Plight of JPA medical scholars
Letters
by Frustrated JPA scholar
I am a medical student sponsored by JPA to study in Ireland about to complete my studies. I write to you after reading your article on the rot of the Malaysian healthcare system. We JPA scholars here have been very frustrated with the JPA enforcing us to immediately return to the country upon graduation, barring us from continuing training as interns (equivalent of houseman) in the countries where we graduated from This would mean we cannot obtain the sufficient exposure that would make our training complete, and would off course, mean a waste of taxpayers money as there would have been no difference with studying locally.
JPA had announced recently that none of its medical scholars overseas will be allowed the opportunity to do further train overseas even at their own expanses, and are to return ASAP upon graduation. No scholar would be allowed to stay on regardless of the training posts they obtain upon graduation. To add to the spice of JPA’s foolishness, it seems that JPA gives priority to romantic relationships over the academic achievements of its scholars by giving exception to remain overseas to those who are married to a fellow JPA/MARA sponsored student who are still commencing studies in the foreign country concerned.
Till today, I have yet to comprehend the narrow minded policies set by the JPA. JPA seems to fail to understand that by allowing its scholars to stay on for postgraduate training, many will be offered positions in world-renowned healthcare institutions. The exposure and experience gained through these positions would be an invaluable asset to the country and the rakyat in the future. Unfortunately, JPA seems to be adamant in having fresh graduate doctors returning to receive Malaysian medical training, instead of allowing these fresh grads to further train themselves and one day return as first world specialists who will reform and infuse new uptodate skills in Malaysian Healthcare a few years down the road. Also of importance is the availability of funding to do research work in these foreign teaching hospitals, which is significantly lacking in Malaysia. Would it not make Malaysia proud if Malaysian Doctors were publishing their research work in heavy weight journals in the medical world. Upon return, these foreign trained doctors will then be able to start up a trend of research-based medicine, to the benefit of the ranking of Malaysian universities who lose out because of lack in research.
This immediate return policy has also stunted the motivation of many JPA scholars. Housemanship placements in Malaysia show disregard to academic achievements. It is random where one is sent to at best, and at its worst influenced by racism and cronism. This off course does not help in encouraging JPA scholars to strive to improve themselves. Knowing the fact that additional experience, eg opitional research and academic grades do not count later on, there are some who have lost motivation, and many who have been apprehensive in taking further steps to improve themselves due to the fear that the JPAs immediate return policy might put all their effort into waste by abruptly discontinuing their work.
Starting year 2008, there will be at least 2000 Malaysian fresh medical graduates from the various public and private universities sprouting throughout the country, not to forget graduates returning from Russia, Indonesia, India and Ukraine. This number is likely to rise over the coming years. Will MOH be able to cope with the demand for training posts? Will the ministry of health be able to provide enough housemenship positions, and if yes, will these posts provide high quality training, as the saying goes ‘too many cooks spoil the soup’? In the long term, will the ministry of health be able to provide enough specialist opportunities, considering its eagerness to do away with MRCP and only recognize the local masters program? My fear is that there will be a bottleneck down the pipeline, and many competent doctors will be failed by JPA and the ministry of health’s poor planning. Henceforth, to lessen the burden on the Malaysian Healthcare system, it would only be simple common sense to allow those graduating from foreign universities who are offered good opportunities to continue with their post graduate training overseas without having to return immediately, as it is the easiest way to gain access to train in these countries.
During one of the talks given by JPA officials who visited Ireland, a student raised a question on the rationale of JPAs ‘immediate return policies’. The officer in charge went in a rage and accused the people who wanted to stay as ‘just wanting to earn money’. I could not believe the narrow mindedness behind these words. For one, what is wrong with earning money? Also, many JPA scholars are top achievers, and view further career advancement as the driving force behind their intention to remain and continue training overseas. The plight of these JPA scholars has fallen on deaf ears of the JPA authorities. Many of JPA’s policy makers are not doctors themselves. How are they to understand the need of good training even at a post graduate level.
Finally, I would like to stress that all JPA scholars love their country, and would love to return to serve. However to my view, it would be better to return after adequate exposure to first world healthcare, as this would bring the most benefit to the rakyat. I am also fully aware that a contract is a contract, (despite the fact JPA changed the contract one-sidedly half way through our training from a penalty of RM160,000 to approximately a million ringgit) without prior warning), and if JPA remains adamant to prevent its scholars to further develop their skills overseas, the only thing we can do is to return as housemen. The authorities in JPA, however, should understand that to attract talent in the public service, the more effective methods would be by improving pay, ensuring fairness by meritocracy and adequate training opportunities,. By using brute force, many may return, but only with the intention of leaving as soon as the bond imposed is over.
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 07.48
Just consider that you are good and lucky to get a JPA scholarship.
Why grumble now? Before you go, I believe that you have read and signed the scholarship agreement.
If you think the terms and conditions are not favourable then, then do not go. It is too late……..
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 13.18
You have been away for too long doing your studies. In the meantime, alot of “Little Napoleons” have sprung up according to the PM.
These “little ones” can be quite mischievious, making alot of decisions that do not make sense according to their whims and fancies and “angin” at the appropriate times.
Even “big Napoleons” like Ministers have also made disparaging remarks like “why so many Indians here” and the like so this “Napoleon syndrome” can be found in all levels of the hierarchy.
But good news for you!!!!
There was a massive tsunami on 8th March which seems to have some effect on this syndrome. This disease might be in check for the moment so perhaps you and your colleaques might wish to retry your luck with the JPA. Hopefully, these Napoleons might be gone and the Duke of Wellington’s fellows might be in charge.
I sympathise with you but I hope the new administration fellows with supposedly big ears will finally hear you.
Otherwise you could go AWOL like the many who have done so before you. Funny, the Napoleon fellows can’t seem to locate them even after one or two generations, to get them to repay their loans. So there you are.
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 20.55
Just come back and serve the nation. Your original contract was for the undergraduate studies. Only in very special circumstances can your appeal be allowed for further work or studies eg. you are into some very special research that can only be done there.
Be thankful that the nation has given you a chance to study abroad. Malaysia needs you.
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 26.11
I think the gomen should by all means encourage these young talented people to stay on in their repective places of academic study to gain world class practical training before requiring them to return home to serve. That way they can serve better.
To deny them invaluable practical training is not only a waste of tax payers money, it is utter selfishness & shortsightedness!
When people know you truly love & care about the people, they will sacrifice and come back to serve. When people know that you discriminate people, even those that are at home will try to find ways to get out of the country!
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 35.38
Just come backlah!. We provide you our money to study undergraduate course onlylah! Specialist training can be done in Malaysia too. I can assure you training in Malaysia is not too badlah. We need doctors now urgently (from Malaysia and from foreign countries). Don’t be so selfish. We don’t mind if you are self-sponsored.
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 37.20
First off, you are one of the lucky few who have got a JPA Scholarship to study overseas & a Medical Scholarship to boot!
Secondly, I have heard (I’m sorry if I’m wrong) that many of those who stay on to do their Housemanship & then Postgraduate or even get appointments to work Overseas, never come back (& they don’t reimburse the JPA for breaking their bond).
Come back & serve your country & the people (us Tax Payers) who have paid for your studies.
After you serve your “bond period”, you can always do your postgraduate studies Overseas or otherwise.
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 46.03
I am a doctor and I understand your wish to continue training in world class healthcare facilities, because unfortunately, not long after I graduated from University of Malaya, our medical degree was not recognised by the General Medical Council of UK - due to possibly lowering of standards.
However, you will need more than 1 year as an intern to be fully trained as a specialist. So what you want is probably another 4-5 years before returning to Malaysia. This will mean that you will be away for approximately 10 years.
Do you think that it would be fair to the people who sponsored your studies - the taxpayers?
Probably what JPA should do will be to allow those scholars who do well - e.g. those with 1st Class Honours to continue. This will spur all the scholars to do well
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 50.00
For your information MRCP,FRCS holders in UK are just registrar only and not specialist. Only in Malaysia they are call specialists. In UK these doctors have to undergo few years of training before being considered true specialists
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 53.43
To all JPA medical scholars
Just be grateful that you are getting a British medical degree at taxpayers’ expense. Most of you spend 5 years studying and we have to pay for your expenses for those five years.
Both my friend’s 2 children are holding JPA scholars and are studying in the U.K. and each of those scholarships are worth in excess of RM1 million (fees, expenses, allowances, etc.). We are spending more than a million bucks to train each of them and here you are complaining about the Govt. being unfair. Why don’t you grow up!! We Malaysians don’t owe you anything! JUST COME BACK AND SERVE THE NATION!
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 56.20
Cont….
Sorry link was broken.
Another friend of mine had a child who applied for a STUDY LOAN, not a scholarship, of only RM10K but was rejected on technical grounds. You JPA scholars wanna talk about fairness????
Just be grateful, we taxpayers don’t owe you anything!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 17: 59.08
You should return to serve the country as per requirement in the scholarship agreement.
There are many more brighter students here but not fortunate enough to get the scholarship to study, not even locally.
So why you sulk? Post graduate “first world training” mentioned is just a lame excuse.
You accept the scholarship, you also accept the social responsibilities to the country, to the tax payers here and to the poor people here who desperately need the basic medical and health care.
If you are high achiever and full of aspiration, the more you should understand the spirit of the scholarship award, to serve the nation to the best of your ability.
You go to any government hospital or clinic in the country, you see the long queues, why? Not enough medical personnel to attend to the poor and needy patients!
Don’t you have the heart for them? Instead you are sulking about the “first world” postgraduate training?
There many bright and outstanding specialists trained here locally, they are as good, if not better than those trained in the so-called by you, “first world” training.
It is time for you to show your gratitude and patriotism through deeds and not words. No sulking and be grateful for what you enjoy now, which many here cannot even dream of!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 18: 04.00
Cont…
For the information of all, both my friend’s 2 children have signed 10 year bonds to serve the Govt. upon the completion of their studies. However, there is a release clause. They only have to pay back the Govt. 10% of what the Govt. spend on them to train them. YES, only 10%. They only have to pay back the Govt. RM100K-odd to be released from the bonds and they can do their own thing.
You still wanna talk about fairness (or unfairness)??
March 23rd, 2008 at 18: 10.47
You had a scholarship from the Govt, think of the others who had missed out and had to fork out their own money for it. Did they get any break ? I know of some that had to work hard while studying hard there and the stress of trying to survive and pass their subjects. Just like the company that send you expensive training, they would like to see some return for their money.
It is not a matter of loyalty but rather one of a commercial decision. The money belongs to the Malaysian tax payers, Malaysia do not have enough doctors and we are importing doctors!!! If the system is failing you, more reason to change the system and make noise. In view of your career, well, I hate to put it to you but the cold reality is that your service as a doctor comes before your career. Serve your time as a way to pay back the tax payers for what we have given you, after that, you can decided where your career will go.
March 23rd, 2008 at 18: 59.03
This is utterly rubbish and selfish attitude. You took the tax payer money to study oversea and now you refuse to come back because you want to so called continue your postgraduate study. Just to remind you that, without the scholarship you are NOBODY and no chance to study medicine. You should be very grateful that you are given a opportunity to pursue your dream to become a doctor. You should honour your contract by coming back to serve your master who are the tax payers before even think of consider to develop your career to the next level. It is because of the shameless people like you who robbed the tax payer money by giving all these rubbish reason to stay back in UK so that you can earn you British Pound. You selfish idiot who had nothing to start off is given a opportunity to study a job (when many others were denied) and guaranteed a job with 6k salary when you are back have the gut trying to bargain so that you can stay back to make more money on the expense of tax payer money. I am really ashamed that you are a Malaysian. The JPA for once did the right thing by changing the fine to 1 million.
March 23rd, 2008 at 19: 04.39
I definitely do NOT empathise with the writer. Come on, you are given a chance to study overseas at taxpayers account. As soon as you graduate, KINDLY COME HOME TO SERVE IN WHATEVER CAPACITY FITS YOU. We are very short of doctors.
I am sure that when you accept the scholarship, you are aware of the conditions. If you want to hang on in Ireland, you should have gone on your parents’ scholarship.
Do not be selfish. STOP COMPLAINING AND TAKE THE FIRST PLANE BACK TO SERVE THE POOR HERE IF YOU ARE THAT SINCERE!!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 19: 06.07
I said that someone received the JPA scholarship and wants to stay oversea and say all unacceptable excuses.
I am a taxpayer likes other Internet surfers and could not keep our mouth silent for too long after reading the letter. You are using our money for the oversea studies and do not want to return home to pay your duty. Medical training can be done anywhere as long as there are mentors to guide you whether it is is government clinic or hospital. Do houseman in oversea, will you return home after the houseman? Majority of the doctors will not return home due to high pay. Which you never receive that amount salary in any government hospitals.
Currently, Malaysia is lacking a few thousand doctors. If all graduated medical doctors have same thinking as you, Malaysia will continue suffer what we have now. Where can the poor get their medical service or attention when they are sick? Please come to Malaysia hospitals and see it yourself. Full selfish oversea medical student.
You are given a JPA scholarship, you should thank god that you receive it and study oversea. Some graduated STPM students which achieved high grade may not have such lucky chance to study in oversea.
I urge you that stop complaint about the requirements. If you do not agree with requirements, you should pass the opportunity to who needs it and want to return home to serve this country.
If you want to do postgraduate medical course, I suggest you that you should save or ask for funding after you have serve the requirement bond with the JPA. Then it is you to decide what medical field to consider. We (as Malaysians citizen) will not stop you whether you want to continue serving your professional in oversea like Ireland, US, Canada and etc.
If the JPA knows that you are such a selfish medical student, they should give this golden opportunity to other great student who will return and serve this country.
March 23rd, 2008 at 19: 31.32
Mr Lim,
We should not champion this type of scholars. After all there are so many who are in need of money just to get their first degree. This guy is lucky enough to get a JPA scholarship to study overseas.
HE IS DEFINITELY SELFISH TO HANG ON OVERSEAS. ASK HIM TO COME HOME TO START SERVING!!! THE POOR HERE NEED MEDICAL SERVICE URGENTLY.
I WOULD DEFINITELY ASK HIM TO SHUT UP !!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 19: 32.07
YES. CONVEY OUR OPINION TO JPA AND GET THEM HOME !!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 19: 36.50
“Finally, I would like to stress that all JPA scholars love their country, and would love to return to serve”!
You make me laugh. How many of those om JPA scholarship to do specialist course continue to servin with the government upon completing the contract? The moment they have satisfy the condition, off they go to the private. Hey, most of them love $$$ sign more than the country.
I know of a few doctors who simply do not even want to serve in Sabah and Sarawak inspite of their scholarship. So MUCH FOR THEIR CARE OF THE POOR eh!!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 20: 06.10
Im a local JPA scholar final year medical student
please dont grumble too much lah, u have been given the chance to study abroad for undergraduate study with the rakyat’s money is good enough…
every JPA scholar medical student abroad or local must start their compulsory years working for rakyat right after they graduated. we all have used up the rakyat’s money and later still grumble for more huh? wake up lah, its not ur money. just be respect and i think JPA treats all the same…
dontlah say that your undergraduate years of studying abroad does not giv u enough experience lah. what are u doing during your clinical years? playing around? medical situation here and abroad are far different from each other. if you intended to serve the rakyat, just come back and start working here lah. dont grumble too much…
im a final year local medical student, JPA scholar somemore and im very sure this guy here grumble too much. if not gaining experience abroad during his undergraduates is totally his fault!
March 23rd, 2008 at 20: 13.30
[…] I read at Kit Siang’s blog about a medical student who wants to stay abroad to undergo further training. She/He was ranting about the unfairness of JPA’s regulation and officer for being […]
March 23rd, 2008 at 20: 21.56
No, I don’t think it’s the plight of the JPA medical scholars but the plight of the JPA instead. I’m in agreement with the views of many of the writers here who feel the medical scholars ought to come back to serve their housemanship.
March 23rd, 2008 at 20: 28.40
I am sympathetic to the plight of Frustrated JPA Scholar above.
To JusticeWanted, yes, he (OR she) may have signed the contract and thus, he should adhere to the terms and return home if that was in the terms. But note! JPA made a drastic change to the bond-breaking terms mid-way for whatever reason. That’s not fair to Frustrated and other affected JPA scholars. You should be shouting for justice for Frustrated there.
To all of you who claim Frustrated is selfish for wanting to continue his internship in Ireland EVEN AT HIS OWN EXPENSE, your concern for shortage of doctors is commendable, but how shortsighted you are!
Malaysian scholars, even those under JPA scholarship, who are able to seek out their own oppportunities and resources to further improve themselves with further education and training should be given every encouragement to do so!
You sound like sour grapes the way you go on about how lucky Frustrated is to have a JPA scholarship and how selfish he is for not boarding the first plane home.
The JPA contract is of course a contract and so the scholars must return, but a postponement of their bond to serve in Malaysia to 3-4 years later, in exchange for an even better qualified and well exposed doctor is to Malaysia’s great advantage.
Furthermore, the root cause of the lack of doctors in Malaysia is not that these JPA medicine scholars are not returning home, but that our universities do not have the capacity to train enough qualified doctors quickly enough to cope with the demand. There is certainly no shortage in the number of qualified students wanting to study medicine.
Compound that with the fact that public healthcare has not proved monetarily rewarding enough for our young doctors to stay within the service once their housemanship is over. If we fix the corruption leaks in the government, we’d have more money to channel into improving public healthcare for our medical staff and for the public.
I say Frustrated has fair cause to be frustrated with the JPA. I applaud him for putting this issue out for public debate. I wish him all the very best in trying to improve himself in his medicine career and look forward to having him in our public service.
March 23rd, 2008 at 20: 29.18
The fault lies with our idiotic govenment policies……..undergraduate studies do locally……save tax payer’s money for postgraduate studies, attachments, fellowships, etc…..the JPA and Education Ministry must reap what they sow. Do you see India, China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Russia, US, France, etc sending students overseas for undergraduate studies????? …But as usual …tax payer’s will always end up paying for all these cock-ups…
March 23rd, 2008 at 20: 39.25
Looks like “adriene” above is either a parent whose child has a JPA scholarship or is a JPA scholarship holder herself. I quote here what she(?) said:
“You sound like sour grapes the way you go on about how lucky Frustrated is to have a JPA scholarship…….”
Perhaps, you are old and retired and not paying any taxes. In that case, please refrain from commenting!
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 01.36
Adriene: You obviously is not in the medical community. Every doctor in public service know that the working environment and pay in the public service is not comparable to the UK. Everyone of us knew that they want to stay back because they want to earn the British Pound. To say that they want to serve better after the post graduate study is utterly bullshit. All of us knew that if they ever become a specialist, they will try very hard to stay back in UK or when come back they will just pay the penalty and go to private sector (that’s why they got upset when JPA raise the fine to 1 million in stead of 160k which they can easily pay back with their British Pound).
If you are on FAMA scholarship, you have every right to stay back but if you took the tax payer money, your top priority is to honour your contract. Your career development is a privilege (to be given later after you serve your paymaster) and not your right anymore. You own the Malaysian citizen your responsibility to serve them even though you may be paid poorly and have to work like a dog here because without the tax payer money, you are NOTHING.
raven77: What you said is absolutely right. Sending students to UK is merely due to political reason. Absolutely not cost efficient. These UK graduate do not perform better than any of the HOs from local U or even Indonesian U. More often they perform worse than the local HOs because they lac of clinical experience and exposure in UK.
The Malaysia gov should stop sending students to oversea for basic medical degree. They should spend money sending doctors for sub specialty training which the country severely lack of. After all we have 22 medical schools (public and private) in Malaysia to train basic doctor. Sending students to UK is a waste of money and in many occasion, the students cannot have the prinicple to honour the their contract and behave like a traitor just because they like the pay and lifestyle there.
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 09.10
JPA scholarship itself is a joke and there is no surprise that we get this kind of joker scholar. Read and see whether you agree with this blogger, http://pilseung.blogspot.com/2008/02/jpa-scholarship.html
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 13.35
adriene, im a JPA scholar, a final year medical student studying in local university….
and im telling u that this guy’s reason is unreasonable at all…
the point of asking them to come back for houseman ship is to teach them about the reality of healthcare system over here lah…
medical situations here and abroad are of very much different…
1. they dont have dengue, malaria, tuberculosis etc
2. and theyve got alot of fund to do MRI or CT Scan for every pt that dont really need it…they should come back and learn how things working over here without MRI or CT Scan machine in Sabah or Sarawak rural areas
3. later in practice we do see these so called damn good oversea medical graduates being laughed out by staff nurses and hospital attendance for prescribing drugs that donot even exist here plus with doses unacceptable over here…
4. try sending them to Gua Musang for instance to educate the ppl over there on health awareness and im sure of none would understand what hes trying to deliver…
**Medical achievement is based upon ur medical experiences, not based on where u graduated, what level of quality of medical educated u had. If u intended to serve the rakyat, the taxpayers who pay ur scholar, come back home, go to Gua Musang, even rural Borneo, learn the medical reality over here. No MRI, no CT Scan, swimming in pools of infections, go and talk to our Orang Asli and give them some education….these are what medical is meant! You better shut your mouth and stop complaining.
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 14.30
“Starting year 2008, there will be at least 2000 Malaysian fresh medical graduates from the various public and private universities…Will MOH be able to cope with the demand for training posts?…Will the ministry of health be able to provide enough housemenship positions”
- Please come to East Malaysia, definitely can absorb you, don’t ya worry.
The taxpayers has spent at least half a million for your undergrad studies. Come back so that locally trained doctors who have been doing “charity work” WHILE PAYING TAXES TO FUND YOU can get their turn to go for further training. Don’t think of yourself and your career only. There are many doctors in M’sia who are also capable.
Malaysia unfortunately is not interested in getting super specialized doctors. Our BASIC medical care has still much to be desired.
I’m not being judgemental but there are many JPA scholars who stayed back in a foreign country to “pursue further training” never returned home. Take Singapore for instance.
If you paid with your own money to study medicine overseas, then fine. Do what you like.
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 14.54
adriene Says:
Today at 20: 28.40 (27 minutes ago)
I am sympathetic to the plight of Frustrated JPA Scholar above.
To JusticeWanted, yes, he (OR she) may have signed the contract and thus, he should adhere to the terms and return home if that was in the terms. But note! JPA made a drastic change to the bond-breaking terms mid-way for whatever reason. That’s not fair to Frustrated and other affected JPA scholars. You should be shouting for justice for Frustrated there.
============================
The country has spent more than a million on him and he is complaining about not improving himself. Has he thought of how he can serve the country instead? If every JPA scholars are like him, will it be very choatic for the JPA to keep track of them. Be contented and grateful that your initial plans of be a doctor is going to be fulfilled. Your plans might have changed but please fulfill your obligations to the nation.
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 17.38
With that state of mind, you are not fit to become a doctor, not to mention a specialist. You have fogotten the Hippocrates Oath. You are not compassionate at all and only want to become a super specialist. You’ll become a sick doctor. We, Malaysian regret to sponsor you. You must have sweet-talked the JPA to allow you to go oversea but actually you have other intentions.
Let me tell you, most of the sickness (> 80%)you encounter do not need specialist attention not to mention super specialist. Tax payers don’t wish you to become a super specialist at this moment. They want you to come back as soon as possible and will be very grateful to you if you can treat 80% of their problems at primary care level.
It is important for JPA to choose scholars with the correct attitude before offering them scholarships.
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 26.27
The writer of the letter is obviously speaking without a clear grasp of the actual situation in Malaysian hospitals.
Frustrated as i am with the discrimative Ministry of Health, I must concede that housemanship training in Malaysia may be actually be better than overseas.
It’s not because we have more knowledgeable specialists here or learned consultants eager to impart knowledge.
It’s not because we have better lab or imaging facilities - we don’t!
It’s merely because we have a high patient load with a wide variety of conditions that require a doctors’ clinical acument and versatile communication skills and much more hands-on training.
We end up being confident and astute doctors at the end of housemanship.
That of course can only materialise if one is sincere in becoming a good doctor.
Apart from that, yes, our healthcare system is still pathetic.
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 36.03
baoqingtian, fully supported u…here are my experiences as a medical student with some abroad graduated houseman…
1. got one houseman from ireland if im not mistaken, u know he asked us last time was year 4 medical student to teach him how to set an intravenous line. He said “Why here so different lah, there abroad very easy one?”. In my mind, “Hes not worth to be a doctor, graduated abroad somemore!”
2. if graduating abroad is so damn good, why still got candidates failed the easy up to the standard entry examination?. In my mind, “they study nothing abroad, jollying their scholar money somemore!”
**Now im serious, stop sending JPA scholars abroad, waste of taxpayer money…
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 43.47
adriene,
The nation is sorely in need of doctors. In trying to do housemanship or speciale right after graduation overseas is very, very selfish on the writer’s part. He is placing his self interest above the nation’s. He or she is trying to get his specialist training in the shortest time possible. upon returning to Malaysia, he just have to serve out his contract and then disappear to the private sector.
Please do not justify his or her argument.
I say it again, STOP COMPLAINING AND TAKE THE FIRST FLIGHT HOME TO SERVE THE NATION WHICH SORELY NEEDS YOUR SERVICE !!!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 51.51
From an academic point of view, I of course sympathise with you. However, if you look at the rational of the government, then you have to say they are only trying to make a “return” on their investment. Even if they do let you continue your specialist studies overseas, what guarantee do they have that you will return? Sure, perhaps they should think about funding postgraduate study too, especially since it’s research intensive (oh, how Malaysia suffers in this area), but at the end of the day, there needs to be a return on their investment.
Plus, I find your blanket statement about ALL JPA scholars loving their country to be a tad presumptuous - you may, but there will be many who will happily abscond given the opportunity. Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting to settle in another country in such a global era - but to use that as your justification that JPA scholars will return doesn’t reflect well on your maturity or social awareness.
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 52.45
I wanna spank this “frustrated” JPA scholar. Grow up, be a man (or woman), honor your contract. How can the public trust you with their lives if you can’t even honor your obligation you signed with your eyes wide open.
Don’t try to justify your wish to break the contract by intellectualizing your wishy washy arguments. It’s just b*****t to me.
March 23rd, 2008 at 21: 55.11
After reading Frustrated JPA scholar’s letter, I want to ask him one simple question that is …
After all the years studying oversea & enjoying the best thing there, are u willing to come home to serve the poor old & unfortunate Malaysian & live a pathetic life?
You are the lucky one who got the chance to study oversea yet you still want to stay a little bit longer just in the name of getting a little bit experience.
Tell me after you getting all the expertise & knowledge, what can you contribute to the country. After coming home, you will the same as everyone else “Malaysian”.
Just ask yourselves, after you got a very good pay job there & enjoying your life there, how are you wanting to come home to serve with the pathetic little sum of pay.
March 23rd, 2008 at 22: 10.23
Dear Uncle Lim,
I think it is time to propose to the government to stop sending our precious student to study abroad on government sponsored study loan/scholarship.
The idea is good but it is subjected to abuse. We have seen well off son getting the sponsorship or the one got it refused to come back & some even ignored to pay back.
Rather than sending our student out, how about getting the experts in to train our student locally. In this case, we can train hundred instead of the selected few.
In this way, we can also upgrade our local facilities & can even attract foreign student.
March 23rd, 2008 at 22: 24.56
Why kept on wasting money by sending students overseas? Use that money to improve our local universities. For the spending on one JPA student, you can have many more local students, and hopefully to also improve the ranking of local u.
March 23rd, 2008 at 22: 33.48
To the sender of this letter…you’re very lucky to be chosen for the JPA scholarship…what is there to grumble again..?..even one of my family members got 100% As’ in SPM/STPM didnt manage to get the scholarship…you accept the scholarship means you had agreed the terms and conditions the moment u signed the agreement…pls bear in mind that GOV money = taxpayer money..without the money? will u be able to study medi ? or should i say how many of us afford to study abroad for such course?
March 23rd, 2008 at 22: 38.21
I’m an overseas graduate with some financial aid from the university. Even for me, I I agree with the majority here that the JPA scholar should be grateful with the opportunity to study overseas especially medicine degree depending on where you study, could cost up to RM600k-1M. Thus, it’s only sensible that he/she comes back to Malaysia to serve the bond. But, being fair to both sides, some scholarships with bond up to 10 years may be too long as these scholars could have lost the opportunity to further develop their career in the best possible way. I guess some ways could be to revise this to a shorter period but, the government should strictly enforce this. But, of course, the government should also try to do their part in ensuring that the work environment and the remuneration is competitive locally for these scholars to work in when they do come back. After all, to be fair, it’s not really optimal when you have someone capable who graduated from the UK in Medicine only to come back to their own country where policies are not in place and not having the right facilities. It’s balancing act which I strongly believe it’s the responsibility of the government and the individual.
March 23rd, 2008 at 23: 03.29
All JPA scholars should come back and serve their bond. If they are really that good , then they can apply to further their qualifications. They must be judged in Malaysia. Otherwise make them pay the full amount on what the government have spent on them, if they want to buy themselves out. Please, not 10%.
March 23rd, 2008 at 23: 18.58
You are lucky. I met a JPA scholar (Chinese girl) in IMU. She told me that when she went for an interview for scholarship. There was 13 students at that interview and out of 13 only 1 Chinese and 1 Indian. The officer in-charge (racist) scrutinize her and brainwash her to an extent she nearly give up. She told me that she score 13 As and the Indian student 11 As but the others only 5 As and all of them will be our future Dr. Yet the officer try to make her loose heart and give up. When nonMalay students give up JPA scholarship, they will say, No non-Malay want to apply the scholarship. Well, this is our children’s future under BN especially MCA and MIC.
March 23rd, 2008 at 23: 26.26
Here is an ungrateful spoilt “scholar” wasting the rakyat’s money. You were so lucky to get sponsorship to do medical studies (overseas some more!) which many more deserving students could only dream of.
In my time in the early 60’s, I got admission into MU for medical course after good results in my HSC. I came from a very poor family and could’nt afford the course. My ambition was to be a neurosurgeon. I attended a few govt state and federal scholarship interviews but failed - reason? you guessed it! it had already started then.
I then wrote to all the commonwealth countries in the world to ask for a scholarship. All replied in the negative as their scholarship offers had been disbursed thru the Malaysian govt then. So, no way I could make it as a doctor or eventual specialist. I slogged in industry and worked my way up over the years. No regrets, just a victim of circumstances.
However I must add this piece of information to complete my story.
When I had started working for a year or so, I had heard then that the opposition politician the late Dr Tan Chee Koon (bless his soul!) does sponsor, out of his own finances, 4 deserving medical students annually, with the only condition that once the student graduates, the graduate doctor must sponsor one deserving student as payback. Bless his soul again!
To cut the story short, I wrote to him explaining and he wrote back saying I am working now and can save up to study. I wrote back explaining not possible, as 75% of my income goes back home to mum to settle expenses and small loans accumulated by family. My family of 6 stayed in a rented room to survive then. Dr Tan eventually wrote back and asked me to see him. I pondered over this for nearly 3 months before replying to him, that under the circumstances I cannot stop remitting the bulk of my small income to support my family, and thanked him to offer to another deserving student under the circumstances.
This is not a sob story. Hard decision but done out of basic necessity for family’s survival. This is called obligation and commitment. Any regrets? None.
So, Mr or Miss Frustrated JPA Scholar, ( you call yourself a scholar?), thank your lucky stars and do you bit for society. I paid my taxes to partly finance your scholarship, you know?
March 23rd, 2008 at 23: 37.14
Yeah mate, to be honest. The only reason ou wanted to stay overseas is because of the MONEY! If you get paid more in Malaysia than in the UK, will you still wanna stay in UK?
The truth is, by working for a few years in UK, you’ll probably earn enough money to buy yourself out of JPA’s bond. By then will you still wanna return to Malaysia to serve with that pathetic wage after being used to the highly paid salary in the UK? CMON, don’t fool yourself or us!
March 24th, 2008 at 00: 30.03
This reminds me of an event some time ago while I was recruiting for my company. I’d short-listed several candidates, where 7-8 of them were 1st class Honours fresh students from local U (bout 1/3 came from UM).
There were these 2 particular candidates from UM which I’d approved but were later rejected by my VP and I was forced to pick other candidates whose academic qualification is no match compared to the 2 candidates that my boss had dropped.
Anyway, to cut the story short, I’d manage to cut some deal with my boss and end of the day, I’d brought these 2 first class candidates together with few others into my department.
1 year+ later, I’d finally realized my VP decision to reject them in the first place was with solid reason.
First candidate that my boss rejected back then was based on the reason that he/she is too academic oriented. I disagreed with my boss initially, but after 1 year+ of observation, I can’t help but to agree with my boss. This candidate treat corporate world as education world, where ’students’ should be allowed to do their own experiments & studies at their own pace and at one point, this candidate even asked permission to stay at home during office hour so that he/she can focus to ’study’ while on the company payroll. After a while, this candidate requested for transfer of department because this job is ‘boring’ and he/she wanted to move on to the next level like from Degree to Master and then from Master to PhD. lol
2nd candidate that my boss had rejected was based on the judgment that he/she is not a team player and have attitude problem. It turned out my VP was right after all, but I will not elaborate in details as this would involve corporate confidential information.
From then onwards, whenever I recruit new staff, I’ll always try to go for 2nd class Upper rather then trying to form an All Star team of first class Honours. Academic result is no doubt important as it’s an evaluation of how short a candidate’s learning curve is to the new job, but I’d learn a few lessons from that incident and would evaluate my candidate based on other criteria that are equally important as well.
I believe the author of this ‘master piece’ still view life after work the same as life before work. That’s why the idealist wishes of ‘further internship’ opportunity in a foreign land and to ‘further improve themselves while earning some spare pound’ should be granted because it’s ‘unfair’ for them etc etc etc.
I do have 2 questions for the author:
1. How long does he think he’ll need to ‘further improve himself in foreign land while earning some peanuts pound’ before he is ‘ready’ to come back to Malaysia to serve the rakyat that actually pay their taxes for him to be on a JPA scholarship? 10 years? 15 years? 20 years?
2. After his return back to Malaysia to ’serve’ the rakyat (be it forcefully by a contract or voluntarily with a caring heart), how long will he serve in government sector or rather how many poor patients he can treat before he move to pursuit his career advancement for the better gold & glory? 3 years? 5 years? 7 years?
March 24th, 2008 at 00: 32.28
If any of my children had a JPA scholarship I would advice them to come back and serve the country but none of my four children had a JPA scholarship.So when they finished their medical degree I will just tell them not to return and serve this country that has not given them anything.If possible just stay and work there for good.This country dont deserve you.Thats what I tell my children.But for those who have benefitted, just come back and serve the nation. No ifs and Buts.
March 24th, 2008 at 00: 37.24
My apology for anyone from UM or any 1st class Honours scholar out there that might had been offended by my message above.
March 24th, 2008 at 00: 49.22
Dear Richard,
I beg to differ on your suggestion. Everyone has a choice, but if LKS asked Guan Eng to ’stay out of this country and forever not return as it has not given him anything’, what do you think would happen on 08 of March 2008?
Also, based on your rational, only people from rich background who are fortunate enough to have daddy like you whom can afford to send 4 children oversea on Medical degree are allowed to pursue their oversea happiness? So the poor people should be ‘condemn and rot in Malaysia, no Ifs and Buts’ because their parents are not as rich as you? I certainly think that this logic has some flaws in it!
If you can afford to send your 4 lovely children oversea on medical degree, why strip off this opportunity from others who require this chance of a lifetime through JPA but is unable to afford it so?
I wonder…….
March 24th, 2008 at 01: 05.09
Anybody who can send 4 kids overseas to study medicine must be a millionaire if not a multimillionaire
If everybody who didn’t get scholarship stayed outside M’sia then our population will be very very small indeed. Chuckle.
March 24th, 2008 at 01: 09.23
A flawed logic is the result of a flawed mind.
March 24th, 2008 at 01: 22.59
“From then onwards, whenever I recruit new staff, I’ll always try to go for 2nd class Upper rather then trying to form an All Star team of first class Honours. ” Morgan
There can be no doubt that those who graduate with first class honors are best suited for work in research. It is a simple issue of finding square pegs to fit into square holes and not round ones.
It reminds me of a classmate who had first class honors from Cambridge University in law but who failed to pass his London Bar Exam more than once. I don’t know what happened to him since i.e. whether he eventually passed his Bar. He’s definitely suited for work as a lecturer rather than a barrrister at law. He is good at what he does.
I met another first class honors graduate in law from the University of Malaya. She’s both brains and beauty! She languished for a while as a legal assistant. She should have gone to do her Masters and her Doctorate and work as a lecturer.
I once had a boss who has a Ph. D. He’s a poor team player. More of a loose cannon and in the corporate world this is a liability.
March 24th, 2008 at 01: 26.04
The latest letter by Frustrated JPA scholar really disgusted me of knowing that there is still indeed some selfish freak who thinks the whole Malaysians, especially the tax payers owe him/her a favor. Not satisfied of getting a more than half a million Ringgit to go to Ireland to study Medicine, he/she still complained that JPA being unreasonable and ridiculous for imposing ruling that requires the medical scholars to come back to serve the country upon completing their studies in overseas.
His/her writing showed the arrogance side of one of the country’s top scorers who managed to secure a prestigious scholarship to study abroad. This medical student is outright rude and ungrateful and should not have been given such scholarship in the first place.
Our country, especially the east coast of Penisular Malaysia and east Malaysia, is very short of medical doctors and yet his/her concern now is on how he/she been able to improve him/herself by continuing to work in overseas to get the so-called ‘first world’ post-graduate specialist training.
He/she also looked down on the local health care services, local medical graduates and locally trained House officers, as well as sees his/her own country as inferior, that there is no purpose for him/her to stay on to serve or treat the sicks.
I am indeed very eager to see him/her come back soon to the country to serve his/her poor fellow family members or relatives, and to show us how his/her ‘first world’ undergraduate degree makes him/her better than the rest. Show us how you function as ‘first world’ houseman first before even thinking yourself been ‘first world’ specialist!
I am proud that I am 100% locally trained and been given the opportunity to upgrade myself without the need to go overseas. Although I am not a straight As scorer, I am also proud that I did better than many straight As fellows in medical school. Despite taking the JPA RM30,000 scholarship and get bonded for 10 years (!!!), I have no regret and I am still very grateful that I am able to continue doing the things that I wanted to do, to heal the sicks and to serve mankind irrespective of their status.
March 24th, 2008 at 01: 32.16
Hmmm Richard. The country has not given your children anything? How about the air they breath, the water they drank, the school they go to, the security afforded by our commendable police. So where do you ask your children to go to since I suppose no other countries would have given them anything as well?
March 24th, 2008 at 01: 34.42
Ha ah, want to escape doing housemanship in Malaysia on some pathetic excuse of furthering one’s training. You think we were only born yesterday?
March 24th, 2008 at 03: 55.15
I began wondering how many of you will actually go to the gov hospital to seek specialist treatment? I bet most people nowadays go mostly to private hospital. So, just shut the hole in that face of yours and stop being a sour grape.
I do sympathize with the poor who do not have money to seek treatment in a more medically equipped private hospital. They have resorted into seeking help in gov hospital and ended up in a long waiting list. But who is to blame? The mere number of JPA scholars who stayed in overseas? I believe there are too many GPs in our country, judging from the fact that there are 3-4 clinics in a row of shop houses. Why are they not in gov hospital? Rather they preferred to start their own business..
So who is to blame?
You can count the number of JPA students(ok, i refrain to use scholars because i don’t think half of them even deserve this sholarship). They are just not that many as you thought them to be. There are actually quite a number of JPA scholars in gov hospital though.
What our country need is trained specialists. Not just mere GPs. Those who are not in medical field might not know that the place for specialist training is so limited in malaysia, plus the NEP..which i will not say further.
To some of them who said doctors who do not know how to put in an IV cannula, it’s just the different technique which is been used, i supposed. However, technique can be learned. A nurse can be trained to put in a cannula. A doctor’s job is to provide differential diagnosis and treatment. Putting in a cannulae is just a very small part in our job. What matters most is to provide a diagnosis and thus treatment.
Who says earning british pounds will make them rich? A fy1 salary for a month is around 2000 pounds..and it differs from place to place. The council tax is around 2000 pounds a year and another 30% off from the montly salary. House rent is around 300 pounds a month plus other living costs. The salary is just enough for them to survive. Not that they can afford a BMW or a mecrs here….If you have the hang of converting pounds into ringgit malaysia, why don’t you convert RM into rupee?
For you who said about investment on the scholars, don’t make yourself a fool. I think it’s rather stupid to send them to overseas and want them to come back before they can get their specialist training. With all the money the gov spend on them only to become a GP and stuck in a long waiting list in Malaysia for specialist, is that a wise move? To those who are trained locally, don’t you think it’s rather unfair for you that they are competing for the limited specialist places, especially in the surgical field?
No hard feeling guys. I am just being honest. All they want is to get the specialist training before they can come back to serve the nation.
The lack of doctors is the government’s fault. That’s why there is a brain drain. Many are stucked in foreign countries because of the unfair policy http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2008/03/22/mca-to-blame-for-marginalisation-of-foreign-malaysian-specialists/
I am on parents money to pursue my education now by the way.
March 24th, 2008 at 04: 09.03
I too am a JPA scholar in Ireland, and would agree on the view that it is partly our responsibility to return to malaysia.
However, I think ‘Frustrated JPA Scholar’ is frustrated because the MARA students are allowed to defect, with no consequence whatsoever. It’s like awarding them more than RM1 million free of charge, which is rather unfair, since the racial constitution of MARA scholars is almost entirely Malay. JPA also gives conflicting contracts and changes the condition at will, which most likely would not stand in a court of law. For example, students under a convertible loan (Pinjaman Bolehubah) do not have the 10-year bond written in their contract, instead it is written that the student can pay back the entire sum in installments. However, JPA has even refused this right to the convertible loan holders.
By the way, ‘frustrated scholar’ is right about there being limited opportunity for further specialization in malaysia. For one, it is difficult to obtain the very limited number of seats each year with favouritism towards malays still being practised. Secondly, our wonderful health board has decided to de-recognize the MRCP, which in most other countries enables a person to have a specialist status. Refer to one of the previous letters to Lim Kit Siang that he posted a few days ago.
March 24th, 2008 at 04: 45.42
What else is new , beside the rotting health care system, education system sucks on the whole , economic system is rotiing as well, all this is the result of NEP , LGE , well done prove them that Penang is the force to be reckoned with in Malaysia, only perhaps then THEY will wake up , including the sleeping chief Budhuwhi.
March 24th, 2008 at 05: 04.34
“So when they finished their medical degree I will just tell them not to return and serve this country that has not given them anything.” Richard Teo
This country gave their father a place to live, to educate himself and work, raise a family - work that allows him to pay for their education. The others are less fortunate. So stop whining!
March 24th, 2008 at 05: 40.01
If I understood the writer correctly, the issue is why refuse them from doing their practical internship (housemanship) abroad in the country of their study, the invaluable practical training will be an added asset to Malaysia Medical body when they eventually return to serve out their bond.
What’s the hurry to bring them home as only half baked cookies?
So what if they decide not to come back, they or their employers will pay the penalty for the breach of contract anyway.
Like I said if a person feels the love & care of his country, he will come back and serve even if the pay is less. But if he finds discrimination left right & center, he will leave the country eventually.
March 24th, 2008 at 06: 39.44
you must see who is the Education Minister mah…!
forever “angkat Keris lapuk”… rolf…!
March 24th, 2008 at 06: 59.52
People like Richard Teo should feel lucky. He is able to send his kids overseas.
Look at limkamput. He is condemned to a Kg. Attap type education. Look at what such education did to him.
March 24th, 2008 at 07: 40.52
yes….
come back n be a dog
a dogtor…..
wait till you work 30 hrs ++ non stop
wait till you poke yourself with HIV tainted needle due to lack of sleep
wait till you crash your car due to lack of sleep
wait till more babies arm have to be chopped off due to lack of sleep
cause nobody care of your plights….
the aim now is to cut down clinics waiting time to 30 minutes….
March 24th, 2008 at 08: 29.51
I think most of you completely miss the point. The question is why allowed those who married to a fellow JPA/MARA to stay on?
Please do not stray from the point
March 24th, 2008 at 08: 29.57
In all fairness, i know of a students who is the Top Boy in school and has striaghts A1. He couldnt get a place in local university. so he apllied to JBA. Even Russia will do for him. He is bright and enthuisiatisc about serving his country. In his speech he toild me that he will cone back to serve the country.
He went very early for the interview at eight o’clock morning, waited up to 4 pm. And suddently the ENTIRE GROUP was called in for “interview”. Apparently who will get the scholarship has already been determined. Maybe race quota has been met. He went back awaiting the outcome. He receive his “Dengan dukachita di marlumkan letter” We “regret to inform you” that your application to JBA was not succesful…..
Yes, you are allow an appeal again. So he apply again, and waited, then the “Dukachita letter” comes again. He was so ethusiatic, so idealistic, love his country, ready to serve the nation upon graduation. Needless to say his SPIRIT WAS CRUSH.
I tell you when I spoke to him again, he said, since my parents have to slot by borrowing, mortgage hse etc to sponsor me for my medical studies oversea, I will not come back to serve the goverment. I will continue my post graduate study in Australia. I have to repay my parents for their sacrifices. Since the goverment didnt care for me, why should I return to serve them. Let those who get JBA schorlarship return to serve. I conldnt help but agree with him.
March 24th, 2008 at 08: 33.19
SAD BUT IT IS A TRUE STORY. AN ENTHUSIATIC YOUNG MAN WHO WANT TO SERVE HIS COUNTRY SPIRIT WAS CRUSH.
I wonder how many of them out there….?
Its true, Its true…………..
And for you JBA scholars, stop whinning nad come back to serve the country!!!
March 24th, 2008 at 09: 03.45
Well it is whether you place self interest first or responsibility to Malaysian tax payers, country etc.
If you talk of latter angle the main argument for staying on – that “to obtain further exposure that would make training complete” – is well rebutted by syncbasher83’s observations: ‘Medical achievement is based upon your medical experiences, not based on where you graduated…. medical situations here and abroad are of very much different…they dont have dengue, malaria, tuberculosis etc…and they’ve got alot of fund to do MRI or CT Scan for every patient that doesn’t really need it…they should come back and learn how things working over here without MRI or CT Scan machine in Sabah or Sarawak rural areas….”. From legally and moral perspectives - if you have accepted JPA’s contract upon its terms that you return upon graduation, without continuing training as interns (equivalent of houseman) in UK, that’s it. If you’re not happy with that, don’t accept the scholarship. Can’t have best of all worlds, many others here could not even get privilege of JPA scholarship.
From self interest angle is different. RM160,000 for breaking bond translates to 25,000 pounds so if internship can bring 2000+ pounds per month or 25,000 pounds per year , one can pay off JPA penalty of RM160,000 and don’t come back as Highland said and be a dog of a doctor working 30 hrs ++ non stop, poking yourself with HIV tainted needle due to lack of sleep or crashing your car due to lack of sleep… you can carry on in First World milieu from there……You have defeated and circumvented our system and took advantage of it.
Main argument here against is selfishness and self interest, it is never reconcilable with questions of what is ethical, right or wrong but the question is whether you should pursue self interest – or want to talk of the ethics of the situation.
Serving society loses its force of appeal when society treats you as second class citizens. Let me ask – aren’t those who emigrate also thinking of self interests???
A father says its Ok for children not to return because his children were financed by him and not JPA scholarship. It begs the question that the country afforded opportunities to him to make sufficient money to educate his children.
If you look from ethical angle, right and wrong, service of one’s own community, country, being fair to tax payers, keeping one’s legal bond with JPA, then Frustrated JPA Scholar is wrong.
But what if forget about ethics and look purely from self interest angle, isn’t he right???
If you say young man shouldn’t think of selfishness, self interest, then I got nothing to say.
The question is whether it is true or not true most people would put self interest first, and ethics second….The sad thing in this country is many people lose hope and feel no stake. They say I want to do my part as citizen for the country but does the country treat me as a citizen with equal rights or the other way ask me to go back to China or India????
Under such conditions it is hard for people to think of ethics. You don’t ‘jaga’ and prioritize your self interest, who will here???
As Highland summed up “nobody care of your plights….” just your contributions and payback to society or tax payers so to speak…
March 24th, 2008 at 09: 13.48
Funny, how sponsorships in Malaysia results in “brain drain”, whilst sponsorship in other countries enhances the country’s economy if not 100%, perhaps 50%.
Perhaps, lack of capable policies makers and economists.
Again, perhaps fuelled by the famous “Malaysian brain drain” invisible hand syndrome (like the “invisible hand” by Adam Smith), and also driven or impacted by the past 20 years of corruptions which is non-economic value add and a leakage to the country’s resources and economics. If the country’s economics and financial fundamentals is strong, the above plight may have been better managed or may not have occured.
On the issue of JPA holders returning back to serve their country. Again, if education sponsorship is part of the economic policies to enhance the country’s economy, which I believe it is without having the benefits of full detail analysis of this policy, then JPA or the government should ensure that the economic benefits is realized. Perhaps the various regulations, rules need to be fine tuned is one way to ensure the cost-benefits is bring back to balance.
Again, perhaps the country may need well-qualified and experienced economists or policy makers to look into that. Are there many of these people in the country? Back to the all famous “Malaysian brain drain” syndrome…….
I am struggling to understand the economic objectives the country is trying to achieve…..
March 24th, 2008 at 09: 15.25
“”Till today, I have yet to comprehend the narrow minded policies set by the JPA. JPA seems to fail to understand that by allowing its scholars to stay on for postgraduate training, many will be offered positions in world-renowned healthcare institutions. The exposure and experience gained through these positions would be an invaluable asset to the country and the rakyat in the future.”"
This is just a bag of hot air… the good ones that are offered position in world-renowned healthcare institution will NOT return… they become asset to the host nations.
March 24th, 2008 at 09: 15.38
sorry……”….bring back…” should be “…..brought back…” - my fat finger syndrome
March 24th, 2008 at 09: 22.37
“pgkia”…. you are a whacko!!!
You said: “I think most of you completely miss the point. The question is why allowed those who married to a fellow JPA/MARA to stay on?
Please do not stray from the point”
Please read the post again instead of making a dumbo of yourself. The writer complained of the following:
“We JPA scholars here have been very frustrated with the JPA enforcing us to immediately return to the country upon graduation, barring us from continuing training as interns (equivalent of houseman) in the countries where we graduated from…… “
March 24th, 2008 at 09: 32.40
To Frustrated,
I cannot and will not judge your intentions, as I do not know your situation clearly. It seems to me from your letter, that you do not intend to return to Malaysia in the foreseeable future (5-10 years), but I could be wrong.
You wrote: ” Also of importance is the availability of funding to do research work in these foreign teaching hospitals, which is significantly lacking in Malaysia. Would it not make Malaysia proud if Malaysian Doctors were publishing their research work in heavy weight journals in the medical world….”
Perception: The pursuit of ’some’ international recognition will take time, possibly 5-10 years or more. In some cases never.
You wrote: ” further train themselves and one day return as first world specialists who will reform and infuse new uptodate skills in Malaysian Healthcare a few years down the road.”
Perception: “One day” suggests a very far future.
At the end of the day, is it right or wrong? It is based on your moral/ethical compass that you will use. You need to decide on that.
At this forum, we only comment and it is all based on our own perspective of our own coloured glass, which may not fully reflect your situation.
As for me, I have the best of intents to be in Malaysia to contribute to my beloved country. But alas, I contributing to the GDP of another country. While I had my idealism and still have it, the reality of my actions betray my ideals.
Thus my point is this: It one thing to have ideals (in your case, returning to serve in Malaysia) and another to take actions to fulfill those ideals.
You choose the road you take. Take Care.
March 24th, 2008 at 09: 34.57
Jeffrey Says,
A father says its Ok for children not to return because his children were financed by him and not JPA scholarship. It begs the question that the country afforded opportunities to him to make sufficient money to educate his children.
—————————————————————-
Old Man Says:
Maybe you are the beneficiary of the many hand outs project of the government, you have it easy. If you have been in business long enough you will feel the heat of discrimination, that these competent companies are not “qualify” vendor for our projects.
Need I say more? Why do you think that there is a brain drain in our country?
By and large these people are conscientious Tax payer. Isn’t that enough. They slotted long and hard to support their children education that has been denied, because of some quota systems. Some of the beneficiaries of scholarship are not poor people.
Who is so selfless despite all the “beating”, rerturn for more beating.
That is why we vote for a change!
March 24th, 2008 at 09: 59.58
OldManoftheSea, can I just borrow your statement on the ones being denied children’s education……systems.
If the economic objective is to add-value to the country’s economy, the quota system should have a ‘normal distribution’ and not skewed, if the quota system should be in place.
Instead, perhaps, why not create a better selection process for the “creme de la creme”, but the government should not stop there, what about the next best and the next best, the better, the good and the bad…..at this juncture, the social system, the economy system does not seem to have a place for all……..
To digress, that’s part of the reason why “gloating” and “marvelling” of others who have the benefits increase, whilst the poor and needy is shunned….
What is the country’s economic objective, what’s the cost-benefits of these objectives???
March 24th, 2008 at 10: 05.32
Dear Frustrated JBA scholar,
You are lucky you got a scholarship but we know your frustration because you are in a country managed by irresponsible leaders who only think of how to enrich themselves. Suggest you continue the research on your own…join DAP and fight for the rights of the rakyat and help DAP to run the country and make it a better place.
Help DAP to make Malaysia a heaven on earth.
March 24th, 2008 at 10: 11.23
I suggest we should not spend too much time on such people - you accepted a great opportunity at the expense of taxpayers’ funds in excess of RM1 with the agreement that you would return when the course ended as Malaysia is very short of doctors.
Now if you do not wish to return, just agree to pay back. I am sure a doctor will know how to source for loans. Medical grads in Canada and USA borrow to study and end up repaying loans for years.
This topic should be more towards who are the recipients of such JPA awards. I am sure it will include a big section of Malaysia’s Who’s Who.
March 24th, 2008 at 10: 30.52
Allow me to share my 2 sen’s worth.
As I’m sure you’ll all agree, this is a very emotional topic. That being the case, all the more we should focus even harder on dismantling one’s argument with logic and facts, rather than bringing in personal attacks and unreliable anecdotes, which only leaves a bitter taste in everyone’s mouths.
The reason why the government sends scholars overseas is simple: to diversify their human resources as much as possible. In their view, the relative merits of sending a handful of scholars overseas is simply to experience to allow them to experience a different worldview, education system and way of thinking, in the hope that they absorb new and interesting forms of technological developments and mindsights which will invariably be different, and beneficial, to our country.
Why shouldn’t the government stop sending scholars overseas and instead train more students locally? Simple - because such a strategy would be tantamount to putting all of our eggs in one basket. This can also probably explain why the government still bothers sending specialists overseas for training as well, instead of just shuttling them through the classic UM, UKM and USM workhouses.
It’s true, the medical environment in say the UK isn’t as infested with TB, malaria and typhus as in Malaysia - but similarly, no where else in the world can one be as adequately equipped to fight cancer, diabetes and other similar disorders. Surely, we Malaysians need doctors to be able to handle all types of situations.
Since overseas scholars are entrusted with the duty of bringing back as much new knowledge as they can, isn’t it silly if we stop one from being able to continue amassing knowlege up to specialist, or even subspecialist level? The country is short of doctors no doubt, but we are facing an even more acute shortage of specialists, let alone subspecialists.
Even if you don’t agree with what I’ve written so far, consider this - for every scholar we allow to specialise overseas, we free up another valuable specialist training slot for our own students at home; demand massively outstrips supply for specialist training posts in Malaysia. Isn’t that, in itself, warrant further consideration?
If one’s concern is to ensure these scholars come back, the answer is simple - focus on execution. The burden should lie on JPA to ensure these scholars come back, whether they be general doctors or specialists. The hard truth is this, without proper surveillance and execution, errant scholars won’t come back anyway - and they don’t need to be specialists to make that choice.
Our healthcare system needs doctors, yes. But more importantly, we also need people who will not just pass through the system, but reform it. We need forward thinkers and reformers with new ideas - and one step in that direction is to have as many broadly-trained, different minded specialists as possible.
I believe in Frustrated JPA scholar’s desire to help the nation, and I also believe an internationally-trained specialist is worth much more to our country than just an internationally-trained houseman. Do whatever you want to ensure he comes back at the end, put in place a functional surveillance mechanism, but don’t deny forward-thinking people like him their dream of helping Malaysia as best as they can.
March 24th, 2008 at 10: 39.54
i suggest u become a politician then u can swindle all the money
abuse all the power
can have dvd video also
instead of becoming a dogtor……….
March 24th, 2008 at 10: 46.18
This is getting confusing.
In the previous discussions on eye specialists and what not, there are doctors dying to return. I am not sure exactly why they want to return so badly.
Now, we have JPA scholars refusing to return immediately after getting their medical degrees.
If you were given a JPA scholarship, or any other scholarship that requires you to return to serve your contract, then you have to return.
It is not fair to the many non-Malay students whose families have to suffer and sacrifice financially just to support their studies overseas without govt support.
You cannot find sympathy from people like me who have to slog through graduate schools on our own because our families have no means to support us. But I got through, thanks to the govt overseas, not the Malaysian govt.
I remember my days in London when I got to eat fish and chips only once a week after getting my weekly pay on Saturdays. That was rent and pocket money that I got by working illegally. That fish and chips tasted delicious because that was the only luxury I could afford. That is why I will never go back to London because of the hardship that I had to go through living there as a student.
I get to where I am now without a sen from the Malaysian govt.
Nowadays we hear of JPA students with cars and living allowances, and a string of family members to tag along if needed, with regular vacation travels to boot, all courtesy of the Malaysian govt.
So, in a sense, I sympathise with Richard Teo’s comment about encouraging his children to stay overseas because the Malaysian govt did not support them. They have the rights to live better in another country.
March 24th, 2008 at 10: 46.18
oooooo….i’m sure humans have that capability, “that dark side”
better not goad them into doing that…… 
March 24th, 2008 at 10: 58.31
Firstly to syncbasher83,you certainly sound like a sore loser just because your jpa scholarship only covered your medical education locally and not abroad.Taking that into consideration,you should count yourself lucky because based on your posts its pretty obvious that you are not competent enough to even yoke together simple words to form a sentence without glaring grammatical errors.This is appaling for a soon to be “homegrown” Dr.
With regards to the Irish trained houseman who was not able to start an IV,this could have cropped up because in UK,Australia,ireland,USA Canada the old canulas have been phased out and are replaced by new ones with special protective mechanisms in place to reduce the number of needle stick injuries.
So its a matter of getting used to it.Not a big deal.
Starting IV’s on normal healthy patients is not a big deal but i’ve seen the occasional patient who presents with kinky veins and hence in such circumstances this is not an easy task.
You should also take not that in the developed nations students and residents are not allowed to attempt starting an IV more than once.And if you are unsuccesful at the first attempt ,usually the specialist or Nurse practitioner will be handling it. You definitely get more hands on practice in this sense in Malaysia because students and housemans get to “poke” the patients as many times as they possibly could UNTILL they are successful.But at the end of the day the trauma caused to the patient might lead to more complications .My point is in malaysia you get more “practice” at the expense of the poor unsuspecting patient.Is this ethical?
Soon Malaysians will realise that are not short of doctors but we’re short of qualified family physicians to provide quality first line care and specialists to deal with more complicated health issues.A newly qualified doctor without adequate training isnt of much use.The Malaysian Government certainly has got a very myopic view when it comes to dealing with this subject.Also with the arrival of a large number of immigrants to these countries,we are exposed to various diseases which were previously fairly uncommon in these countries.
If you say TB is not common in the UK,you medical knowledge is questionable.HIV is everywhere and so is TB.(if u are a med student
you should know why)
Also Our dear blog reader syncbasher implied that CT’s and MRI’s are being done even when its not warranted for.DO you really think that the Doctors here are so stupid that they need a CT or MRI to make a diagnosis for every other patient?Why dont you try asking for one “for fun” and see if they are going to give in to your demands?What about the doctors in Malaysia prescribing antibiotics to every patient even if they suffer from a viral infection? Btw im self funded so im not using up any of you taxpayer’s money.Dont worry.Im just trying to get my point across here because on many occasions those locally trained doctors think they are superior to the rest and on many occasions we’re subjected to a lot of flak by them.STPM CGPA 4.0 doesnt make you a superior doctor by any means.GET THAT!
March 24th, 2008 at 11: 00.42
Ingrates, these scholarship holders. They think taxpayers owe them an education overseas. Ask your father to pay for your studies abroad, then you can do what you like.
March 24th, 2008 at 11: 11.17
Come back to serve the country u will hv your on job training in the local hospitals and read your contract of agreement with JPA whether the contract is violated to your wish, otherwise Pulang ke Malaysia lah !
March 24th, 2008 at 11: 13.49
///Maybe you are the beneficiary of the many hand outs project of the government, you have it easy/// - OldManoftheSea
I did not have any handouts. I had to work my guts out. They have the handouts but they can’t do the job. I do it and give value add. Because of that I get my 70% and they get their 30%. Yes I didn’t feel the heat of discrimination because they cornered the market. But I can’t earn my 70% unless I did a good job for them. With many 70%(s) I have no problem in giving 30% to them! However I still got to deliver the best work/service or product - there is no hand-out for me, neither do we need it since they need us (the ones who do the real production properly) more than we need them. Is that a problem?
March 24th, 2008 at 11: 42.07
my friend it is really about not wanting you to gain that exposure or overseas experience……………..it is of everyone’s knowledge that the first world countries are poaching on the brains with PR visa so as to reverse the INVERTED AGE PYRAMID SYNDROME- all the baby boomers are ageing in most countries the phenomena is a small young population base is supporting an increasing old population.
JPA fears that they will lose those brains which they have invested on to foreign countries
KABISH?
March 24th, 2008 at 11: 42.54
.OOPS!….not about not wanting………
March 24th, 2008 at 11: 55.26
I think there are lots of baloneys in this argument. First you should be thankful you are given a JPA scholarship to study medicine abroad. Second, you are expected to serve when you complete your study. Third, when you want to do specialist course, you can always do later. Right now, you serve first. I think JPA has been too lenient in the past to let off scholars from national service. We like to criticise the government here and there, but please touch your heart. I think you are one of the most selfish guys around. Try getting a scholarship from the Singapore Government and escaping bond. They will seek you to your grave.
March 24th, 2008 at 12: 01.50
uh huh, be it what ever reasons that’s causing them not wanting to come back or preventing them from coming back, it is not just perhaps the flaw of the individuals, it can be viewed that there are flaws in the policies, the government, the implementation. Perhaps the cost-benefits analysis needs to be redo to Improve……..
March 24th, 2008 at 12: 09.40
When my daughter was in IMU, she had a classmate who was on a scholarship from JPA or some other government body.
This person was actually doing it the second time around. Was sent to UK but could not cope and had to return and start all over via the IMU route.
Makes you wonder about the selection process to spend taxpayers’ monies!
The government should order these people to return post haste. Of course many get married while on scholarship (against the rules?) and their spouses also start another course to complicate the issue.
But to me the fundamentals remain - you take a scholarship with specifice terms, please be prepared to honour those terms; unless the sponsor agrees to let you go. Then it should account to the taxpayers’ that provided the funds.
March 24th, 2008 at 12: 26.54
Can I also add please that it is true the individual should have the responsibilities and INTEGRITY to honor the contract, but there are individuals who avoid doing so. Unfortunately, I have friends (please don’t include me, I’m fully funded by my papa) who of course went home, avoided paying despite the many reminder letters and went scoot free. The policies need to be reviewed and better implementation is required to enhance the economy and not to drain the economy - to make sure the perpetrators honor their side of the contracts.
March 24th, 2008 at 12: 45.20
talk about jpa……. now i have few candidate sitting in my clinic. n your guess is as good as mind………
March 24th, 2008 at 13: 04.45
hmmmm…..perhaps, direct debit from the scholars’ salary account ensuring they and their supporting families have sufficient to survive on, and provided they go back and work in Malaysia, and this is further monitored by the tax department. Again, will the ruling government pursue such changes…..????
March 24th, 2008 at 13: 08.42
It is stupid not to come back as early as possible after obtaining your basic medical degree. Don’t think that you are a better doctor than the local graduates. Even the hospital attendent is better than you. You will not be able to treat diseases found only tropical and under developed countries like M’sia. Over there, they will not teach how to manage a patient with minimal resourses available. M’sia is difference from Ireland.
So, come back fast and start familarising yourself with the patients, enviroment and disease only found in M’sia before you get rotten in western country.
After honouring your contract and paying us back in term of basic services only then you can use your own money to further you study and become the “world Class” specialist. Nobody will question you after that!
March 24th, 2008 at 13: 13.54
Another selfish JPA scholar. Why the government still needs to sponsor oversea scholarship if they claim they have successfully managed the country(including the education) for these 50 years and yet they still dont have the capability to train medical professional locally? They should instead save these oversea scholarship money and put them into upgrading the local university and attract the really-good lecturers/researchers into the country.
March 24th, 2008 at 13: 20.07
Reading your plight I understand from your end the need to do housemanship training upon graduation from a UK university. I have a cousin who was also on a JPA scholarship but decided to stay behind in the UK after the completion of his studies to do his housemanship training on the grounds that the housemanship training back in Malaysia is ‘not up to the grade’.
However I can also see where the Malaysian government is coming from. My cousin upon completion of his studies stayed behind to do his housemanship and believe me, had no intentions to return home at all to serve the country. Of course when he did not return the Malaysian government ‘chased’ him all the way to the UK with threats of blacklisting him unless he repaid all monies back to the government. He’s no choice now but to repay back all the monies and is doing it now on a monthy basis.
When I heard of his intention of staying behind in the UK my first impression was that he was a selfish a**hole. The ’scholarship’ from JPA is from the tax payers pockets and for people like me who have no assistance and have to slog to get a degree I find that very selfish to get a scholarship and leave the country when it does not suit them.
So you will have to understand why the Malaysian government is insisting that all its scholarship holders return upon completion of studies. You may have good intentions of returning home after a housemanship training in the UK but that remains to be seen, as in the good example of my cousin. At least you don’t get bonded by the Malaysian government upon graduation of your studies. If you got a scholarship from the Singapore government they will bond you and it is a well-known fact. So try to understand from the Malaysian government’s point of view.
At the same time the system is ‘flawed’. This is where, with the dawn of the opposition ruling, that people like you and me should voice out concerns, issues and suggestions to improve the system.
March 24th, 2008 at 13: 27.26
Ideally a scholarship should be just that - a scholarship. It is a prize or aid to a student based on merit etc. It should not be viewed as a direct investment where the receipient has to return in-kind or return the money with interest.
Expecting gratefulness/gratitude should not be part of the scholarship. If the receipient feels indebted and wants to return to society, great. No cohesion should be required. If the govt treats the receipients well then chances are that they will return willingly and serve willingly. If the environment is attractive enough, then the govt and the tax payers should have more confidence that the receipients will return. “Frustrated JPA scholar” is not going to feel grateful just because you and/or the govt said so.
The “ball and chain” technique is the only method if the govt cannot create a competitive environment.
March 24th, 2008 at 13: 37.20
“Ideally a scholarship should be just that - a scholarship. It is a prize or aid to a student based on merit etc. It should not be viewed as a direct investment where the receipient has to return in-kind or return the money with interest”
CTO,
that depends on the terms and conditions of the scholarship. Terms and conditions of World Bank scholarship may defer from that of a Rhodes scholarship. Likewise the same can be applied to a JPA and a Singapore government scholarship.
March 24th, 2008 at 13: 39.27
quote: “The officer in charge went in a rage and accused the people who wanted to stay as ‘just wanting to earn money’. I could not believe the narrow mindedness behind these words. For one, what is wrong with earning money?”
memang salute him/her. …. this bloke surely feels he/she owes nothing to the country, it’s country “duty” to pay for his education if he/she is a high achiever, period.
quote: “Finally, I would like to stress that all JPA scholars love their country, and would love to return to serve.”
that’s what most undergraduate (me too, i like to contribute to society with my knowledge, bla bla), first time mp/dun will say too, but at the end ……
March 24th, 2008 at 13: 40.15
Closing all doors ie. stop sending students abroad is a no go either. It can take years and years to upgrade and bring the standards of education at both primary, secondary and up to university, to an acceptable level. In the mean time, this may create a negative sentiment amongst investors esp MNCs which concentrates on overseas degrees and exposures to continue to opt for Malaysia as a preferred investment destination (ie. difficult for Malaysia to retain its competitive edge as a country with skilled, qualified labour and one that speaks the English language too, and of course CHEAP). And even if these MNCs continue to stay on (due to other attractions) despite the shortage of qualified labour within the country by importing “expatriates” and utilising locals for the less qualified jobs, the nation only won part of the battle as the “brain drain” syndrome is still not addressed.
March 24th, 2008 at 14: 00.05
I am a JPA medicine scholar in Australia. I would just like to raise a few points here:
1. Legally and ethically, this particular JPA scholar has no case to make of JPA’s “unfairness” - you put your lovely signature in that contract some years ago, and JPA is only exercising their right to get you home immediately upon your graduation. Yes there might have been some unfair clauses in that contract, e.g. “JPA has the right to terminate the scholarship at any time at their discretion (euphemism for “without giving any reason”)”. However, you agreed to those “unfair clauses” in the first place. You took up JPA scholarship, so you should be responsible for your decision.
2. In many ways, JPA scholarship has indeed been a waste of the tax-payer’s money. Yes I am saying it as a scholar myself. As has been mentioned by many commentators before me, there are not many deserving scholars in the first place (straight A1 students are a dime a dozen today); and a lot of “scholars” barely pass their exams when they are overseas. But JPA don’t even care about the performance of their million-dollar students - a pass is enough to make JPA continue debiting 3600 dollars three-monthly to a struggling student. They are also happy enough to continue sponsoring students who failed their exams and needed to redo the whole semester.
And the worse thing is, many of those scholars don’t even go home, and many don’t pay back a single cent. When we are lamenting the 4.2 billion PKFZ bailout incident, don’t forget those JPA students who took with them almost 1 million ringgit each.
Hence, in my humble opinion, JPA scholarship for undergraduate studies should be scrapped and the money be channeled to improving the local universities. Or at the very least, sponsor only outstanding students for postgraduate studies, and a handful of creme de la creme undergraduate students. And make sure they perform. And make sure they come home instead of letting them go so easily.
If this can’t be done, JPA scholarship is only a waste of money worse than those spent in Angkawasan project.
3. However, I must say that should JPA be more far-sighted, they should have instituted some flexibility in their regulation, regarding the possibility of their scholars pursuing further education overseas.
After reading all the comments here carefully, I found that a general sentiment of the unhappy / disgusted people here is along the line of “hey we tax payers sponsored you one million already, why are you so ungrateful as to dreaming of earning British Pound / want to become a specialist and escape altogether ten years later / forget the poor people who need your service in East / poor areas of Malaysia!!!”
I must concur that there’s a possibility that this frustrated JPA scholar is using all those fancy rhetorics as a pretext of the actual agenda i.e. to dishonour the contract, and take advantage of the tax payers’ money to enjoy luxurious life in UK. If that is the case (and indeed have been the case for many JPA medicine scholars in the past and present), all defense in the world will not justify the betrayal act, and we shall save time debating about this at all. And indeed, if we have known earlier of his heinous agenda, he wouldn’t have deserved the money in the first place.
But haven’t you guys spared a thought of, what if, WHAT IF, this JPA scholar and some others thinking of the same issue, are genuinely looking at only continuing as intern / furthering their studies for a couple of years, and then go back with even more credential and exposure?
To begin with, it’s important for people to realise that internship is not just the fancy name of “a fresh doctor’s orientation to the real world”; it is an essential part of medical training. After five years of theoretical lectures and shadowing other doctors, internship is the period when a hesitant medical student learn to deal with real cases with real responsibilities in real life. A lot of knowledge continues to be gained during internship years.
Yes we can very well argue that “we can also provide housemanship / internship training for you!”. Or, “See, go enjoy your luxurious life in UK instead of coming back to serve the poor as a houseman”.
But that beckons the question of, why did we have overseas JPA scholarship to begin with? So that we have more doctors? So that we have doctors with nicer sounding titles like “MBBS (Monash)”?
No! We want to train some bright students overseas because we look forward to them bringing back the expertise, attitude and technology from overseas. Not because we “need more doctors”. If the number of doctors is the top priority, we would have helped breed even more medical colleges in Malaysia instead of spending millions overseas.You get lots more doctors this way.
So now say we have a student genuinely wanting to stay overseas to gain even more knowledge to help the country, why must we stunt the bright student’s professional development based on principle and on our prior bad experience of defecting JPA scholars? Yes we have a very solid ground to suspect the possibility of defection, but instead of forcing unwilling students to come home while whiling away their potentials, shouldn’t we look at ensuring stringent enforcement of contract by the government instead?
Many argue that “aiyarr you should come home and learn how Malaysian health systems work, go learn all those canggih medical system and equipment that is unavailable here for what?!”. So are you saying that, we should be happy to spend millions of ringgit for the students to spend honeymoon during their overseas “high-tech” experience; but after that, instead of bringing home the better things, they should really just pander to our system while bringing nothing home? Then why don’t we just build more medical colleges in Malaysia?
This is what we should think regarding this issue before casting our insults to all JPA scholars like knee-jerk reactions. JPA should really consider what our money is worth.
4. Syncbasher83, while you raised some valid points, your comments smack of unfair generalisation. Surely not all foreign medical students are better than local ones, but the way you quoted biased personal anecdotes regarding overseas graduates is utterly unfair. Also, read Riha’s reply for some of your naive arguments for overseas graduates’ incompetence. You would surely disagree if one quotes your comments and generalise on local medical students’ lack of competency in English, wouldn’t you?
5. There are many sob stories regarding how lucky he is compared to the unfortunate students, but this is largely irrelevant to our discussion. Just because you are unlucky, doesn’t mean that the lucky ones do not have the right to pursue professional development and bring back more expertise from overseas.
Note that all my points above are assuming that the letter author has genuine intentions.
March 24th, 2008 at 14: 14.59
sunnybunny Says:
Today at 13: 37.20 (30 minutes ago)
“Ideally a scholarship should be just that - a scholarship. It is a prize or aid to a student based on merit etc. It should not be viewed as a direct investment where the receipient has to return in-kind or return the money with interest”
CTO,
that depends on the terms and conditions of the scholarship. Terms and conditions of World Bank scholarship may defer from that of a Rhodes scholarship. Likewise the same can be applied to a JPA and a Singapore government scholarship.
————————-
True - terms and conditions may be stipulated. For whatever terms and conditions stipulated, we can still call it a scholarship. It certanly sounds better than a “contract”.
March 24th, 2008 at 14: 25.47
cto says: Ideally a scholarship should be just that - a scholarship. It is a prize or aid to a student based on merit etc. It should not be viewed as a direct investment where the receipient has to return in-kind or return the money with interest.
Then you better look for merit scholarships that have no bond. Nobody compelled you to take a bond scholarship and only to complain later. Sometimes we can’t see our own biasness and selfishness.
March 24th, 2008 at 15: 08.48
limkamput Says:
Today at 14: 25.47 (22 minutes ago)
cto says: Ideally a scholarship should be just that - a scholarship. It is a prize or aid to a student based on merit etc. It should not be viewed as a direct investment where the receipient has to return in-kind or return the money with interest.
Then you better look for merit scholarships that have no bond. Nobody compelled you to take a bond scholarship and only to complain later. Sometimes we can’t see our own biasness and selfishness
———————————
Perhaps it is true that “frustrated JPA scholar” should not have taken up the scholarship. However, just because s/he accepted the scholarship and its term does not mean that s/he should not point out his/her concerns and the deficiencies of the system. If the authorities take in the points raised and improve the system, it is a good thing.
Furthermore, I think that “frustrated JPA scholar” has every right to complain if it is indeed true that the authorities changed the penalty clause to favour the government midway thru’ his/her studies without even a prior warning.