DAP decries concession for PSD rejects


Jun 7, 11 2 | MalaysiaKini

DAP has urged the federal government to ensure all top Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) scorers are given scholarships to study overseas and grants to study locally in the interest of fair play and rewards based on meritocracy.

In a statement today, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said his party was against the federal government’s decision to compensate top scholars who failed to obtain Public Services Department (PSD) grants to study overseas.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said yesterday that 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) would be financing the grants for 500 qualified students who did not get PSD scholarships to study locally.

Lim argued that this was not appropriate because it did not demonstrate the country’s commitment to retain its human talent.

DAP mocks MCA’s financial knowledge

In a related development, Lim refuted claims by MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek that Penang can afford to provide scholarships to the PSD rejects.

Chua had claimed that the Penang government could afford do so because the state drew the most industrial investment in 2010, at RM12.2 billion.

“If MCA can not differentiate between foreign and domestic investments with revenue, then MCA does not deserve to be part of government.

“Investments are held by the private sector to spend to generate jobs and economic growth, not revenue for the state government to spend.

“Perhaps all MCA leaders should undergo a basic course of finance,” said Lim, a trained chartered accountant, while Chua used to serve as a medical doctor and was once health minister.

Pakatan to help all top scholars

Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, said that despite revenue constraints, the state had still managed to provide study loans for local students studying in public universities fairly.

“Penang Pakatan Rakyat has also increased the primary and secondary school grants (not loans) to poor students. DAP pledges that unlike BN, all deserving top students in the country will be awarded the same scholarships if Pakatan wins control of the federal government.”

He said this pledge to provide overseas scholarships was crucial to help Malaysia out of the middle-income trap and become a high-income economy with US$15,000 per capita income.

“Malaysia would be sending the wrong message if we reward mediocrity instead of excellence, do not have a level-playing field that is fair to the best and brightest and allow the brain drain to continue.

“The time has come to invest our resources in the future by spending tens of billions of ringgit on human talent instead of squandering it on corruption and white elephant projects likes the RM5 billion 100-storey Menara Warisan,” Lim added.

  1. #1 by HJ Angus on Tuesday, 7 June 2011 - 5:48 pm

    While the scholarships awards still need a proper review, the latest development shows that the BN is now worried that its days in office are numbered.
    Thanks to having more opposition MPs.

  2. #2 by Loh on Tuesday, 7 June 2011 - 8:24 pm

    ///PUR, June 7 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that the DAP’s Karpal Singh is the actual winner in last weekend’s PAS elections because he claimed the party had abandoned its Islamic principles.///–MalaysiaInsider

    Mamakthir said that DAP won in PAS election. If Mamakthir is a fool, then that statement is irrelevant. But Mamakthir is not a fool. He made that remark based on his experience winning for UMNO for all party elections conducted by the subordinate parties of UMNO, viz., MCA and MIC in Barisan Nasional. That is why Mamakthir made the above remark even though it was not true. His logic is based on the fact that he influenced party elections of all the subordinate parties in the Barisan Nasional.

  3. #3 by pulau_sibu on Tuesday, 7 June 2011 - 8:32 pm

    please stop awarding the psd scholarship for overseas. these are just spm students and they not going to win the nobel prizes yet. stop wasting our tax payer money. both ruling and opposition politicians have to wake up now

  4. #4 by pulau_sibu on Tuesday, 7 June 2011 - 8:35 pm

  5. #5 by rubini on Tuesday, 7 June 2011 - 10:53 pm

    Please read Talent Corpse USA roadshow –

    http://malaysiatoday.com/2011/06/talent-corp-or-talent-corpse-classic-bodohs/

    My Dear Fellow Malaysians:
    I am compelled to write to you regarding Talent Corp road show in the U.S.
    I have just attended one of their sessions at Marriott, Santa Clara.
    The turn-out was good. About 200 Malaysians living in the Bay Area
    attended this event hoping to hear what they have to offer.Not surprising the event was a letdown.
    Talent Corp. sent amateurs to speak on behalf of Johan Merican, whom was nowhere to be found. The speaker was a young kid, Hidayat, who was very proud to tell the audience that there is nothing wrong with our Malaysian education system, because he graduated from MIT.. Let me say that that this kid was so naive, speaks poor English, has no business acumen, lacks any
    respect for Malaysian professionals/audience, and completely has no
    understanding of American business etiquette.

    For someone who claims to be MIT graduate and used to work overseas as
    a consultant — he definitely did not possess any quality whatsoever.
    He failed to mention that he just spent just few years completing his
    undergraduate degree here in the US, and have never lived or worked
    in America. Real life work experience has no substitute.

    Being a graduate from MIT does not qualify him to talk down on
    professionals like us here in the Bay Area. He was utterly
    disrespectful. It was shameful to see such an individual addressing
    the audience.

    During the Q & A session was not able to substantiate his slide
    presentation. For instance, one of the benefits for luring back
    Malaysians abroad is by extending 15% income tax reduction, giving two
    cars, furniture, and so on. When asked if he really thought it is a
    competitive package as opposed to other countries. He honestly believed it was, without citing any examples or comparisons.
    This kid is so arrogant and insisted what the government says is for the good
    of all.

    When our fellow Malaysians asked about what the government was doing
    about immigration-laws, such as dual-citizenship, spouses able to find
    jobs in Malaysia, education for the children, insurance, diversity and
    inclusiveness, and so on — this ‘prick’ Hidayat was lost for words,
    nothing to say.

    FYI, the delegation was represented by people from the Northern
    Corridor (Dato’ Reza) and team, MSC (Dato’ Sham) and team, two young
    ladies from Khazanah, and Mr. Pang from MIDA. Imagine them having to
    sit and listen to an amateur telling all of us what to do?

    When are they going to realize that they are wasting too much of
    Malaysian’s tax payers hard earned money; traveling with their
    families (on taxpayers’ money) to the US on the pretext of a business conference.
    Shameful! They brought along their wives and children for shopping and
    sight-seeing. Why must their wives and children come along on official
    trips paid with Malaysian tax payers money? Gross abuse of public
    funds. MACC where art thou?

    Furthermore, Dato’ Sham (from MSC) even showed up late for the event, made no apology or showed no remorse. Another sign of lack of respect and arrogance .
    He simply “didn’t-give-a-damn! I said to them this is just another propaganda by Najib’s government. They were not serious about it “hangat-hangat tahi ayam aje”. So much for Najib’s plan to transform Malaysia into a high income
    nation……. show us you mean business Jibby….don’t send boys to do a
    man’s job. Especially ‘stupid boys’ and ‘pricks’ like Dato Sham from
    MSC….
    Next time leave your families behind for official business overseas
    (don’t take them shopping and sightseeing on taxpayers monies).
    What a load of bullshit / hogwash!……talent corp a waste of good taxpayers money!

    Only then, Jibby you may talk about cutting subsidies, otherwise shut-up!

  6. #6 by Jeffrey on Tuesday, 7 June 2011 - 11:28 pm

    DAP decries Nazri’s concession (giving PSD’s rejects local grants) because of its implicit assumption that local tertiary institutions are not as good as foreign, coveted, and therefore to be fair/equitable all SPM top scorers shall be treated alike in terms of entitlement to both foreign & local without line being drawn between foreign for PSD’s selection and local as concession for the rejects!

    Implicit in DAP’s position is the veiled question of what’s the criteria PSD adopts for its selection for foreign education. Is it based on racial quota? Shouldn’t it be based on merit if one is dealing with category of top scorers?

    The other fundamental question touched upon Pulau_Sibu in #3, and which has not been raised by DAP, is whether tax payers’ money should be used in the first place for scholarships (esp foreign grant) to students at SPM level. They may be top scorers by our Malaysian Exam standards) but do they measure up to international standards of entry to tertiary institutions? I have heard of 8As scorers finding it tough the IB course programme, even when conducted by our local private educational institutions.

  7. #7 by boh-liao on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 12:06 am

    Typical of what UmnoB/BN did, no proper planning, no principle
    Just look at d massive chaos @ entry points, esp JB’s CIQ n second link, caused by d new fingerprint scanning system 4 all visitors: confirming our incompetence, failure

  8. #8 by HJ Angus on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 12:36 am

    Yes much of the hot air about PSD scholarships will dissipate if we only award such scholarships after the students prove they are capable of entry into a degree program that is required by a government department of GLC.
    We can also fund maybe five students locally for every one sent abroad so I suggest we should perhaps fund only 200 PSD overseas scholars and these should be the really top students and not top connected students.
    Let us face the truth and stop sending mediocre students abroad as most will not return to serve Malaysia.
    The 100 overseas scholars will be bonded for at least 5 years to work in Malaysia.

  9. #9 by HJ Angus on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 12:38 am

    sorry typo:
    last sentence –
    The 200…..

  10. #10 by boh-liao on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 1:14 am

    Now Perak mufti has given his backing to d Obedient Wives Club, wunderbar!
    PSD must ensure all female A+ students take d core cos of ‘satisfaction guaranteed whores 101’, so as 2 bcome excellent bed performers dat satisfy men

  11. #11 by pulau_sibu on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 2:06 am

    Jeffrey, thanks for getting the point. I am always concerned how many of these spm A+ students are really above the international standard. Send in their applications to the top American institutions (say top 20 and not just limited to top 10) and I afraid most of them will be rejected. Perhaps the overseas scholarships are for those to study Islamic culture and Arabic in Egypt??

    When the politicians are trying to rally for support, we have to make sure that we are doing the right thing. Right in the sense that it is good for the country. What a luxurious way of wasting the people’s money by sending thousands of spm students to overseas?? 50 years ago, we need to send secondary school kids to overseas, but we don’t have to do it now. By becoming a more progressive nation, we no longer need to let overseas university to educate our kids on the very basic knowledge.

    I hope both the opposition and the ruling politicians will do the right thing by not throwing around and asking for more candies. Please trust pulau_sibu on this matter.

  12. #12 by CK-LA on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 3:50 am

    The Ministry of Education is the culprit to the problem. The educational system has been deteriorating and distorted over the past few decades that our exams need to be simplify and passing grade lower to buff the results.

    There used to be only a handful of 9As LCE/SPM top scorers nationwide a few decades ago. Nowadays, they come in loads at almost every school. Are our kids smarter now or are we deceiving ourselves?

    We need to measure our standard against the world by competing in the Olympics of academics. If we are to survive in this ever more competitive world marketplace, we need to be realistic about it.

    I dare our Education Ministry to participate in The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and see where we stand.

    Please click on this link and see where the rest of the world at scholarly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment

  13. #13 by Jeffrey on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 6:22 am

    Re rubini’s posting #5 – this upstart speker for Talent Corp – Hidayat – must be one of those top SPM scorers with PSD foreign grants to study at MIT…

  14. #14 by k1980 on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 7:21 am

    Replace all scholarships with zero % interest loans, so to be fair to all, the working rakyat and the students. After all, the students have up to 30 years to repay the loans with no interest charges.

  15. #15 by undertaker888 on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 8:04 am

    By all means help the mediocre people like crusade Ali, but don’t neglect the smart ones. inilah bodoh punya gobermen. hanya tahu duit sama seks.

  16. #16 by CK-LA on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 8:36 am

    The Ministry of Education is to be blamed. The educational system has been deteriorating and distorted over the past few decades. Our exams need to be simplified and passing grade lower to buff the results.

    There used to be only a handful of 9As LCE/SPM top scorers nationwide a few decades ago. Nowadays, they come in loads at almost every other school. Are our kids smarter now or are we deceiving ourselves?

    We need to measure our standard against the world by competing in the Olympics of academics. If we are to survive in this ever more competitive world marketplace, we need to be realistic about it.

    I dare our Education Ministry to place those 9As students to participate in The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and see where we stand.

    Please click on this link and see where the rest of the world at scholarly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment

  17. #17 by monsterball on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 9:12 am

    Bottom line is how serious and sincere is UMNO B towards his own race….country and people.
    Just look at countries around us…all progessed by leaps and bounds compared to Malaysia.
    Just look at where those Ministers were educated..by their parents…and now the Ministers to their own children.
    For decades…UMNO B purposely apply the backwards form of educations…with the excuses that his own race cannot catch up with others..if they go faster and faster.
    The point is..they not only stayed stagnant but actually going backwards.
    Why?
    Muslims are getting smarter and that worries UMNO B ,,,,for thinking Malays cannot be easily fooled.
    And smart Malaysians Muslims know the Govt. love to see Malays depend on UMNO B forever for help like beggars.

  18. #18 by monsterball on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 10:08 am

    UMNO B has become a party to fool rural areas Malays….farmers and fishermen for their majority votes.
    BN is but a name.
    MCA …MIC and Gerakan are trully ….show dogs parties now.
    It will be Muslims against Muslims…the hypocrites against true believers…as Muslims.
    The rouges and thieves that worship money stolen from Malaysians and not Allah..against Muslims out to protect their religion and Allah….not to be made a fool by devils dressed as Muslims.
    And the minorities….by large numbers are solidly behind the true believers….for the minorities cannot be easily fooled….living for decades as second class citizens quietly…until the time comes where Malaysians woke up and can see clearly..what UMNO B is.
    This is one reason..why Najib dare not announce the date of 13th GE.
    He knows the fooling days are over.
    What is left is provocatings….insults to stir up trouble and get Malaysians very afraid to change government…besides all actings and hypocrisies that cannot be wiped out or changed…tp be know as great liars too.
    All that..plus corruptions….but corruptions is encouraged…for that’s the only way…UMNO B can fullfill their wishes to buy up the whole country ..as advised by Mahathir…whose 18 years as PM have proven to be the most corrupted PM…encouraging corruptions and dirty race and religion politics.

  19. #19 by dagen on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 10:23 am

    Sending O level leavers straight to university is ridiculous. They should go through A level first. A level is a great deal harder than O level. A level will differentiate a good student from a weak student, for one thing. And for technical subjects (i.e. pure and applied sciences), A level will equip students with the much needed fundamental knowledge (in mathematics, physics, chemistry and or biology) for their university studies.

    However, for arts, social sciences and humanities subjects and business studies students with strong language command and sound sense could still get by in university without the benefit of A level knowledge.

    Even then, university knowledge and experience gained at 18 is somehow a little less meaningful than when gained at the time one is two yrs older.

    This stupid scholarhip thing was created by dr mamak I think. He thought malays could be filtered out in large number by the A level exam. So he decided to let them by-pass it altogether. Two shortcuts were created just for them. One, the matriculation course. Two, for the supposedly better 18 yr old malay kids direct entrance to universities that accept O level / spm results.

    Oh what a mess!

  20. #20 by pulau_sibu on Wednesday, 8 June 2011 - 12:05 pm

    wee ka siong should be taken to charge for his ministry of issuing so many low-level A+ students. he dares to show us the answers produced by these A+ students?

  21. #21 by ktteokt on Sunday, 12 June 2011 - 9:42 am

    This is where CHROMATOCRACY has overtaken MERITOCRACY!

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