Letters
by Lye Hoke Tan
The unfair PSD scholarship awards issue, it happens all the times. I graduated from Chung Ling High School in Penang at 2004. Before 2004, I didn’t notice much about this problem, I just heard it from my high school teachers complaint it to us, I didn’t know it was so serious until it happened to my friends around.
Well, I can see this happens every year. Every year, to the same victims (Chinese Top Students), at the same time(after SPM results released), the same thing happen continuously in our country. Every year, I see the problems occur non-stop, it seems like unsolved cases even though those ministers, parties promised it could be solved. I have lost my confidence over their creditability, how can you give scholarship to someone, who his/her result is poorer than the others, just because of the skin colour.
Is PSD blind? They failed to see As every where every year, PSD prefer B and C? Maybe, as our government always has funny and “incredible” systems to rule this country. The funniest thing is, they DARE to repeat this “carelessness” every year, non stop. The media reported the same issue every year, what a shame!
The same thing happened during 2004, I have a friend, she got 13A1, she was also one of the top student had lunch with our ex-PM, Pak Lah, but the point is she failed to get JPA. When she told us she failed to get it, we got shocked. If top student like her by having 13A1 failed to get JPA, then we wonder how are we going to get it? Maybe we have to blame for our parents aren’t Datuk & Datin.
The next day, she went to the press, same stories like what it happens today. So, the next few days, she got the JPA. This is how our PSD works, OMG!
Those smart guys failed to get straight As, some of them just got 10As (but still much more better than those who are able to get JPA), so we chinese students definitely will fail to get the scholarship.
Okay, fine. They continue Form 6. They did well in form 6, they got scholarship bond from Singapore. They study there, graduate there, work there and get PR there. Some of them went to Hong Kong, Australia, Japan with scholarship bond too. Some of them will never come back to work in Malaysia, they get the PR there and stay there.
Again, we produce professionals for foreign country. Is our country still developing? If yes, don’t we need professionals to develop this country? or maybe we have more than enough professionals. So, it doesn’t matter where this professionals go.
To get a scholarship, sometimes it depends on your skin colour, your family background. You have to be strong in politics, you have to be rich, your parents have to be Datuk or Datin. This is how PSD works!
It is so hard for non-bumi to enter Local Uni due to the quota system (They can lower the local uni standard just to fulfil their quota. Sighs!) , so the blindness of PSD doesn’t sound strange to us any more.
Thank you!
#1 by JasonLee on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 3:16 pm
Get Singapore scholarship and apply to become Singapore PR your future is brighter in Singapore. Take my advice.
#2 by ALLAN THAM on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 3:30 pm
Once again I wish to state my stand crystal clear that I am not against of assisting Malay to success in education, in fact the more successful they are the better is our country,
Now the real issue is this why BN has keep an blind eyes to Non Malay who are qualify and who are most willing to be bond by the government so that once they graduated they can contribute to the Country? On one hand we keep saying we are lacking in professional in all fields yet the country let these talent to be tap by country like Singapore?
what have been written by Mr. Lye was very true. It is because the government was so scare that the Non Malay will dominant in all fields until the Malay will no jobs to do?
This was not rue either.
The main issue was that so much money has been corrupted away by BN for the past decade until only miserable amount was allocated for PSD fund. This was the main issue?
BN must serious has the real intention to serve the people and not just join politic so that you become suckers and suck away the tax payers money.
#3 by ALLAN THAM on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 3:36 pm
I could help but again touch on the scandal on PKFZ. Though this has no direct link to PSD. But mind you the government can afford to spend billions? Hear me loud and clear It is billions and not millions on THE PROJECT which only bring losses and losses. Why? Why/
And now you say the allocation was not enough for people who need a scholarship to study?
BN are bunch of suckers not less than that.
#4 by yhsiew on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 3:45 pm
Maybe Kit can suggest to the Cabinet PSD should have a sub-department specially taking charge of non-Malays’ scholarships. That will solve the problem once and forever.
#5 by distantmalay on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 3:49 pm
chengho, nckeat, care to comment on the subject ?
#6 by distantmalay on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 3:53 pm
ringgit 25m thrown at hee-haw would have been better spent on the best and brightest.
#7 by Godfather on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 3:58 pm
If there is no meritocracy in all aspects of Malaysian life – whether it is licences, or admissions to universities, or employment in the civil service and GLCs, or even in the purchase of properties – why should anyone be surprised that the bulk of scholarship money gets squandered year after year ?
Then we have an idiot like Kasim Amat who can’t even spell properly and they pay him to write pro-BN comments in this blog.
#8 by distantmalay on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 4:15 pm
“Maybe Kit can suggest to the Cabinet PSD should have a sub-department specially taking charge of non-Malays’ scholarships. That will solve the problem once and forever.” (yhsiew)
if they have the intention to give scholarship to non-malays in the first place, they would have given it long ago.
a sub-dept defeats the original intention of not giving scholarships to non-malay brights.
furthermore, sub-dept is a race based solution.
#9 by monsterball on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 4:55 pm
We old folks knew this for decades..especially under Mahathir’s 22 years.
UMNO will now say Lye is a DAP agent.
The parents are voting against them…still not enough proof.
Chinese refuses to join the police force…not because of the old Chinese saying……”Good people do not become policemen”…but mainly because they know no matter how smart..how productive…how qualified..they will never command Malays entirely…except small force.
It is all ….one race governs all……with UMNO government..in police…judicial..schools…universities…govt. depts…all the way….one race rule.
You see…UMNO’s race and religion not enough. They must make sure Malays depend on them and the only way..is to give Malays false hopes.
UMNO purpose lower the level of education system…to make sure Malays can pass the exams.
Their quota to allow qualified students int UNI is a joke. They will bulldoze to fulfill it..not qualified…never mind..as long as it is a Malay.
They make sure all Malays know UMNO is a racialist party favouring them.
An insincere corrupted crook can never have the right formula. They need to cover up.. non stop…therefore become low class actors too.
The end result…you now have ..the haves .the have not..malays….plus the racialists and the freedom fighters….fighting to free Muslims brothers and sisters being caged by UMNO.
What are the signs…going forward or backward?
Impossible to go forward with UMNO.
Their entire mission to rule forever is deeply rooted to keep fooling Malays and others… and can still do so…because they are governing the country.
Fortunately…People’s Power is more powerful than UMNO.
#10 by taiking on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 5:20 pm
The issue is three hundred billion of our money has gone down the drain since independance as a result of corruption, abuse and incompetence. We could have been a very wealthy country where every eligible pupil could get a scholarship to study. With the deficit the umno government has to make selections. The selection is governed by the need to secure votes. Muhideen did it recently and said so openly. The reason for such strategy of course is clear – to secure their position of power so that the party and the gala could go on. The chinese and indians refused to go along and to co-operate with him in the long term interest of the country. For co-operating with him and with umno means letting the rot and the deficit to continue further. It is a tough decision. For several decades the chinese and indians have thrown themselves behind umno and together they took the form of bn. When badawi became pm the chinese and indians supported bn almost totally hence handing him a very handsome victory during his first ge as pm. But he and umno failed to live up to the hope of the people. The umno government failed to deliver on its promises. And worse, umno began to dominate the ruling coalition further and took on the big brother role and conveniently swept the original “equal partnership” arrangement away. Unlike umnoputras, chinese by and large are not dependant on politicians for jobs and wealth generation. Hence they are able to make an independant decision on which political party to support during ge. They are free to chose a political party based on idealogy and what they hope for the country in future. Umnoputras on the contrary cannot for they need umno for survival, subsistence and wealth. They are tied to umno by an umbilical cord of steel. Here lies the difference between between umnoputras and non-umnoputras. Through the passage of time some courageous umnoputras make the bold decision to sever the steel umbilical cord. And they discovered that hard work and determination could actually and easily replace umno. In other words, umno is no longer useful or necessary. That is also to say, to them umno has lost its original essence and therefore, lustre.
So to kasim, chengho, cintanegara and speakup I say come on. Join us on this other side for a better malaysia.
#11 by lolok on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 5:48 pm
The main problem here I believe is transparency. There is no clear criteria how the decision is made, thus the confusion. What PSD should do is put out the list of students that got the scholarship, sorted according to their score in their acceptance criteria, with details of how the scores were made for each individual students. I don’t think this will be of much burden to PSD since they must have such a system to evaluate the students. If not, then they might as well just make it into a lottery ticket system ….
Another thing is the problem with our education system. Sometimes it amaze me how so many students get so many A and in like everything, ranging from science to humanity subjects. Either we have a lot of geniuses (which I seriously doubt) or there is something seriously wrong about our education system. I’ve taken both SPM and \Tong Kao\ a long time ago. The main difference between these 2 exams is that SPM only focus on students repeating what the text book says (how well you can memorize stuff) and \Tong Kao\ focus more on analytical power (how well you can think).
#12 by pwcheng on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 5:57 pm
JPA or \Janji Putus Asa\ methodology of awarding scholarships is all done with the blessing from UMNO but UMNo will try to cover up by putting the blame on the little Napoleon. We will be naive if we believe them and other \power sharing\ component parties.
Common sense will tell us that this same problem cannot happen year in and year out without any remedy unless the little Napoleon is more powerful than the master. We all know that they are more powerful than MCA and MIC ministers but definitely not those from UMNO.
Someone suggested they publish the names of the recipient. No way they will do it as all these are top secrets as it will expose a lot of shit from it, as most of the scholarships will be awarded to their cronies or even UMNO ministers children or some near or distant relatives of some powerful UMNO members. It is all for them.
Somebody even suggested to get Singapore scholarship and apply to become Singapore PR . That is not going to deter them or make them change but instead it will make them happier.To me we will stand united in Malaysia as this is our country and we will obliterate UMNO who is our no 1enemy by making sure we register ourselves as a voter and vote them out permanently. Wipe them out before they do more damage to our beloved country as they are non other than a corrupted breed.
#13 by yhsiew on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 6:23 pm
“These students with nine 1As and onwards should automatically qualify for scholarships, especially now that the new prime minister has promised to put the people first,” said Lim at a press conference.
In response, Ismail explained that the government also used other criteria besides academic performance to choose well-rounded scholars.
“We want well-rounded students to go overseas. So co-curriculum and interviews are also important. Interviews are done by professionals in the government service and not by JPA officers,” he said. (The Malaysian Insider)
==================================================
It is cunning of BN to use ‘co-curriculum and interviews are also important’ to deny scholarship awards to well-qualified non-Malay scholars.
#14 by cintanegara on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 6:37 pm
Taiking……Hate to say this again……. but you aren’t that amazingly deep and intelligent that you can’t even understand a simple fact….. What was agreed upon by our founding fathers must be kept. … This isn’t a question of what WE want!!!
#15 by voice on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 7:47 pm
Fair or not, getting the scholarship to further studies oversea certainly won’t solve the problems, what if all the non-bumiputra get the scholarship? there will just be another mass export of human resource out of Malaysia, instead we shouldn’t give up to study locally, the fight must go on and at the same time we could raise the world ranking of local varsities.
#16 by alaneth on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 8:30 pm
This was voiced by Ong Ka Chuan. That was one very brave & good point that he mentioned – Meritocracy.
In Singapore they :
1. Uphold Meritocracy.
2. Bring in Foreign Talent (locals have to fight with skilled foreigners to be strong, even if it means we lose our jobs).
3. Reduce Protectionism
4. Seperate Politics with Religion
5. No Money Politics
#17 by tsn on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 9:29 pm
Scrap, scrap, scrap this expensive and stupid overseas scholarship practice. We are such a gifted country, laden with As students. Instead of celebrating this special blessing, we land ourselves in another messy race-based entanglement. It is fast becoming a false and fake hope for not-so-well-off academic high flyers to be superior overseas degree holder. Not long ago we were only screaming about lack of opportunities, discriminations in our local higher institutions. Before this discontentment being solved, we gleefully add another one. Today there is plenty opportunities locally, but we deem it as inferior.
This scheme if, is to be continued, a thorough reconditioning needs to be done. This expensive opportunity is only for the poor and academic outstanding students, especially the poors from rural area. If we can’t find such candidate, so be it, keep the $ for next year. Those not so unfortunate(being poor) geniuses, you still will be dentist, doctor… a local qualified professional. No so prestige but equally good and competent.
Like it or not, we are a prisoner of our very own skin. Unfortunately democrary is a game of number, majority number in more exact term. To reform and progress Malaysia needs Malays with global outlook. We just can’t blindly place high hope on a Malay borns, educates and works all his/her whole life in Changlun Jitra Kedah to have global view. If a Malay who has been studying 4 years in NY/Sdyney/London has less global inclination than the Malay who has been hatching all his/her life in Changlun, then this is purely our bad luck. By saying so, quota will still have role in this corner. Please do not expect a pure meritocracy based scheme in the foreseeable future.
#18 by tsn on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 9:31 pm
hey !
#19 by the reds on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 10:17 pm
Why Malay still needs quota?? 1Malaysia should be 1system! Abolish all quotas! Chinese and Indians are also Malaysians!
#20 by TomThumb on Saturday, 16 May 2009 - 11:03 pm
no. under PKR-DAP-PAS quotas should be reversed to make up for the injustice done for the last fifty years.
#21 by 10J on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 12:42 am
One problem with lowering the bar of Government scholarship so much is that it loses its prestige. And when that happens, people start to take the whole JPA scholarship for granted and think that people who get good results automatically deserve a scholarship from the government for overseas study. To put it in a crude way – “a ticket to have a great university life overseas”.
But herein lies the problem – “scholarships” are supposed to be a sort of win-win contract between sponsor and recipient, which goes along the lines of “I sponsor your studies, you work for me when you graduate”.
And if you go out to the international setting, career advisors will always advise you to choose an organisation that you are comfortable signing the contract with and vice-versa for the organisation when choosing candidates.
But in this letter here, I see another case of individuals who seem to think that getting a scholarship is the right of any top scorer and it is justified to blame the organisation (JPA) for rejecting your application. It reminds me of how BN cronies beg for projects and allocations from their political masters, which, might I remind you, is something that is vehemently criticized in this blog. As a senior hailing from the same high school as the author, I am saddened that he has such a mentality.
Let me get one thing straight, I am by no means trying to defend the JPA’s SOP(standard operating procedure), but what I’m saying is that you should not whack JPA because it “denies” you of what you wishfully think is your right, but isn’t. Just think, will you ever whack a private company for rejecting your application to be their scholar?
Instead what we are entitled to and should do, is to take the position as “shareholder” of the JPA (since we are financing it using our tax payments) and whack them for having a system that does not seem to recruit the best minds into the organisation; and we all know that human capital is vital to an organisation’s performance of its roles.
Whack them also for not having a transparent enough system of recruiting scholars such that we, as the “shareholders”, are also unclear of the criteria of selection. It doesn’t suffice to be fair, giving the impression of being fair is just as important.
Anyway, what I guess what I’m trying to say to all fellow Malaysians is that, JPA should have NEVER been viewed as a right that the government PROMISED to give to students who do well in exams. Those critical of cronyism and yet perpetuate this kind of (in my view) misguided and unhealthy way of thinking should really go look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves whether they themselves are becoming the very thing that they are so critical of.
#22 by distantmalay on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 1:02 am
“no. under PKR-DAP-PAS quotas should be reversed to make up for the injustice done for the last fifty years.” (tomthumb)
that’s the umno way, not to be emulated.
#23 by -ec- on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 1:40 am
otk says the awarding of scholarship has nothing to do with the quota system, but it is the selection standard:
http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/114445
YB, i saw the news and got so mad with it! can you challenge him?
GET THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION TO ANNOUNCE ALL THE RECIPIENTS OF THE SELECTED STUDENTS EVERY YEAR (and also for the past 50+ years), TOGETHER WITH THE REASONS WHY THEY ARE SELECTED. LISTED NEXT TO THEIR NAME, THEIR PARENTS’ NAME (WITH ANY DATUK OR DATIN TITLE) AND RACE.
how many opportunities we are foregoing for the past 50+ years? how many parents have to pay their children’s expensive education fees for the past 50+ years? how many of our students have to work extra hard full time or part time to support their education locally or overseas? the students’ parents pay tax too. we have no equal chance just because of priority of status (race etc.) or whatsoever policies behind it.
HOW MANY MORE YEAR WE HAVE TO ENDURE THIS. YEAR IN YEAR OUT, ONLY TALK EVERY YEAR! WE WANT SOLUTION!!!!!
I DON’T KNOW WHAT OTK MEAN AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS HE DOING!!!!!!! HE SHOULD JUST RESIGN AND REVOKE HIS DATUKSHIP AND HIS WIFE’S DATINSHIP!
SHAME ON THOSE VOTES OF PANDAN.
the selection process MUST BE TRANSPARENT! if the student has priority because their parents are civil servant, i would think it is still reasonable. Else, efforts to get good results shall be rewarded.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THESE SMARTEST OF OUR STUDENTS AND THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY! if this is not important, i don’t know what else is!
#24 by -ec- on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 1:52 am
i think the entire of the our education system needs thorough review and subsequent reformation! from primary school syllabus to university entrance to the employability of our university graduates, covering the entire lifecycle of a students.
looking at each issue on a piecemeal basis (e.g. teaching of math and science in english, quality of our universities, scholarship selection etc) is bring us to no where. we have to see the big picture! the bn government is not capable of doing this. they have to go.
#25 by -ec- on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 2:06 am
and a note to our many-A’s-students:
======
it may also be true that getting many A’s does not mean that you are smarter than the rest. however, it is a recognition of your efforts and commitment of achieving it.
think again. think again why are you studying?
you may be making up just 10% of the student population. think about your fellow average (and below average) classmates who have been sitting next to you for many year. 90% of them. you have good times and laughters and tears together too.
then, what are their chances? who is helping them? why are they never been mentioned? are they being neglected all these time? do you think that they like to be hawker or feel so good of selling pirated VCDs? they are not able to get so many A’s as you did, they should not deserved to be neglected!
#26 by -ec- on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 2:13 am
it is not just a scholarship selection problem. the whole education system has problems.
what can you do, YB?
#27 by -ec- on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 2:18 am
our students believe that by getting many A’s will have automatic entitlement of rewards (scholarship).
is their thinking right? i begin to question who teaches them? are our teachers fit in ‘teaching’ (i mean, the real teaching!) them?
#28 by -ec- on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 2:23 am
and, YB, please remember to remind otk the pkftz pwc report.
#29 by k1980 on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 6:14 am
This nonsense happens year in and year out. Yet there are thousands of pendatangs such as Ong TK and Koh TK who openly vote for BN during elections. This is telling the umno tuans that pendatangs support their racist policies! So the only way to end this nonsense is to rid the nation of scum such as Ong TK and Koh TK
#30 by ChinNA on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 6:18 am
What was agreed upon by our founding fathers must be kept… – cintanegara.
I agree with this aspect of what was said. It is known that there are quotas and quotas are VERY necessary. However, I DISAGREE with the ratio that is implemented.
What was agreed upon by the founding fathers was the “special rights” for the Malays. The way it is implemented now had almost made it to be “all the rights” for the Malays.
I conclude that the intent of the agreement had been missed.
#31 by ChinNA on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 6:29 am
our students believe that by getting many A’s will have automatic entitlement of rewards (scholarship). – ec –
It is correct to say the no one owes the students a scholarship and the top students cannot expect this to be automatic award.
However, the other angle to look at is the whole basis for scholarship. As the word suggests, it is to develop scholars and we must choose the best scholars.
I am sure that many of the unsuccessful top scorers are also of top scholars materials and their extra-curriculum activities is not something to sniff at.
– ec- and I can debate our respective positions till the lembus (i.e. cows) comes home.
A fact still remains: We continue to have a brain drain problem and if there are statistics, it will show that non-bumis are the majority.
Should we called the non-bumis traitors? or Should we call them survivors?
Comments please.
#32 by ChinNA on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 6:35 am
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THESE SMARTEST OF OUR STUDENTS AND THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY! if this is not important, i don’t know what else is! – ec
My apologies to ec. I see you have already made the point of brain drain.
#33 by monsterball on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 8:02 am
cintanegara….Written in the Constitution for a period of time…and not forever…which should have expired ..when Mahathir took over.
But under Mahathir…. needs race ad religion politics took a different direction. Malays and Muslims must be protected against..from ‘terrorists’ in Malaysia..the disloyal Malaysians…only UMNO knows… who they are. UMNO must also create fear and provocations…and simultaneously program Malays as landlords…therefore…stealing from tax payers..largely from Chinese race… is not corruptions.
Anything nice to hear….no matter how illogical and downright unfair ad unjust….thousands of Muslims munafiks and weird buggers were produced by Mahathir.
Why do pro BN guys unable to see UMNO devilish politics.. and keep supporting.. by MCA MIC and Gerakan shamelessly as second class citizens in Malaysia?
“Taiking” commentator wrote a nice truthful piece. That’s why it needs cintanegara to insult him.
ChinNA is taking care of another pro BN ..smart ass…very well.
Our country is in safe hands and Mahathir just said..that..for UMNO to win 13th GE….the only way….is hoping Malaysians easily forget.
Day in day out..Mahathir is teaching people…how UMNO hypocrites are thinking.
Mahathir is always afraid of University students…for those are the guys…that can read him through and through.
He needs idiots to rule like a Dictator.
Now tell me…what is present UMNO mentalities?
We can see they have succeeded creating second class citizens too…talking here..with no shame…agreeing to disunite Malaysians..for what benefits..only God knows…unless those commentators are Malays..which they are not.
I guess…they learned the art to bribe … getting projects. ..cannot use.if UMNO voted out…changing to be non corrupted country….wanting only quality not quantity..wanting excellent service after sales..not sweet promises of nothing….and very important .. to be supported by a just and fair judicial institution….leading a chain reactions for others to be truthful…especially …the police depts.
MCA and Gerakan members do not like this at all.
All the are interested is building Buddhist temples and Chinese schools…to keep fooling their own race too.
#34 by KennyGan on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 9:15 am
This problem will not go away until PR takes power and institute fairer policies for all races.
Academic scholarships are meant to be given for academic excellence but extra-curricular activities have been given as an excuse to deny scholarships. If you are an employer such activities to indicate a well rounded character may be good for your company but it has little relevance here.
In any case those with excellent results and good extra-curricular activities who are denied scholarships expose the lie about scholarship criteria.
The disparity in education opportunities not just in scholarships but also entry to local public universities have created an Indian underclass. Chinese are also subject to the same discrimination but many Chinese families can afford to finance their children’s education privately.
Just hope for PR to take power in next G.E.
#35 by sotong on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 9:18 am
Someone, in position of trust, power or influence, is caught cheating again……….they do not like to be caught and to explain their unacceptable actions and behaviours.
What can you do if the system and the people in position of trust could not be fair and reasonable?
#36 by katdog on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 9:41 am
“What was agreed upon by our founding fathers must be kept” -cintanegara
Typical UMNOputra response. When it is convenient, they say its not our decision. It was already decided before so it is not our fault we are just following the ‘rules’.
But when the rules prove to be inconvenient, the UMNOputras are the first the change the rules to suit their needs.
Our founding fathers NEVER agreed to NEP with 30% shareholding being reserved for malays. Our founding fathers NEVER agreed that public education institutions be allowed to permit/disallow entry on basis of race alone.
Yet why do UMNOputras carry these out openly? The UMNOputras care two shits about what our founding fathers wanted. They quote the ‘founding fathers’ only when it serves their purpose.
“This isn’t a question of what WE want” -cintanegara
Ha ha! And you expect us to believe that statement?
If the UMNOputras did NOT WANT the imbalanced distribution of scholarships that have led to a brain drain in our country, they could have changed the constitution easily.
But of course they didn’t do that. Because they WANTED the privileges of getting easy scholarships for their sons and daughters.
#37 by a2a on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 11:11 am
The NEP was created by a groupd of LIARS – a corrupted politicians (visited CHINA to cover their plan from Chinese during the times chinese poluation was about 40%) telling others races that it is temporary to help the Bumiputra.
The NEP should be expired many years ago.
Now, you can see they are a big LIARS without shame, they still not review the expired NEP policy.
The special position of Malay was too supposed to be review from times to times by cabinets and agong agreed in Federal Constitution. And the quota should go decrease and decrease many years ago but it never happen.
Don’t ever believe their promises from above mentioned, it is proven they are a group of LIARS.
LIARS. LIARS. LIARS.
THEY LOVE TO CHEAT, CORRUPTION AND LIES.
#38 by -ec- on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 1:22 pm
dear ChinNA,
let’s ask ourselves what really caused brain drain problem:
it may appear that students are materialistic in thinking that the foreign moon is brighter and the their grass is greener or they are not patriotic to the country. Come to think about it, it all started with the word of DISAPPOINTMENT. disappointment is learned and too bad that they have been learning this word since they have ‘decided’ to be born in this country and to be born to their non-bumi (i do not like to use this word, but it give the most appropriate illustration) parents.
i am not sure how many of them leaving the country out of a genuine reason other than disappointment???
#39 by TomThumb on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 7:33 pm
nep gave us stability (and mediocrity) until anwar comes along. wait a minute wasn’t he for nep before? what changed?
#40 by ntufwc5 on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 8:11 pm
Someone had mentioned before, Malaysia has abundant of natural resources and top brains as well. Why are we falling so far behind in all aspects as compared with our neighbour ?
I had applied for my country top Universities. All my applications were rejected back then. With the same set of result and ECA records, our neighbour’s university took me in. Felt extremely disappointed with my country universities admission criteria.
And till now I am contributing to my neighbour’s GDP. This is the good thing about Ketuanan BN goon.
#41 by ChinNA on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 9:27 pm
-ec-
Thanks for the reply and they are just as valid. There are many reasons for leaving and disappointment could just be an initial feeling but most of the time it is not the reason.
Leaving your family behind in Malaysia is not an easy thing to do for many. What ever the reason, Malaysia needs to minimise the brain drain.
I can vouch for at least 10 that did not leave because of disappointment. They left to study in Singapore because of better prospects. I can easily said that another 10 stayed in Malaysia because the choices offered to them in UM and UKM are good choices (dentistry, medicine and engineering). I can also name another 40 who were not given a choice, they had to stay in Malaysia.
My gang are all STPM science guys. At least in my experience, disappointment is not the reason.
Nevertheless, there are many roads to Rome, so to say. Therefore there are also many roads to making a decent living. Go to Singapore or staying in Malaysia is but some of the ways of going to Rome.
#42 by ChinNA on Sunday, 17 May 2009 - 9:34 pm
I have seen a consistent theme here about PR being able to effect changes. There are lots of hope.
Are those hope realizable? Is PR ready to take over? Is DAP ready? Is PAS ready? Is PKR ready?
All I want is for a decent team to drive Malaysia to excellence. It is hard work and harder work to even groom and find a good team.
I vaguely remember limkamput did raise this point (or did he)? limkamput, please accept my apologies, if I am wrong.
I have not seen the evidence of readiness from PR.
#43 by AhPek on Monday, 18 May 2009 - 4:53 pm
I will have to disagree with you KennyGan if you say that Academic Scholarships must be awarded only for academic excellence.We can of course incorporate extra curricular activities as part of the selection criteria for awarding scholarships by devising points to activities like sports,games,debating,scouting being participated at different levels,school level,state level or national level.This must be strictly adhered to.Just playing games would not do.He must achieved a certain level.Do you know Dr. Jegathesan? He was an excellent student as well as an excellent sportsman,winning the 100 metres and 200 metres at the Asian Games whilst studying medicine in Singapore.His record for the 200 metres has not been broken yet!The Rhodes scholarship also incorporates extracurricular activities as must have criteria and these activities are usually at the national level.Just having only outstanding academic results would not do for Rhodes Scholarship!
In order to do this well the education system must limit the total number of subjects taken to 8 say allowing time for students to take up such activities in order to give him a real all round education.
The family take home pay can also be taken into account with points given to pay say RM1000 per month being more than points given to RM2000 per month and points given to pay of RM2000 per month being more than points given to RM3000 per month and so forth up to a limit of perhaps RM5000 per month whereby no points are given.
Grades A1,A2, A3 right down to perhaps C4 are given points.All these can be added up,and the best 2000 get the scholarships.If this is devised well and transparently there shouldn’t be outright discrimination seen in the practice.Better still publish the scores of all these successful applicants.
#44 by AhPek on Monday, 18 May 2009 - 5:11 pm
Also publish the point system assigned for extracurricular activities at the various levels,the points assigned to different grades (up to C4 and anything below is not given any points) and finally points assigned to different take home pay for the family.
In that way there is always transparency and students from poor family are given extra points to make up for their disadvantage and one would also find some very well rouded scholars amongst the recipients
#45 by lolok on Monday, 18 May 2009 - 8:01 pm
AhPek,
Your proposal on giving points for various activities is good, but it not really something that can be implemented easily and will probably ended up getting abused instead. Rather than just saying that you want to offer scholarships for “best” students, I believe it is better to first define the goal of scholarships first and be very specific about them.
For example, if the aim of the scholarship is to train excellent scientist of tomorrow, then I find very little sense in trying to add misc extracurricular activities. I mean how does being better at sports, scouts activities or even the debate team actually help you to become a better scientist?
Another misconception is that we want well rounded students. Personally I think this only applies to students below undergraduate level. When you go to degree level, you actually want the students to be strong in specific subjects, that why you have specializations in universities. You definitely don’t want a “Jack of all trades” in these higher levels.
#46 by AhPek on Monday, 18 May 2009 - 8:56 pm
lolok,
Why can’t the point system which is to be published out for transparency to be implemented and how can it be abused?For example how can one claim to be a national badminton player or a national player if one isn’t? Or for that matter a school player since that also can be easily checked.Just taking part in sports or games confer no point.All the areas from where points are obtained can be checked or audited if one choose to have one .This system has no room for subjective assessment.On top of this.points of successful applicants are to be published as well.Of course this is an idea which can be studied and fine tuned.If it is to be accepted by all it should be highly transparent because it is very difficult to manipulate.Every assessment is accorded points.
Why do you say that well rounded student is a misconception.Dr. Jegathesan is a well rounded student,he is no Jack of all trades and in fact Obama Barack is a well rounded student having been appointed editor of Harvard Law Review in his first year at Harvard for his powerful writing skills,and the following year he became President of the Law Review.Clinton is a Rhodes scholar,he is no Jack of all trades.Benazir Bhutto assasinated former Prime Minister of Pakistan who was an excellent student became the first Asian to be elected as President of the Oxford Union,a prestigious debating society at Oxford.
#47 by lolok on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 - 3:09 am
AhPek,
Regarding the point system, the main problem I have with it is regarding the extra activities. I’m really afraid that if it is not implement properly, you’ll ended up with a bias to people who are active in extra activities instead of people who have the urge to learn.
Regarding Dr. Jegathesan, I agree that he is an outstanding person, but do you expect all doctors to be like that? Although it is mentioned that Dr. Jegathesan is an accomplished researcher, I have to say I’m disappointed (that’s journalism for you…) as I only manage to find 2 articles from him international journals (long time ago and I’m not even sure if they are journal, seems more like conference to me…).
As for your other examples, can’t you see that they are all from the same background… LAW, or in other words our future lawyer. Are you want all our brightest minds to be lawyer?
What I’m actually referring to is actually students in scientific field (this is what Malaysia needs… not more lawyers). Take Einstein for instance, he didn’t even manage to pass his exams to ETH Zurich (although he did exceptionally well in maths and physics). Think he is just a special case, try looking at the life of Nobel laureates in science, and you’ll see a lot of your brilliant but not so “well rounded” students.
Enough with the examples, what I really want to say is that what is important is what do we want to do with these scholarships, what is the main aim to send these students overseas? Do we want to get brilliant scientist or engineers? Or do we want to get more lawyer and politicians? Be clear about what you want, find out what is needed and then focus on these requirements…. or else you’ll ended up rejecting a future Einstein ;)
#48 by AhPek on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 - 8:02 am
lolo,
What I am trying to suggest is a way out to knock elements of subjectivity in assessing a candidate towards awarding scholarships so that a fairer system could emerge whereby students from poor family could also make it because extra points are given to make up for their disadvantage.You are talking about the futility of giving an all round question.Rhodes scholarship is precisely about doing that and it is prestitious scholarship world wide whereby lawyers, scientists or economists are given the scholarship provided they also excell in extracurricular activities.Extracurricular activities is confined to sports it could cover outstanding involvement in community services or charity or welfare activities where leadership qualities are required.You are talking about producing Einsteins and perhaps Nobel Prize winners.I don’t think scholarship is about that cos you cannot set up a project to make einsteins or nobel prize winners just like that!Scholarships are given to give a good education and training regardless of whatever subject the candidate wishes to take with the
express purpose of preparing them well in life.
#49 by AhPek on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 - 9:58 am
Correction. “You are talking about the futility of giving an all round eduction.”.
“Extracurricular activities is not only confined to sports it could cover …………..
whereby leadership qualities are required.”.
#50 by lolok on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 - 5:09 pm
AhPek,
I totally agree with you that you cannot set a scholarship based on a project (be it nobel prize winners or notable politicians). And I think we’re probably harping on the same thing, maybe just disagree on how it should be implemented.
My actual main point is not to just jump into a point system that would probably give a lot of problems. Rather than that, one should first list out why was the scholarship being set up in the first place, followed by listing out the requirements for the applicants and then a good system to evaluate them (be it point system or whatever). All these should be done is a manner as clear as possible, so it won’t be easily (we can never avoid it though) subjected to interpretations. If you look at it, this is actually what most scholarship is lacking in Malaysia. They try to do it, but with a lot of vague things like “well roundness” (what is the definition of it? how is it evaluated?).
Another thing with these huge scholarships are that they focus too much things like “leadership”, “kindness” and etc. I’m not saying that these are not desired, but it is just that a lot of them are difficult to be expressed, and sometimes it is even more so depending the principle you’re in. For example, for students who are interested in performing arts, they can easily express things like kindness by joining charity performance and such. Students who like a career in law, they can join the debate team and thus express leadership in that manner. Well then… can you tell me how students who would for example like to go into engineering and science can express the quality of “well roundness”? The problem with these is that it takes all your effort to just learn the principle itself, till you don’t have time for other things anymore… it is no wonder that they are always being referred as geeks. But these geeks are the people who progress the whole civilization.
In short, the point that I would like to put up (that is different from you) is that one should be careful to not design criteria that will ended up getting biased to specific fields, unless that specific fields is what the scholarship is for.
#51 by AhPek on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 - 8:35 pm
lolo,
I happen to believe first not everyone is a university material,and thus following this premise we shouldn’t be building and building more and more universities to cater for such requests from an ever increasing school leavers year in and year out.The country,besides requiring engineers,lawyers,doctors,IT experts,architects, she also needs carpenters,plumbers,electricians,masons,bricklayers,entrepreneurs,cooks and so on.Second if you have to take in students for university,they must be given a first class education that includes developing leadership qualities,and leadership qualities can only come from campus environment which caters for the students’ interests other than his academic pursuit,interest not only confine to sports or games but activities like publishing campus paper,participation of union activities be it national politics or student politics,debating society or musical pursuit and many other activities which is extracurricular in nature.This is development of a well rounded student.
The Singapore Education Department is always on the search for other educational systems that are in other parts of the world,and every year they would send delegations to those places that they think is worth studying with the objectiveof incorporating some of the aspects of the foreign system into their own system for continuous improvement of their own education system.One such visit that I’ve read of is the sending of an educational delegation from the Education Department to Bronx High School of Science in New York which is reputed to be one of the best high schools in the world for passing thro its school corridors are7 Nobel Prize winners plus 6 Pulitzer Prize winners.No school anywhere in the world have produced such an outstanding group of people.If one look into the school system, the school aspires to produce all round education for her pupils,with great emphasis in maths,science,arts,music,languages plus extracurricular activities which is compulsory.The whole idea of extracurricular activity is to imbue team spirit and leadership qualities,attributes that are required whether one is an engineer,doctor,manager,politician,an economist or a banker.The other thing about Bronx High is that examination is just one of the school activities for assessment (maybe it contributes 70%),10% extracurricular and 20% on project (carried it out in small groups)which has to be approved by the senior teacher.
There must be something right done by this school to produce such illustrious students.Because of this visit you now find that the education department of Singapore is gradually and surely releasing emphasis completely on written exam at the end of the year.Projects are starting to come in similarly to what Bronx High is doing.In fact exceptional students are exempted from taking O level.they go straight on to lower six.
#52 by lolok on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 - 11:32 pm
AhPek,
I agree with most of what you’ve written, with some disagreement… we’re human after all, there will always be disagreements ;)
I believe Bronx High is doing the correct thing as well (well and the fact that it’s in US, where all the money is), that is they introduce students to different varieties of subjects, which is very nice indeed. I guess the main difference is how the courses are conducted. The thing is when Malaysian (or most Asian countries) talk about art, music and language, we immediately think about memorizing art history, forcing someone to play an instrument and memorizing those crazy old literature. This is how our SPM and STPM are thought. Students that excel from this kind of program are not exactly what you call well rounded students. They are more like machines. The thing about these countries like in US and Europe are that when they talk about art, music and language, they focus on appreciating it. Their approach is by introducing classical music, paintings and literature to students, and teach them how to appreciate it. The students in turn start to try to understand them better and thus actually volunteer to go deeper into it. This is what I call learning. And I won’t really call them well rounded (it could be that they are still only good at certain things), but at least they will know what is around them and know how to appreciate other things.
Regarding university as a place to imbue team spirit and leadership qualities… No offense, but I highly doubt that is the aim of university. They might try to create an environment that encourage it, but that is not their aim. And no, university is also not a place where knowledge are disseminated, despite common public believe. What university actually is, is that it is a place that gives training in ways of gaining knowledge. They introduce you the tools and the means for gaining knowledge, whether you can get it or not in the end, that is your problem (you don’t get anything you fail, if you get it you pass, simple as that).
But I guess we should stop for now, as we’re moving too far and too broad, from how scholarship be given to how education should be conducted. And thanks a lot for the discussion, it was fun :)
#53 by aio193 on Friday, 22 May 2009 - 1:15 pm
i can’t believe what i’m reading over and over again.
Do all of you really think that having all the A1s will earn you a scholarship? You have a right to it? A scholarship is a privilege, not a right! And stop complaining about students using tax payers money to study, if you’re not happy about it, stop paying tax!
I think its NOT the issue of malay or non malay.
Those who are accepted are an exceptional lot. I had non-malay scholars with me while i was studying in the US.
They themselves WERE NOT straight A1 students and from LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS but they were active with societies, i had one (two actually) amazing violinists and other students, regardless of race were student heads, athletes (state) or just simply brilliant.
It was very rare to get students who were loners (study by themselves, shut the door, throw the key and get a CGPA of 4.0)
The problem here is your tactic on getting the scholarship.
You don’t walk into an interview saying, OH, i have 13 A1s, give me the scholarship.
If you can’t carry yourself to an interview, how would you carry yourself 20,000 miles away, pretty much having to start making new friends, adjust, and excel? the 13A1s won’t help you here.
That 13A1 is your ticket to the interview. It just PROVES you can learn and score. In a team? by yourself? who knows, then after that you PROVE TO THEM (PSD) AGAIN why you want it … badly!
Why you are a great individual. it doesn’t matter if you want to serve your country or not, cause if you are the right person with the right attitude, you’ll know what to do when the time comes!
if you dont show your hunger for a PSD scholarship to go overseas, just thinking your As will help you, then don’t bother.
Cause if you don’t show or learn how to ‘sell’ yourself as a good candidate, the 3A1 6A2 applicant might have just stolen your seat.
cause he knew what he wanted and proved it to them.