Malaysia's Indian community cries foul over the scrapping of a quota system which guaranteed a percentage of university places to the country's minorities
A new merit-based system for university admission that last month replaced the three-decade old racial quota system has enraged Malaysia's minority Indians after it was revealed only one Indian out of 1,700 applicants had qualified to study medicine at the prestigious University Malaya this year.
Under the race-based quota system, an average of 16 out of 200 places at the faculty went to ethnic Indians, for whom a medical degree is a key means to escape poverty and is the ultimate symbol of social success.
The Indian community alleged foul play by the government and demanded the reinstatement of the old quota system, at least just for ethnic Indians, saying they needed special treatment similar to what Malays were given, if they were ever to catch up with the other races.
Indian parents and community leaders, who had taken pride in producing more doctors than Malays or Chinese despite their disproportionate numbers - 28 per cent of the country's 12,130 doctors last year were Indians - have lodged police reports and demanded that the government reveal the grades of 96 Malays and 63 Chinese who were admitted to the faculty this year. The number of Chinese medical students had dropped by 12 per cent this year.
The remaining 40 places in the faculty are offered to tribal groups, private and foreign students.