Malaysiakini Vox Populi | May 26, 11

‘Then there will be no arguments as to the veracity of the selection process. Until that is done, there will be quarters that won’t trust nor believe PSD.’

Abolish PSD’s racial quotas, urge NGOs

WangMalaysia: More than 8,800 students getting 9A+. Malaysia has loads of talent! I remember during my time, those getting 8A1 count for less than 30 throughout the country.

The criteria to qualify for PSD (Public Service Department) scholarships must be fully spelt out in black and white for all to understand. Since time immemorial, PSD scholarships have been disbursed under a shroud of uncertainty.

It is high time to publish the names of all recipients and their qualifications so that there be no arguments as to the veracity of the selection process. Until that is done, there will be quarters that will not trust nor believe that PSD is fair. Why are they so scared to publish the list?

RR: All the hue and cry from the public will not work. This is the same story every year. This is a BN cabinet decision, in which MCA, MIC and Gerakan are members. These parties must put their foot down against unfair treatment. They should walk out of the government if crucial matters are sidelined or ignored.

Meritocracy means all students should sit for the same examinations. STPM and local matriculation exam are not the same and are not equal in standard. If we want high-calibre leaders for the future of this country, the government must change its mindset and be non-racial, starting from now.

Anyone: Scholarships should be given only to poor students who have scored well regardless of their race, not for students who come from rich families, who may, however, be considered for loans at a discounted rate.

Born In M’sia: Do they think when they award scholarships for medical degree to candidates other than those academically deserving, they are doing a great service to you and your family?

When these candidates graduate, they may turn out to be sub-standard doctors and you and your family may suffer as a result of their sub-standard diagnosis or treatment.

They better act now to ensure that there will be doctors par excellence around when you and your family need medical treatments by giving the scholarships to the academically deserving candidates.

Faz: I do agree that the racial quota must go, but it must be replaced with a system that serves the overall needs of the country as these scholars must serve the nation.

Still, scholarships are an aberration to the normal costing of the education system. It was put in place to ‘level the playing field’ between the haves and the have-nots, the rural and urban students (the urban areas get better educational infrastructures), the minorities and the marginalised – to create educational opportunities for upward mobility in society.

So mere merits should be balanced with the financial and environmental background and also the courses pursued are needed by the government/nation. Students from well-to-do families could get the scholarships if the courses are to me the nation’s needs.

If we look at the situation honestly, the above could be achieved by having transparency in the selection process for all eligible Malaysians.

Keturunan Malaysia: Faz, I agree with you but sad and real as it is, nowadays, even with our best intentions cast in stone, we don’t have the best of people to make sure that the said best intentions are carried out to the letter, without fear or favour.

Thus, we have do with the next best level where the need for human discretion is the least to avoid the worst ill – and that is discrimination and abuses for reasons best known to the people to whom the job is entrusted.

Ramu: Asking a 10A scorer (9A+ and 1A) to do a diploma course in English when she applied for a science-related course is cruel, insulting and heartbreaking.

Umno, where have all the good men gone?

Geronimo: Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn top my list, but certainly not Abdul Razak Hussein, our second premier. He, Harun Idris and Dr Mahathir Mohamad were all there to create May 13, a day that will live in infamy, much as the opposition was also to be blamed.

I was living in my own country then. Today, I feel like I am living in a foreign land. It’s so sad.

KSN: All the good men of Umno died or retired. The death knell started when Mahathir took over the country and Umno. The rest is history. There are good leaders left in Umno, at least in positions to influence and check its collapse.

Yeoh Chee: The few good men left in Umno are trampled on, their grimace has been drowned by the extreme Umno rightists, their pitiful positions in the power hierarchy do not serve any useful purpose.

On the other hand, if they had the courage, they would be able to address the corruption and injustice endemic in Malaysia by joining the opposition.

ONG: It has been many years since those Umno members with any goodness left in them have any chance of being leaders. All those Umno members with goodness left in them have either left the party on their own accord, been sacked from the party or have been completely sidelined.

If you still believe that Umno is still capable of addressing issues for the betterment of the nation as a whole, I suggest that you are high on some hallucinatory drugs.