Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email I remember Samy saying “no more begging” when Pahang EXCO line up did not have any Indians in it (well, only one candidate is available!). I suppose he only meant for that specific case. Now its that time of the year (nope, not X’mas or Deepavali) where a short serial drama is played out.
This time, only 72 out 2000 (3.6%) recipients were Indians. Stories are aplenty about students with lesser As getting scholarship due to their privileged status. Just check the letters section in The Star yesterday for some examples.
As usual, the aggrieved students and parents have no choice but to approach political parties (heard PKR’s Gopalakrishnan is organising a meeting as well, while Sivanesan had done so in Perak). Then, the party will be made to look like saviours when in fact it was their failure that bought the community down to this level in the first place. I think the parents and student are more mature now. They’ll just nod their heads at Samy’s speech, agreeing to everything he says, put up with “words of advice” until their kids get the scholarships. But when come to election time, another rout for MIC is expected. Don’t think that the community can be fooled by this kind of drama.
MIC should put its foot down and demand for transparency. Enough of the “meeting behind closed door” nonsense that’s proven to be a disaster. OR even as a proactive and caring party, it should have taken initiatives before results are out to ensure transparency.
Now the self-proclaimed sole champion of the community has to go and meet the leaders, his team has to meet other leaders as well, and explain how by offering more scholarships to Indian students, support from the community can be gained back. Problem is, I think the situation is clear that (majority of) Indian community are just making use of MIC for the moment, something which is well read by the leaders. So, the offering of scholarships to more students is vital for the political survival of MIC and its leader.
So far, one other MIC leader had also voiced out his opinion. SK Devamany has this to say:
A loss if we ignore smart students
THE Government must recognise and offer scholarships to students who achieve excellent results or risk losing them to other countries, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department S.K. Devamany was reported as saying in Malaysia Nanban.
It must ensure that these outstanding students are given the necessary scholarships so that they will return to work in this country, he said.
In the past, many outstanding students who failed to obtain scholarships managed to get funding from other countries, he said. Currently, many of them are working in those countries and that was a loss for Malaysia in its professional workforce.
He said that MIC, through its president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, would continue to pressure the Government to ensure that more Indian students are given scholarships to pursue higher education.
He was speaking to reporters after attending a function to honour students of Sri Murugan Centre in Perak who achieved outstanding results in their UPSR, SPM and STPM examinations last year.
source
The other party that usually makes some noise is quiet this time. Now, if we read carefully, PSD said that 900 places were taken by normal Malaysians. If 72 of that were Indians, the balance is by Chinese? That’s the two largest normal Malaysians around, since East Malaysians will fall under bumiputra category. So, the Chinese students got at most 828 places, which is about 41.4%. So, its meritocracy, fine. But PSD have to come clean, if not there will always be suspicion of unfairness.
Looking at th cut-off mentioned by PSD, many of the 187 would not qualify, unless PSD considers family income as a bigger factor than number of A1s.
Earlier Samy Vellu met Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Sidek Hassan to appeal on behalf of 187 Indian Malaysian high achievers who were denied Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships this year.
Samy Vellu said of the 187 students, three had scored 12 A1, seven (11 A1), 68 (10 A1), 66 (9 A1) and 43 (8A1) in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
“I explained to the chief secretary the need to help these students. This is in line with our aspiration to create at least two professionals in every Indian family in the country. “He was very receptive and has promised to do his best to help these students who have excelled in their studies,” he told Bernama.
Currently, only 72 Indian students have received PSD scholarships, out of the 2,000 scholarships offered.
The former works minister also urged students, who had appealed through MIC, to inform the party headquarters if they receive fresh offers for scholarships. “This will help us keep tabs on things. Previously, they didn’t tell us if their appeals were successful or otherwise, making it difficult for us to gauge our efforts in securing government scholarships. “The PSD will take some time to do the revision. In the meantime, I advise the students to remain calm and wait for the final list,” he added.
Samy Vellu appeals on behalf of Indian top students for PSD scholarships
Bernama
source
PUTRAJAYA: MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu today met Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan to appeal on behalf of 187 Malaysian Indian high achievers who were denied Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships this year.
Samy Vellu said of the 187 students, three had scored 12A1, seven 11A1, 68 10A1, 66 9A1 and 43 8A1 in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.”I explained to the Chief Secretary on the need to help these students. This is in line with our aspiration to create at least two professionals in every Indian family in the country.”He was very receptive and has promised to do his best to help these students who have excelled in their studies,” he said.
Currently, only 72 Indian students had received PSD scholarships of the 2,000 scholarships offered.
Samy Vellu said MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, who is also Human Resources Minister, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department S.K. Devamany and MIC Education Bureau chief Prof Datuk T. Marimuthu would meet PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam later today on the matter.
“We are taking a two-pronged approach to solve this problem. We believe some of the 187 students will be reconsidered for the scholarships,” he said.
MIC urges Govt to reconsider appeals of 187 studentssourceBy A. LETCHUMANAN
KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC has appealed to the government to reconsider the appeal of 187 Malaysian Indian excellent students who were unsuccessful in their applications for the Public Services Department (PSD) scholarships for overseas programmes this year. Party president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said he had made the appeal during a meeting with the Chief Secretary to the Government. Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan Wednesday.
He said of the 187 students, three had scored 12 A1s, seven (11 A1s), 68 (10 A1s), 66 (9 A1s) and 43 (8A1s) in the 2007 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
“I explained to Sidek on the need to help these students. This was in line with the MIC’s aspiration to create at least two professionals in every Indian family in the country,” he said. Samy Vellu said the Chief Secretary was very receptive and has promised to do his best to help these students who had excelled in their studies.
He said this year, only 72 Indian students received PSD scholarship of the 2,000 scholarships reportedly offered.
Samy Vellu said MIC Secretary-General Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, who is also Human Resources Minister, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department S.K. Devamany and MIC Education Bureau chief Prof Datuk T. Marimuthu will also meet PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam on the matter. He said the MIC is taking a two-pronged approach to solve this problem as the party believed many students in the list of 187 students will be reconsidered.
He also urged students, who had appealed through MIC, to inform the party headquarters if they had received fresh offers for scholarship from the government.
there will be lots of hu-hahs…… after sometime the dust will settle ….. well this is happening in past years…..
same goes to BR people also. HU ha… n the dust will settle.
Suprises me , if Samy Vellu goes and ask help from BN for Indians , it will be termed as BEGGING.
If BR people go to the SAME minister and ask for help it will be regarded as CHAMPIONING PEoples rights or whatsoever..
I wonder…. 🙂
i think there’s a big difference between two people (A,B) approaching another person (C) to get a job done. i’m sure you can understand that. If A and C are at same level, “partners” if you may call them, doesn’t it look weird that A has to ask C all the time? What’s the point of being partners or equals then? And partners for last 60 years!!! Now, B is not part of the group, thus has to ask. Unless of course in the future, B takes over A and C’s jobs, then we hope NOT to see similar problems from happening. If it does, then we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.