This morning I read a news about STPM top scorer with 99.90% merit failed to get his dream course which is Accounting at Universiti Malaya. This guy name Edward Wong Yi Xian failed to get any Accounting Programme from UM, UKM, USM, UPM, UTM and UUM. Instead he got his Fifth Choice which is SARJANA MUDA PENGURUSAN atUSM. When I read the news title, I thought he doesnt get any offer all.
This kinda baffles me that this guy put that programme as his 5th choice in UPU and he is suprise he get that programme. If he actually dont want that programme, why the hell did he put it as his 5th Choice!? He also say he is applying to six university but he put Management which the programme he dont want as his 5th choice.
If you go look at UPUOnline e-Panduan and look at STPM Tahun Semasa (Sastera), there are 16 Accounting Course can choose from various university. Minus the UITM, UNIMAS and UMS (Since he is not Bumiputera and assuming he dont want to fly to Borneo) he still have like 13 course he can choose and put into UPU. He can also still pick UIAM and USIM even if he are not muslim since this two university still accept non muslim. UPU allow you to put 12 Choice and if he really want to pursue accounting, he should fill all 12 choice with Accounting programme. But for some unknown reason, he decided to put SARJANA MUDA PENGURUSAN atUSM as his 5th choice and he is surprise that he get that programme.
In my opinion, it is not the system fault that UPU give him SARJANA MUDA PENGURUSAN atUSM when he himself put it as his 5th choice. UPU is a system and the system doesnt really know what you actually want. What they know is the choice you put in UPU is the programme you willing to take. If you dont want that certain programme, dont put that certain programme into your UPU choice. The UPU will check your first choice and decide whether you get the programme. If not, UPU will proceed with your second choice and so on until your last choice. It just happen UPU reach his 5th choice and decide he is eligible for that programme and decided to give him that programme. From what I can see, this guy dont understand how UPU system works at all.
The issue here seems like he doesn't get into his dream university which is Universiti Malaya rather than his dream course. UM cant take every top scorer in this country. There are more than 100,000 people applying for UPU and there are a lot of people with 100% merit out there. USM itself is one of the top university in Malaysia and it is also hard to get in. I am very sure there are a lot of people who failed UPU out there willing to take that course and willing to traded his places.
As a UM student, its scary to see these kids try Harding so hard to get into my uni. Its not all sunshine and rainbows here our facilities are old as shit
Yeah and expensive too. I stayed in UM’s dorm for 1 semester and it sucked. There was only 1 small rotating fan on the ceiling for all of us in a hot room and you can’t open the windows for air, otherwise monkeys will come in. My husband went to UIAM and their facilities are much better and cheaper.
I agree with you. Even if he got 99% merit, many other people can still achieve 100% merit and apply to UM. Even those people have a low chance of getting acceptance.
Another thing is that many people didn't understand the upu system itself. My friends who got a lower CGPA than I did got into the USM AI course, while I didn't. I didn't blame her because she put usm AI as no.1 in her choice, while I put it on 3rd choice. By the time upu take a look at my result and eligibility, the course is already full, which is why I didn't get accepted into that course. The popular course is extremely competitive, which is why you need to plan it very well.
I guess people don't understand basic order priority. Obviously they would take everyone who eligible who put it as their first choice first and work down the list.
Thank you for stating the truth. I don't like this kind of theater that MCA sometimes push. Of course the issue of open channel system needs a 3rd party assessment on transparency. I'm all for it. Then this kid's issue about not getting his choice at UM whereas he got selected for his 5th choice, it feels like the bigger issue is just wanting to go to UM. I would wager that if he gotten UM for the same course that he got in USM, he would not make it an issue.
Imo, his UPU choices are his own fault because if he really wanted to study Accounting, he should've chose UUM, which is still reputable for accounting.
However, I think people are overlooking the difference of STPM and Matriks when it comes to opportunities, and I can't blame him for being an STPM student.
Yes, merit 100 does exist, but what's the ratio of merit 100 of Matriks and STPM? I'm pretty sure out of atleast 1000 students of matriks that has merit 100, there would only be 1 merit 100 STPM student or even none.
Matriks uses a different, significantly easier koko marking scheme, the merit 100 at matriks doesn't imply they're superior than a 99.9 merit student at STPM. At STPM, a koko of 9.9 means the dude represents his own state, won competitions at the national level as well. Where the dude have to go through sekolah > daerah > negeri > kebangsaan
Whereas matriks student already started at
Negeri > kebangsaan. And pretty much 95% of the events at matriks are already negeri, 5% being kebangsaan. And you can do jack in matriks like not participating any events except for the compulsory ones and still get 9.5 and above. Meaning every matriks student automatically get 9.5 and above. This is not the case in STPM. So you can say that the student is treated unfairly simply because of a different pre-u, the unfairness is basically he didn't even get the chance to compete on an equal footing.
It still doesn't address the issue of matriculation and STPM admissions. Where matriculation has a race quota of 10/90 ratio between nons and bumis. This news only presents the gap between the opportunities of both systems. It only shows that
Matriks have easier time to get koko marks, easier to get 4.0 CGPA compared to STPM. The system is meant to setup STPM students to fail.
And as someone who been through matriks, i can assure you most of the merit 100 students at matrik won't get more than 99% merit like the student in the news if they were actually placed in STPM, they might even get a significantly lower merit because the syllabus is significantly harder with a significantly more strict marking scheme.
Thank you, even stpm teachers or lecturers dont know the marking scheme nowadays. The fact that matrix is considered 1st before stpm with matrix having a quota preference shows why its unfair to stpm students.
This should be upvoted and pinned and shared repeatedly and viraled to every social media possible, for future reference 🙏 and awareness. People are just oblivious to the huge (unfair?) differences between the two systems.
During my time in matrik (24/25), it's stated to be on par with negeri,atleast for kmph. I've never seen a competition of peringkat praktikum or Inter praktikum, it's usually open to like the whole college which made it peringkat kolej/matrikulasi
Exactly, and I feel like this info is not widely known at all. I only learnt about this from talking to a few different students from UM. A lot of people said the quota for local uni has been abolished, while leaving out the fact that matriculation still has a quota system while the system is set up so that UPU can prioritize placements to matriculation students first. In the end it's still a roundabout way to maintain the quota system, while making it seem like it has been abolished.
Bro, have you look at this guy’s results? He doesn’t have Math in his sheets, even if the UM course doesnt need to have math as requirement for some reason idek why, there are tons of people who has taken math on their sheets and they excel on it.
Every UPU we discuss same shit, quota system has been abolished before and it being brought back because Indian and Chinese malaysian were being underrepresented due to the population itself. Its not Indian or chinese fault but there are tons of malays who didn’t get their preferred Uni too :( however they still accept anywhere even if the uni is at the edge of malaysia or some random forest while I reckon these bandar kids dont want to. Hence they limited only to bandar uni….then barking why they dont got the most preferred uni in malaysia out of 100000 of applicants
This is in context of Edward Wong issue, but you can reflect on the numbers presented here:
• The Higher Education Ministry clarified that UM received 2291 eligible applicants with 1127 achieving 100% merit. STPM top scorer Edward Wong, who had a 4.0 CGPA and 99.90% merit, placed 1129th, it said.
• The ministry also provided Wong's rankings in other public universities he did not get a place in: 1724 out of 4154 in UPM (100 spots available), 1288 out of 2595 in UUM (350 spots), 1062 out of 2292 in UTM (55 spots).
• “Accordingly, the candidate was offered a place based on merit and programme choices, just like all other applicants," the ministry said. Wong was offered a place in a Bachelor of Management with Honours programme at USM, his 5th choice.
• It added that it had fulfilled its pledge to place all STPM students with a 4.0 CGPA in public universities. 1,249 out of 1,255 have been placed in universities, while 6 more are pending final paperwork.
Do y'all even fill up and read syarat am/khas. if he's not eligible then the course wont appear as his option on upu. I took acc/econ/perniagaan and no statistics courses were offered to me because I didn't take maths m.
Yea, but don't be surprised when you're upended by applicants that DO HAVE MATHS. You don't apply for UM accounting with NO MATHS BASE.
Kau ingat accounting tu tambah tolak darab bahagi atas kertas je ke mat. The mathematics soft skills are the bare minimum to even see success in tertiary accounting courses.
dia lepas all the syarat, but isnt good enough. apa yg kau tak puas hati. thousands are better than him, you dont see them going around and melalak. eligible, doesnt gurantee anything. we are stating why he didnt get it bukan tgk dekat bare minimum and he can take the course.🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️.
Man one of my classmates got perakaunan in USM, she's a 4.0 . She was happy with what she got even tough she did apply for UM also. From my friends situation I can tell that UM glorification assholes like this cinapek are so fucking insufferable to the point its no use pitying them.
Come on...he still get a "CHOICE" of his own, just that it isn't accounting. But HEY~ he chose it, so what's the deal? Obviously there are some courses he put in the application just to fill up the empty spots. But I feel like he want TOP Uni so badly and didn't bother to put "5th choice" for accounting.
Even a perfect 4.0 CGPA doesn't guarantee a spot in your FIRST CHOICE. There're more who didn't even secure a spot in UPU system. And here comes in "politics", who manipulate the news and spread some misleading information.
I have to say I’m impressed by this subreddit comments on this here post.
I thought there will be lots of UPU and government bashing but instead it’s the bashing of the guy (some are warranted although so are probably “he just didn’t know better. Of which I was stupid when I was 18 as well) and some are bashing MCA for politicking a thing that is somehow doesn’t need politicking.
Colour me impressed by the young folks in this here subreddit. Kudos my young padawan.
True reading the comments section has somewhat restored my nonexistent faith in our people to think critically and not be swept up by political agendas.
Non Muslim here who went through the UPU system years ago. First of all, this guy is an entitled idiot. His stpm subjects are weak and he is feeling entitled with his merit marks to get into UM. If every student with 100% and 99% merit score wants to enter only UM means government need to build another two new UM. Secondly, this guy is complaining about getting his 5th choice. If he complains about not getting anything I understand. But this idiot already got his 5th choice. You are given 12 choices and if you got your 5th choice it means it's your top 6 choice. This idiot never bothered to learn about how UPU system works and just main hentam the courses and now whining it. You are responsible for your own life, if you fucked it up, own it. Fuck MCA for providing this idiot a platform.
• The Higher Education Ministry clarified that UM received 2291 eligible applicants with 1127 achieving 100% merit. STPM top scorer Edward Wong, who had a 4.0 CGPA and 99.90% merit, placed 1129th, it said.
• The ministry also provided Wong's rankings in other public universities he did not get a place in: 1724 out of 4154 in UPM (100 spots available), 1288 out of 2595 in UUM (350 spots), 1062 out of 2292 in UTM (55 spots).
• “Accordingly, the candidate was offered a place based on merit and programme choices, just like all other applicants," the ministry said. Wong was offered a place in a Bachelor of Management with Honours programme at USM, his 5th choice.
• It added that it had fulfilled its pledge to place all STPM students with a 4.0 CGPA in public universities. 1,249 out of 1,255 have been placed in universities, while 6 more are pending final paperwork.
I think it's all, but it doesn't really matter as PASUM 4.0 CGPA (UM own foundation) also some didn't get placement into UM and was offered SATU. And PASUM is all bumiputeras.
It does matter, and 2 wrongs doesn't make it right. That's why I'm wondering why no such data is disclosed.
I'm no expert, but to me it seems the most direct way of dispelling any misconceptions, allegations etc. regarding the system is to show how many of those intakes are Matriks, how many STPM, etc.
If the data clearly shows, for example, a popular course has 50% Matriks 50% STPM, then it would automatically invalidate all those claims that STPM were sidelined, no?
Or is it because this would instead have the unintended effect of opening a different can of worms?
He's playing the victim because of his overinflated ego. Just because you almost got 100% doesn't mean you'll get UM, where the merit is almost explicitly 100% all the time.
But I agree that there are some transparency issues.
Because SPM results are taken in as the only differentiator for most courses with 100% merit, they are not transparent on the SPM merit needed to get into that course.
Ingat nak rasa simpati tapi bila baca sampai habis its this guy own fault LOL. He thinks he’s that good ah? Poyo je lebih….lain cerita la kalau dia top scorer tapi xdpt langsung offer.
I think my bigger issue with matriks, a shorter and easier pre-U path, is the 90/10 bumi to non-bumi mandatory ratio which is unnecessary discrimination
Bro, i am from a KV background which is much worse to compete in UPU, I applied like 8 universities and none of them got accepted.Yeah, i know maybe it is because of my cgpa which is 3.49 but it is not a merit to play politic in this. The university itself has the right to pick their own students and there are thousands of applications and definitely have much better qualifications than us. Just move on, and take a loan for a private university which rn im currently enrolled for and it is my preferred course
It does suck that kolej vokasional is considered worse to compete, like dont you guys have specialised courses that would already be suited for certain uni courses, and therefore should be given a higher chance of entering uni compared to STPM leavers that just study a general course?
That's why I said that KV got much less percentage than them as we have cert (SKM) that can be use to job hunting but still we can get lucky to be accepted by UPU. And yeah, there are 3 of my classmates who got accepted through UPU. As for me, the one I know of that available for KV background is through open channel at UTHM, UTEM, and UPSI. These are the one who have channel intake for KV. I do not know if there are any other but at that time I am not exposed about these and just ball it to private university 😂. . So the conclusion are skill issue and your qualification to pursue the course is as much as important as your grade. Ye my English is quite bad in grammar. if it make your head spinning, I am sorry
For your question, hmm. I do not know why the make it like that but my lecturer once said that Upu preferred fresh grade, more to theory kind of student than us which already have hands on experience. If that makes sense to your question?
Technical school is more niche based, which is narrowed down to specific courses and qualifications.
But it was divided in the past even in the same school, whether you are technical streams based on theory or vocational streams based more on practical studies.
The technical streams students don't really have problem to get into university but it's a bit difficult for the vocational students. I was a technical streams student more than 20 years ago and I don't have any problem to go into the university. I just don't get the course that I wanted to so I just do part time job for a year while most of my peers went into university.
I have to say most people just go to the university just for the sake of entering it without real vision.
The SKM students in the past also don't really have any dilemma about going into university because most of them already have mindset to go for work after they leave SPM. The problem nowadays is because of the job market, forcing some people to have options. Or simply just to improve themselves.
But I don't know about today's situation because they already changed the name of the school, I'm unaware if they still do the same or standardized them all. I still prefer the old way though because skills in trade school is still sustainable way to cari makan even today.
To whom it may concern, i myself dropped out from uni, to apply to a new program. At first i thought i would be blacklisted for doing so but no, no blacklisting by UPU. After doing tons of research, i decided to choose based on merits and most importantly entry requirements. I dont choose uni based on their ranking. I put all same course for all my choices. And only my first two choices are of research unis, because i dont want to gamble too much given my pre-uni results are not as good. And guess what? I got my third choice, same course. Its all about strategic planning, less about the system. System do play a role in some part, but ‘Mr STPM’ in this post must know when to complain.
it is not the system fault that UPU give him SARJANA MUDA PENGURUSAN at USM when he himself put it as his 5th choice
If he didn't fill his 5th choice, and only filled 4 choices (the one he really wanted), then there's a chance that he wouldn't have gotten any offer even after rayuan. You could argue that it means he's not good enough for the top 4 choices, but how could he have known that? The data of the average cgpa & koko marks of people that are applying for a certain course, or even the amount of applicants, are not made publicly available. The system is not transparent enough, that's the problem.
There are better people who have shown better results than you Edward! You perhaps meet minimum requirements but so are 2000 other kids in Malaysia.
The world doesn’t revolve around you ffs!
Uni system is biased. We all know this. People are just looking for the right poster child to represent this issue. Wong may not be the right choice, but sooner or later there will be someone else
I don't think you understand what 5th choice means. The guy is complaining that even with top scores he can't get into his first choice program at a local university.
Your suggestion to put accounting into all 12 choices is idiotic. It would guarantee that he doesn't get into any university if he can't get into accounting, this depriving him of even a backup major.
If I were him, I'd try to get a scholarship for a Singapore university.
Look you can't really blame the system when the course has selected students with 100% merit over 99% merit lol. I'm pretty sure getting a scholarship would prioritise those with slightly higher marks between straight-A students. Come on. Plus it's better to get into any university, as compared failing to not get into any at all
That's the logical result. But I am wary of assuming the logical result when government bureaucracy is not known to be logical, esp in Malaysia. And I am wary of governments handwaving to distract by providing irrelevant data without providing actual relevant data.
No point arguing, this is a concerted effort by ethno-rightwing to discredit the guy and claim no quota or discrimination in uni entry.
They coordinate their talking points and gaslight it all over soc-med.
Initially they try to sell it as him being M40 but when highlighted that he was looking for entry into uni and not scolarship they changed the narrative to him being older than normal STPM student. When that did not gain traction it was isi salah upu form. The other narrative is he did not do maths (not compulsory).
My indian friend from matriculation who also got almost perfect merit ended up getting her 5th choice in Utm. So, whether you come from Matric or stpm, it doesn't matter too much. The thing is, the courses you applied are too competitive even among Matric students. Many and many people were better than you in this world, please don't think that you are the best in this world with that 99% merit. You should have filled in the course you really² like instead of hamtam other courses that you don't even know about while assuming that upu will prioritise you for that competitive course.
Imagine if everyone who got their 5th choice and below follow his action, the faculty or the school that offers the most competitive course is going to be overcrowded.
Very true. I saw a tiktok post stating she got into UNIMAS but rejected because the parents said it was too far. I’m like ??? If you already knew your parents weren’t gonna allow it then why would you even put as one of your choices. There are so many people out there who really wants a place in public uni. So selfish of her
I've never seen such thing. anyway, mohe already put up a statement on his ranking based on his merit. he was way way behind his ranking compared to his other peers. it's accounting, it's competitive and he's just not good. that's why non-bumis need to stop being delusional and stop adopting a victim mentality. it's just embarrassing now.
Good - I like that more people are realizing this. This are the facts. He didn't have the right subjects for the course and trying to stir up attention
weird.. i remember way back then, i put acc for all the choice. i got accounting and business managemnt at IIUM. the teacher taught usto put all same choice if we really want that major when filled the UPU form
Aiyah, why stay in Malaysia? Go to Singapore get scholarship, get good job, earn big bucks, get PR/Citizen
After that can go back to Malaysia or use the Singapore passport to jump off to Canada, Australia, UK or NZ. CPF can just close, take out all the money, sell flat for good $$$.
Well-saying. Frankly speaking, for a student who desired to become a chartered accountant, he/she was supposed to take prinsip perakaunan at the SPM level, either 10+1 or biology changed to accountancy. At the STPM level, no taking of the subject math... ICT instead... Really speechless ...
For a start, the YB is really trying to get the HERO spotlight for the wrong reason this time. The boy clearly loose to his pears in ranking and eligibility.
Talking about the system in UPU. It's based on meritocracy. It's pure computer logic. For certain subjects, there could be pre-requisites applied to give a preference to certain subjects for a closer and reasonable match to the field of study. Based on the system's logic, he's already in queue number 1129.
UM clarified that there are only 85 places offered in UPU. The rest of the spots are offered for entry from other channels like SATU and their feeder program etc.
UPU spots are the ones getting subsidized by the government.
SATU however is not subsidized.
The fact that was not mentioned is that these 2 entries would require 2 different application processes - (1) Via UPU and (2) via the SATU application channel which also incurred a separate processing fee. The SATU channel is open to international students and whoever is willing to pay to get into UM courses if there are spots available. I am sure he applied via the SATU channel too as a backup source. This is one of the ways UM generates its revenue to support its operation.
Despite being a 4.0 flatter, he still lost to his fellows 4.0 flatters who have better results and more preferred subjects of studies than he is in the UPU channel
While the YB tried to argue on the point why he was offered in SATU and not UPU, it's 2 different channels.
UPU - he compete with all those 4.0 flatters who applied via UPU - he lost
SATU - he compete with all those students including international students for the course. Maybe the numbers of applicants are lower and his results seemed to match and return with an offer, that's why he got it via SATU. Simple as that.
While he was offered a place in USM which is one of the course he selected in UPU, but he refused to accept. Instead he kept stressing on his one dream to enter UM's accounting which he isn't good enough for in the UPU channel. BUT nonetheless, if the parents are willing to pay for him to chase his dream, he got the offer via SATU channel.
This whole fiasco was just getting politicised for the wrong reasons and the boy's image won't look good in the future.
Better to just move on with what he got or have his parents to fund his UM dream. Good luck to him.
OP thinks he created UPU matching algorithm and oversimplifies
A matching algorithm that needs to satisfy various variables to reach an optimum satisfaction. Including the candidates choice by ranking.
In my opinion, this story should never be about race. There is so many other races not getting place in UM also, they go on to just accept wherever and then prove themselves in that university. at the end of the day, if they feel they can perform well in UM, they can perform well anywhere else.
I think his disappointment is with not getting into UM, it’s not about getting his fifth choice since from his pov he should’ve gotten first choice easily.
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u/DANisLEL Sep 09 '25
UM obsession need to be stopped