothoracic surgery and this shortage affects all Malaysians, regardless of ethnicity.
"Earlier this year, Malaysian Association for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (MATCVS) president Datuk Dr Basheer Ahamed Abd Kareem claimed this delay will result in the death of one patient from each of the Health Ministry's seven cardiothoracic centres nationwide every week," it said in a statement today.
Pusat Komas also said that maintaining Bumiputera exclusivity in fields where there was a dire need for skilled professionals hindered national development and perpetuated inequality.
Hence, it called for the government to engage in a constructive dialogue with all stakeholders to find a solution that balanced the needs of the Bumiputera community with the broader needs of the nation.
"Let us strive to build a Malaysia that is genuinely inclusive, where all citizens have equal opportunities to contribute to our shared prosperity, regardless of their ethnicity.
"After all, a heart surgeon's skill is not determined by one's race, but by one's ability to mend hearts, and patients' needs for urgent medical intervention surely would not count on the ethnicity of the doctor coming to the rescue.
Commenting further, the group acknowledged that while the New Economic Policy (NEP) introduced in 1971 was aimed to address socioeconomic disparities and create a more equitable society, it was never intended to be a permanent solution.
"As Tun Dr Ismail, a key architect of the NEP, stated, the 'special position' was meant to be a temporary measure, a 'handicap' to help the Malays catch up.
"Given the temporary prescription of the NEP in its original design, the present debacle shows that this 'handicap' is now in need of reassessment in line with human rights principles," it said.
Meanwhile, the group also suggested that targeted expansion as a viable solution, where specific programmes with critical shortages could include non-Bumiputera students while maintaining the Bumiputera focus on others.
"It should be emphasised that the recent proposal of Prof Dr Raja Amin Raja Mokhtar, who is on the board of studies of the UiTM-National Heart Institute (IJN) cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme – for the university to open the programme to non-Bumiputera students would be temporary pending the development of a similar programme in Universiti Malaya (UM), " it added.
Previously, Dr Raja Amin proposed UiTM to open its cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate training programme to non-Bumiputera trainees as a solution to the issue of unrecognised parallel pathways for training in cardiothoracic surgery.
He had said that the UiTM-IJN cardiothoracic surgery parallel pathway training programme was the only one of its kind offered locally.
On May 9, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) urged UiTM to allow non-Bumiputera students to enrol in the specialised training programme, citing that international students could already enrol at the university.
In response, UiTM's student representative council launched a protest against the calls by urging all students to wear black.
