Because Tun Mahathir commented on it, graduates selling nasi lemak or driving Uber is now a contentious issue.

I think no one would want to look down on another person who is trying to earn an honest living, regardless of the job he is doing. Hence the argument for “looking down” on graduates selling nasi lemak or driving Uber, as alluded to by Kubang Pasu MP and Deputy Defence Minister Mohd Johari Baharum, is really a diversion.

Rightly, the issues of contention should be on the economics of university education and the need to create value-added jobs and meet the aspirations of young people.

Malaysia is not a super-rich country. Many consider university education an “investment”, not a leisurely pursuit. In fact, many have incurred substantial debts to obtain a university degree.

It is therefore inconceivable that they would become graduates only to sell nasi lemak or become a Uber driver.

For a long time now, I think Malaysia has refused to recognise a few realities staring at us. We have too many universities producing too many graduates. Not only that, the economy has not been able to transform fast enough to absorb the graduates churned out by universities each year.

We set up universities for prestige and political reasons, and to create jobs for lecturers. Universities take up national resources. Too many of them is a waste and a misallocation of resources.

Graduates who are unable to get the jobs they are trained for are also a misallocation of resources and manpower. Why incur PTPTN loans when the job is to sell nasi lemak? For all I know, the nasi lemak sold by graduates may be more expensive and less tasty than the nasi lemak sold at the store at the next road junction.

Some argue that there are plenty of jobs available for graduates. The problem is, our graduates are not competitive and competent enough. I think we have to be more circumspect in this. If graduate jobs are readily available, may I know who is filling these vacancies, even though our graduates may not be competent enough? Would employers prefer to leave the vacancies unfilled than employ someone who may not completely satisfy their requirements?

Nasi lemak selling or Uber driving graduates are just the symptoms of wrong public policies and misallocation of resources. It is unnecessary to spin the issue into “populist support” as if those criticising the malaise are looking down on graduates trying to earn a living.

It is time to accept reality: we set up too many universities producing graduates with unrealistic expectations while, at the same time, our economy is not transforming fast enough to absorb the graduates produced. It is a little of everything that went wrong.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.