Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung of PKR said: “We need to know the actual intake breakdown between Matriculation, STPM, and Foundation students.”

Referring to the 2026 budget proposal to provide 1,500 extra places at public universities, Lee said: “The real issue isn’t just the number of seats. It’s transparency.”

He cited a controversy last month over a top-scorer who failed to get a place in Universiti Malaya, and said the episode highlighted how competitive and opaque the system had become.

Lee described the budget proposal for more university places as a “move in the right direction”.

However, he said the 1,500 new places – which will be distributed across five universities and 10 programmes – amounted to an average of 30 additional seats per programme.

He said even if all the new seats were allocated to the 1,300 STPM students who score straight As every year, it would still be far from enough to meet the demand for critical programmes such as accounting, medicine, or engineering.

Without transparent and consistent scoring systems, students and parents cannot plan their education pathways properly or understand what it truly takes to succeed, he said.

“A government that prides itself on fairness must start by being transparent,” he said, adding that he will continue to raise the issue in Parliament.