Zaid slams ‘fear’ of opening UiTM course to non-Bumis

“This is Umno’s problem. Umno, it would help if you started looking at things differently. The nation must come first. We are short of all kinds of medical specialists in public health. We are short of nurses.

(FMT) – The former law minister says helping non-Malays enter the university’s cardiothoracic surgery programme would solve the nation’s problem.

Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim today urged against allowing the fear of having more non-Malay doctors, nurses or lecturers stop Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) from opening its cardiothoracic surgery programme to non-Bumiputeras.

In a post on X, Zaid said there were no outstanding issues beyond the “perennial” fear of opening UiTM to non-Bumiputeras.

“This is Umno’s problem. Umno, it would help if you started looking at things differently. The nation must come first. We are short of all kinds of medical specialists in public health. We are short of nurses.

“UiTM was started to help Bumiputeras and should continue to do so. But today, we have to recognise that helping non-Malays enter UiTM also helps Bumiputeras by solving the nation’s problem.

“Umno must exorcise itself of this irrational fear. We are now one country with more significant problems but have enough resources to serve every group,” he said.

Zaid was responding to higher education minister Zambry Abd Kadir, who said there had been no discussions on opening UiTM’s cardiothoracic surgery postgraduate programme to non-Bumiputera students.

Zambry said several underlying issues, which he did not specify, needed to be addressed before the proposal to accept non-Bumiputera students could be considered.

“We haven’t engaged in any discussions yet, nor have we received official communication on this matter,” he was quoted as saying in a Berita Harian report.

“It is crucial to resolve the fundamental issues before delving into such proposals.”