INTRODUCTION

Reforming the education system is arguably Malaysia's most paramount development challenge, and also one of the most daunting and difficult for the still fledgling Pakatan Harapan (PH) government. The menu of areas earmarked for reform is comprehensive, encompassing early (pre-primary), primary, secondary and higher levels of education, and covers policy questions from lofty philosophical heights down to ground-level operational concerns. A non-exhaustive list includes the enjoyment of education, quality of public schools, multiple secondary school certification and university entry systems, teachers’ bureaucratic workload and other morale- and efficacy-inhibiting issues, diffused and underperforming technical and vocational institutions, financing of the system and financial aid for students, serious allegations of misconduct and fraudulent practices in higher education institutions, and quotidian matters such as the weight of school bags and the colour of school shoes. Adding a further layer of complexity, PH inherited from its predecessors an ambitious education agenda, and has yet to clarify which plans will be continued, altered, or jettisoned. PH has repeatedly committed to modify, not overhaul, ongoing reforms, and to focus on more effective implementation. Hence, it is pertinent for us to review the Malaysian Education Blueprint (MEB) to set the context for this article.

The pre-election promises and post-election commitments are too broad-ranging for this article, requiring a selection of key issues. Merely cataloguing the programmes would also fail to do justice to the dynamic process that has unfolded. In the first year of PH's administration, some issues less salient or even absent in PH's manifesto have risen to the fore, while some seeming priorities in the manifesto have taken a relative back seat (Lee 2018). This article evaluates the reform agenda—based on emergent priorities, initiatives and pressures—arranged under three themes: quality, equity, autonomy.

The emphasis on quality, the first overarching theme, follows on policy priorities in recent years, and applies foremost to primary and secondary schooling, as well as technical and vocational education which spans secondary and post-secondary levels. The new government arrived with expectations that deep-seated problems of the previous regime might finally be fixed. Questions of access, largely resolved for primary and secondary schooling, amplify in post-secondary and higher education. The second theme thus revolves around equitable opportunity, particularly among ethnic groups’ advancement to university.