I refer to the Malaysiakini report MB proposes special meet with UiTM students.

Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim has opened a Pandora Box’s when he made the suggestion that a 10% quota should be set aside at UiTM for non-bumiputera students.

A storm of protests has been heard in the press by Malay organisations ridiculing his proposal and there have been demonstrations in front of the state secretariat building in Shah Alam by a rowdy group of students from the same university.

It shows the deep anger of the students who are concerned that their campus will be opened up to other races to enable them to study there as well.

I believe no university in the world restricts its students to only one particular race. While one can appreciate UiTM history (being the former ITM) in only accepting Malay students since it was set up nearly forty years ago as a learning institutes for the poor and marginalised Malay race to catch up with their tertiary education, time and circumstances have changed.

In the global world that we live in where capital and human resources move from one country to another without restrictions, its seems to be an anomaly that UiTM still sticks to the old ways of restricting their ivory tower to one major race only.

Malay students should mix around with other races at the varsity level in order to understand one another better as better competitions will motivate them to excel in their studies in order to get better results and better job offers when they graduate.

Malay cannot be like before living like the Malay proverb hidup di bawah tempurung and restricting themselves to among their own kind. This will not develop their intellectual capacity to be at par with the other great minds in this country.

For the record, I am an alumna of ITM 1980 and I enjoyed my student days then. But I believe unlike before, Malay students now should be confident enough to compete with other races at UiTM in order to give them an edge while looking for a job.

Multinational companies select their candidates on their merit only and nothing else. After all, this is the 21st century that we are living in and the old ways which hindered growth of the mind should be removed in order for Malay to compete in the global world.

Presently, there are two Malay higher learning institutions which Malay students can call their own - the Malay College of Kuala Kangsar and UiTM. Whether it is good for nation-building to have such legacies in place in these modern times is debatable as scholars needs to adapt to new ways of thinking in order to move with the times.

While we are on the verge of celebrating our 51st year of Merdeka, it is sad to see that race and religion are still sore points in this country which can divide the nation. People regardless of race and creed needs to have more open dialogues without rancour when discussing sensitive issues at hand.

People have many opinions about matters that are close to their hearts and one should be able to agree to disagree amicably. Mob rule and violent streets protests to voice out your grievances are so 70s and not applicable today if we want to be a nation of knowledgeable people who do not demonise others just because they disagree with our opinions.

We should celebrate our difference rather than allow them to divide us. Nation-building can only occur if people stop seeing each others with blinkers and a myopic way of thinking.