Fairness and justice leads to equality

Equality is always the word used in politics when it comes to campaigns. Everyone should be equal in the eyes of the law. Justice, is yet another word thrown around openly. In fact, it is even part and parcel of the name of a party.

Yet, at the same time, the concepts of fairness and justice in an economic and national development standpoint is actually frowned upon in Malaysia.

Meritocracy is neither equal nor fair, yet it is an occasional buzzword for many when it comes to jobs and even education. Let me put a point out there for everyone to consider; meritocracy is highly dependent on wealth.

As a developing nation pushing for better upward social mobility – meaning the Bottom 40% joins the Middle 40% who is subsequently pushed up to the Upper 20% in terms of wealth – meritocracy is and should be placed as a second priority in terms of government assistance.

The question up for consideration then is the following: with limited and scarce placements in public tertiary education, do we reward based on merit without any consideration of wealth, or do we reward based on looking at wealth first and then merit?

In this case, I support the government side due to a few factors, primarily because if one has both merit and wealth, they have an advantage their entire lives compared to another who may have less merit but no wealth.

But whenever this turns out in the press, it suddenly becomes "racism" and "double standards".

Well, yes and no.

Let's consider some questions. With 80% of those being in the "Bottom 40" being Malay, how is it racism to consider their absence of wealth an even more dire need for cheaper education?

With Malays and bumiputeras earning lower median salaries and wages, being the majority in the Bottom 40% of the nation and yet being 65% now of the population of the country compared to other groups, how is it unfair to give them priority in education in an effort to push that statistic further up?

The government's education policy like any other nation is to increase social mobility in the same manner. The only issue is, we are multicultural to the core, separated by ethnic diversities that make it almost impossible to bridge.

Of course, many would argue there are poor non-bumiputeras too and they aren't getting fair treatment. Are they not? Well, let's ask them if such is true. Bear in mind, of course that the "Bottom 40" are those households earning less than RM3,860.

So, I will read the comment section for those who are indeed left out in the cold over this.

And then we come to the middle income and high section, where education gets the trickiest because it is a battle between inclusivity over quality versus exclusivity and quality versus a now growing number of home schooled kids.

This is where national schools are pitted against racial and religious vernacular schools. On one hand, there is the accusations of lower quality in the national education system. On the other, the exclusivity and insular nature of schools is also an issue.

And as always, there's the issue of wealth. National schools are funded strictly by government with no additional funds doled out. Meanwhile, the vernacular schools based on race or even religion, have no such limitations.

As such, you will see more urban vernacular schools not having funding issues with compared to their counterparts in the more rural districts.

While Malaysian public universities remain cheaper now due to government subsidy, even "cheap" is relative due to the rising cost of living and lacking support infrastructure to lower this particularly in the case of public transport.

As such, students as a majority become still dependent on loans from the PTPTN to bear the brunt of excessive rental costs due to lacking dorms, a car loan to get to and from class due to the non efficient bus service and then food costs because they are not Datuk Ahmad Maslan, privileged enough to cook in dorms.

And this is where wealth comes into play.

Now, some local authorities and state governments are looking at ways to address some of these issues.

Selangor is doing a brilliant job by offering the free bus service in Shah Alam as an example.

However, they seem to have left out the northern side of the city, namely the Bukit Jelutong, Puncak Alam, even Batu Tiga and Glenmarie areas out of the equation.

Yes, if you want equality by all means speak up for it. But at the same time, justice and fairness are not the same thing.

Until this is equally highlighted and we admit that this is a battle between classes instead of race, we will remain stagnant like a "ship with spreading sails yet anchored in the waters". – September 19, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.