Saifuddin Abdullah said UPU is a “tried and tested” system

“In terms of integrity and meritocracy, which are important criteria, it is unreasonable to have misgivings about it,” he told FMT.

Saifuddin, who was at the ministry from 2009 to 2013, was commenting on the recent controversy sparked by student Edward Wong, who could not get a place in Universiti Malaya’s accountancy course despite achieving a perfect 4.0 CGPA and scoring 99.9% for co-curricular activities.

The higher education department later stated that Wong had ranked 1,129 among 2,291 eligible applicants for UM, while only 85 places for accountancy were available in his top choice of university this year.

Wong’s plight caught the attention of MCA, whose president Wee Ka Siong described the UPU admission process as “flawed” and “unfair”. It also led to accusations of racial bias.

Saifuddin said there could have been several reasons for Wong’s failure to secure a spot in UM, such as not sitting for specific subjects required for accounting, including mathematics.

Wong scored ‘A’ for general studies, economics, accounting and ICT.

“Also, while he may have scored straight As in his STPM, securing a spot in a public university does not depend on academic achievement alone,” Saifuddin said.

Evaluation was based on academic performance (90% weightage) and extracurricular activities. “Maybe the other candidates scored 100% for co-curricular activities,” he said. Wong scored 99.9%.

Saifuddin said the 90:10 ratio was aimed at ensuring holistic development. “In fact, I had proposed for the weightage for co-curricular activities to be increased to 30%,” he said.