Malaysia's revised public university admission rules have reignited a sensitive debate about multiculturalism and the role of Chinese-language education within the national system. The changes allow students from independent Chinese schools to apply to public universities.

A revision to Malaysia’s public university admissions rules has reopened one of the multicultural country’s most sensitive political debates: how far its national education system should accommodate Chinese-language schooling. Malaysia’s government on May 15 said students from Chinese independent secondary schools could apply to public universities through specified pathways using the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), the school-leaving qualification used by those institutions. The decision...