Malaysiakini Your Say | Jun 2, 11

‘In a truly democratic country, a responsible government would publish the list of scholarship holders alongside their results.’

86 top scorers to be placed in local private varsities

Cala: I am dumfounded by the Public Service Department and Minister in the PM’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz’s line of action. They appear to be incapable of doing things right in the first instance. After all, they are the products of the Umno-led BN regime’s mediocrity and recklessness.

In a truly democratic country, a responsible government would have published the list of scholarship holders alongside their results. Obviously, the corrupted regime does not see it fit to do just that.

Can you then blame the people for thinking that something fishy is going on, thus depriving the deserving students of their rightful places? Why is Nazri not addressing the issue?

KSN: It is like pouring water on the duck’s back. There is no sincerity and honesty in all the government dealings, especially in this scholarship issue and when one knows that most of the 86 who did not make it are non-Malays. Does 1Malaysia mean anything, or is it just an empty slogan?

Fairness for all: Why isn’t the list of the 1,500, who were first given the scholarships, revealed according to race. Is it because most were Malays who did not qualify? The list of 1,500 students should be revealed with their scores to justify their being given scholarships.

20121221Disaster: Justice will never prevail from the Umno government. Nobody can confront Umno, except the rakyat by using their votes. Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong got all the facts to back him, but eventually he was forced to keep silent.

MCA president Chua Soi Lek initially supported Wee. But when confronting the Umno leaders, he had to bow his head all the way down to the floor.

I dare Nazri to do just what Wee had suggested: put up the detailed list of the scholarship allocations, the names, their results, what courses and where, showing all the facts and figures rather than telling some grandmother’s story.

Douglas Tan 25b2: The hike in electricity tariffs should be more than enough to cover another 10,000 scholarships, so spending RM50 million on scholarships for our future best and brightest is paltry as compared to the billions they are willing to spend on useless projects which benefit no one but themselves.

Born In Malaysia: Nazri, please don’t be petty when comes to the investment in our human resource development. Returns from investment in human resources will be far greater than returns from investment in hard assets.

Sathish Ramachandran: Assuming that these ‘so-called’ second round of scorers were ‘mistakenly’ left out of the first round of awards due to the actions (or inactions) of the little Napoleons in the government in the first place, they are now offered local private university scholarships instead of overseas scholarships (for whatever reasons these may be, such as the government being financially strapped).

Assuming further that these second-round scorers actually scored better than the first round ones, they are now not given the opportunity to take up the overseas scholarships because some little Napoleons within the Public Service Department have bungled up.

And the government dares to say that it “saves them money” by deciding to do this? I dare not imagine the furore of these second rounders who now feel that they, who are more deserving, are now getting the lesser deal.

Vocal Malaysian: This is an utter disgrace. PM Najib Razak wants to placate everyone by sending the cream of top students to study in local universities while those who don’t have excellent grades get to go overseas?

Not only that, it is only the elite who get these rare scholarships even when they have no need for it. Look how Najib’s own brother – CIMB CEO Nazir – got a Chevening scholarship to study at Oxford University.

You think he cannot afford the fees? Go to page 124 of the CIMB Annual Report 2010, and check out his 55,000,000 shares.

Yet Najib can’t afford RM55 million to send our best and brightest for their single opportunity of a lifetime?

An Old Malaysian: Most of the government scholarships are given to the offsprings of the rich and powerful. I remember when I was a student in Universiti Malaya in 1972, the daughter of the then PM Hussein Onn, was awarded a scholarship to pursue a medical degree.

Do you think the current Umno ministers will not do the same for their children’s education? Do you think they will use their own money when they can use public money to finance their children’s education?

Pemerhati: The present system of awarding scholarships and places in tertiary institutions is racist and should be abandoned if Malaysia is to produce high quality graduates and professionals.

Everyone wants to be seen by a good doctor and be taught by the best teachers. To advance economically we have to produce the best science and engineering graduates to carry out R&D in various fields and work in the fiercely competitive and cutting edge IT and the science and technology-based industries.

Unfortunately the racist mindset of the ruling Umno and its civil servants does not allow it to select the best lecturers and students for the various science and engineering-based university courses. Our universities thus keep producing a large number of low-quality graduates who are only fit to work in the bloated and inefficient civil service.

The best non-bumiputera students are sidelined and leave the country. We can only progress if the government treats all its citizens fairly and equally.

Sarawakian_3ff9: Obviously this is a face-saving exercise by Najib. Having said that, I also think this is a good alternative for all the top students to study at home rather than overseas.

This will save billions of ringgits in the long run and keeping the money at home, money that could be disbursed to many others who otherwise would not have a chance of tertiary education.

Also, this keep the talents at home rather than let them be poached by the countries we usually send them to. We all know that many on scholarships absconded after finishing their studies overseas, without paying back a single sen.

Baiyuensheng: Let’s give credit to the government where credit is due. At least now the government is responsive to the rakyat’s grievance, regardless of race. From me, two thumbs up for the decision.

Loyal Malaysian: I congratulate the top scorers and commend the government for willing to rectify the mistake made by the PSD selection panel.

But does it not indicate there was indeed discrimination and unfair practices in the selection process? Or is it an exercise to show to the rakyat that you need even those wagging dogs to ensure injustices are rectified?

Righteous: Everyone came away from this episode with one lingering question – what is in place to assure such thing does not happen again?

Tokenism is just a respite. How will we ever know that such unfair practices will not rear its head after the general election? Do we really have an agreeable formula to overcome such blatant abuses?