SCHOLARSHIPS & POLITICIAN

Ding response on the scholarship brawl with good advise " OUR 1MALAYSIA is weaken when YOU politicians always fight for own cheap popularity & disrespect Prime Minister, President of  BN & Nation. Please do not create OUTBURST MEDIA CULTURE!! ASHAMED of you,dear politician!

MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek told senior minister Nazri Abdul Aziz to mind his words instead of attacking Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong.

KUALA LUMPUR: The row over the Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships intensified when MCA took potshots at Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz.

MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek said that Nazri was trying to play a hero when he criticised the party’s Youth chief Wee Ka Siong over the scholarship issue. He added that as a minister, Nazri should have known better instead of attacking Wee. “I’m not teaching Nazri how to do his job. If he doesn’t know the role of MCA, then it is quite unfortunate.

“We want to solve the problem, we don’t want to play hero. Whoever wants to play hero is the minister who made the outburst. He doesn’t know the issue,” he told reporters at the party’s headquarters here today.

Wee, who is also deputy education minister, had revealed that 363 straight A+ students had failed to receive PSD scholarships this year. He alleged that there were “little Napoleons” in the PSD who acted against the Cabinet’s directive to hand out these scholarships.

But Nazri accused Wee of using the issue to gain political mileage instead of solving it.

‘It’s not a question of race’ Chua also took a swipe at ultra Malay rights group Perkasa for bringing race into the equation. According to a Malaysian Insider report, Perkasa information chief Ruslam Kassim claimed that many Malay students were not getting help from PSD.

Warning MIC and MCA not to create trouble (out of the scholarship issue), Ruslam called for Malay rights to be given priority. Chua said that Perkasa did not know what it was talking about, adding that there was already a 60% Bumiputera quota for foreign PSD scholarships.

The rest of the quota were given out to students based on merit (20%), those from East Malaysia (10%) and the handicapped (10%).“It is not a question of race. Perkasa, if you don’t understand the issue, don’t say anything. When you open your mouth, you will only reveal what you don’t know,” he said. Chua also said that both he and Wee met PSD director-general Abu Bakar Abdullah earlier today.

He said that Abu Bakar admitted that there were weaknesses in his department, and that corrections would be made. Chua also noted that scholarships were erroneously handed out to students who lacked the aptitude for these courses.

“There are students who asked for (scholarships in) course A but would be given (schorlarships in) course B. Some asked for degrees, but would be given diplomas,” he said.

“These are bureaucratic problems that can be sorted out,” he added.

Chua said that a total of 1,552 Chinese students had received foreign and local scholarships out of 4,000. He also denied allegations that students who scored 9A+ results in their 2010 SPM examination did not receive scholarship. “It is not true that they didn’t get scholarship. They probably didn’t get the scholarship of their choice,” he said.

In an unrelated matter, MCA announced the building of a Chinese museum in Malacca.

Chua said that the museum would show the contributions of the Chinese from pre-Independence right up to the drafting of the 1Malaysia idea.

He added that the Malacca government had agreed with the plan, and was identifying a site for the museum.

Chua also defended this move, saying that it was an MCA initiative rather than a government one.

Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong is taken to task for alleging that there was abuse of power in the award of government scholarships.

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister Department Nazri Aziz defended today the Public Service Department (PSD), claiming that allegations of power abuse in the award of scholarships were unfounded.

Taking a swipe at Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong for his public outburst on the sensitive subject, Nazri said that Wee was using the issue to gain political mileage instead of solving it.

“Are we interested in solving these students’ problems or your political condition? Maybe he’s saying this because he wants to defend his post as MCA Youth chief,” Nazri said at a press conference here.

Wee claimed last week that 363 straight A+ students failed to get PSD scholarships this year despite the vow made by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak that all students scoring 8A+ and above will receive the PSD scholarships.

The promise was made following a similar allegation of unfair scholarship distribution last year.
Wee also claimed that there are “little Napoleans” in the PSD who were directly acting against the Cabinet directive.

Nazri claimed the policy promised by Najib is in place and that the PSD scholarship award system, which he said is just and fair, now recognises application from those with 8A+ grades.

The PSD scholarships fall under two primary categories: the overseas degree programme (PILN) for 1,500 selected students and the local degree programme (PIDN) for 2,500 applicants.

Applicants for both PILN and PIDN can apply under four sub-categories, with each having different requirements for scholarships approval.

‘Give proof to back allegations’

Nazri said that from the 4,000 PILN and PIDN scholarships awarded to the 2010 batch of SPM top scorers, 2,183 spots (55%) were given to Bumiputera students while 1,817 (45%) were offered to the non-Bumiputeras.

Only 8,857 from the 16,900 students who applied for PILN scholarships met the PSD requirements, with 7,277 (43.1%) of them being Bumiputeras and 9,623 (56.9%) non-Bumiputeras.

However, Nazri said that only 1,500 PILN scholarships were offered and 300 were given purely on merit. Unsuccessful applicants, however, have the PIDN option which offers 2,500 spots.

Should they fail both, the students will still be eligible to apply for the 8,000 spots for scholarships at metriculation or diploma levels.

Nazri defended the existing scholarship award system and dismissed Wee’s accusation that there were systematic efforts by the PSD to deny non-Bumiputeras opportunities to obtain government assistance.

He asked Wee to provide proof to back his claims, saying that his allegations were causing hurt to PSD officers whose integrity he would vouch for.

“These interviewers are multiracial and respected academicians. We have to be fair to the officers. When you are a politician and you attack civil servants, they cannot defend themselves. I am doing this on behalf of all the excellent officers that we have,” he said.

Nazri added that Wee should have used “the right channel” like the Cabinet meeting tomorrow to voice his grouses instead of using the media.