Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) law student Tasnim Shah has sparked controversy recently by flying first class on an Emirates flight.
Many Malaysian internet users questioned how a student from UiTM, a university established to cater to underprivileged Bumiputera education needs can afford to purchase a flight to Dubai that could have easily cost up to RM25,000.
If you can afford to save RM 25k to purchase just the flight ticket, you're not poor. And you don't deserve to be in UiTM.
— Abah (@chairmanGLC) April 3, 2022
Through her communication with another prominent Twitter user, the student defended her enrollment in UiTM by claiming that she was underprivileged at the time she enrolled in the university but has since then managed to save up the money for the flight by taking on modeling jobs and brand deals.
https://twitter.com/CeddyOrNot/status/1510556530042900483?t=Gy0Io2-PZd3w4v2ogiNGVg&s=19
The legitimacy of her claims of being underprivileged at the time of her enrollment into UiTM has since been refuted by many alleging that she was born into a rich family and that her lifestyle on social media doesn’t match her claims of ever being underprivileged.
This controversy brought up an interesting point for us to ponder, does UiTM only cater to Bumiputera students from underprivileged backgrounds, or do they also accept enrollment of Bumiputera students that are well off?
According to the general conditions of enrollment by the University as stated on its website, the university does not seem to discriminate against students based on their economic status and background.
As such, hypothetically speaking even the children of billionaires and multi-millionaires are eligible to enter the university and reap the benefits of the government subsidies that UiTM confers on all their students so long as they are Bumiputera.
This is concerning as the institution receives billions of government funding every year. In the year 2021 alone, the institution received an allocation of RM1.1732 billion. It would be a shame if allocations such as these are used to benefit Bumiputera students from rich backgrounds than those who need it most.
It may be time for the government to revisit whether institutions such as UiTM that were established to help underprivileged Bumiputera are staying true to their original purpose.