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The second Cabinet Committee on Indian community meeting was supposed to be on Tuesday 5th August. Has it been postponed?

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The PSD scholarship allocation ratio issue is refusing to go away. Since Nazri revealed that all this while normal Malaysian were discriminated by being given only 10% of the scholarship amount, and only this year it has been increased to 45%, the privileged people’s representatives are up in arms. They have been using the “privilege” name but only giving it to certain race while the other privileged groups (in East Malaysia) were left out. And today, MP for Putatan, Sabah threatened Nazri - telling him not to make the Sabahans angry in the Dewan Rakyat (check the Hansard later). That’s because the independent MP keeps on mentioning his race’s rights, thinking that the reduced quota affects his race, forgetting that it affect all privileged people.Even Deputy Prime Minister Najib took a populist stance and said that the quota should be reviewed.

Few days back, Dr S.Subramaniam suggested that only academic criteria is used to determine scholarship recipients. He says:

No matter how good you are at your ECA or your interview performance, you should not be eligible for a scholarship for tertiary education with low academic results

He also gave a very surprising statement - “all Indians students who score 9As and above in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia will be given government scholarships, starting this year, to pursue their studies in local government universities and four local private institutions — Monash, Swinburne, Curtin and Nottingham universities” as decided in the cabinet committee for the indian community. However, I’m unsure if he meant ALL students with 9As and just mentioned Indian students in the context. Since NST also chose to accept the statement, UMNO Youth proclaimed that all students should be given scholarships if the government sets 9As as the benchmark. They said it should not be slanted towards a particular race. Now in this instance, can we say UMNO Youth is meddling in other people’s affairs? Oh right, they’ll say it affects them as well. They can always do that, but others cannot do the same. That’s fairness and justice for you.

If the government wants to use 9As as the main academic requirement, then make sure it applies to all races

UMNO Youth is worried that if given to all races based on 9As cutoff, it will affect government finances. But that’s the point, government only giving to Indians! Ahmad Ikmal of the UMNO youth further disagrees with Dr S.Subramaniam’s idea of using academic results, by suggesting that Public Service Department should also consider the family background and geographical factors. He also suggested that the top 50 SPM achievers be automatically awarded government scholarships to pursue a course of their choice to ensure that the best brains in the country were rewarded.

Well, when it comes to education, MCA will also wants to have its say. According to MCA Youth education bureau chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, who is also Deputy Education Minister, the decision to give scholarships for those who score 9As and above in their SPM applies to all!

This is blanket approval given by the government to recognise the students’ hard work

Alamak, that means someone misunderstood what Najib said in the cabinet committee or purposely misleading the Indian community. Third possibility - media misquoted!

Amidst all this, today Nazri announced in Parliament that government will set up a specific scholarship programme under the Public Service Department (JPA) for students who achieve exceptional results in their SPM examination for exceptional students regardless of race, religion or social standing. This was after being bamboozled from all corners due to the scholarship quota.

This is different from the normal scholarship programme, which is given out based on a quota system between bumiputra and non-bumiputra students

He said for example the cutoff results can be 15A1s.

He had a hard time defending the quota for this year (55:45) which according to him was based on racial composition of the country, examination results and family financial background. However, one of MPs said that EPU statistics indicate privileged are 62.1 percent while normal Malaysians are 30-something percent. Balance is “others”.

Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said the ratio was a populist decision as it did not reflect the racial composition and could threaten the interest of the Malays and Bumiputeras while Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan said the PSD scholarship should not be awarded to students from rich families as the parents could afford to finance their children’s education. On the contrary, he said outstanding students from poor families especially those from the rural areas should be given more attention while the conditions loosened for them.

Nazri assured the MPs that Malay and Bumiputera students would account for at least 50 per cent of the scholarship recipients. Says Nazri:

We are not taking a populist stance but wanted to be fair when comes to performance as this cannot be compromised.

So, what would be the fate of the scholarship ratio? Expand the number of scholarships? Reduce the quota for normal Malaysians? Keep quiet until next year? Change the criteria to add location or other parameters?

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I reproduce the whole article from the Star today. Heard a bit over the radio yesterday night as well.

The main points discussed:

1. there will be a special unit to monitor Tamil schools, especially to help convert to full-aided status, and merge schools with less students. Rather than merging, relocation will be a better option.

2. AIMST to receive grants from government to sponsor students. I don’t think that only AIMST should be chosen for this purpose. There should another few more institutions to avoid calls of cronyism or favoritism.

3. taxi and bus permits.

4. better business opportunities and loans.

5. more places for vocational training.

6. lack of Indians in civil service.

7. getting PNB’s help in the unit trust investment for Indians. This, I suppose is related to the recent announcement during 9th Malaysian Plan Midterm Review.

8. University intake for Indians will not be review (not mentioned in the article below). Najib says the students must study hard in school to ensure better prospect in entering local universities.

This committee was established in the aftermath of BN being rejected by the Indian community in the last election. Thanks to the awareness created by HINDRAF, the community can now see that proposals by MIC is being taken a bit more seriously by the government.

Unit to keep track of Tamil schools

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government will set up a special unit under the Education Ministry to monitor the development of Tamil schools as well as their problems.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the unit would identify the schools to be converted into fully-assisted schools as well as consolidate those which had an enrolment of less than 50 pupils.

“For these schools which will be consolidated, we will propose that dormitories and other facilities be built for the students.

“For schools which have too many students, cabins will be built as additional classrooms for them,” he told reporters after chairing a Cabinet committee meeting on social problems facing Indians at the Parliament building here yesterday.

Najib said the committee also proposed that an institute set up by MIC – the Asian Institute for Medicine, Science and Technology – be re-categorised as one of the five institutes to receive aid from the Government as a measure to boost the intake of Indian students into critical sectors like medicine and engineering.

The institute, he added, would then sponsor Indian students to pursue courses in critical areas in institutions of higher learning.

Other matters raised during the meeting included more taxi and bus permits for Indian companies, better business opportunities and easier loans for entrepreneurs from that community, and more vocational training places for its youths.

“We would also like to see more opportunities for Indians in the development of vendor programmes with companies like Proton and Petronas.

“The committee also notes the lack of Indians in the civil service. We will raise this matter with the Public Service Department,” said Najib.

Najib said the committee would also discuss with Permodalan Nasional ways to increase the Indian hold on equity in the Malaysian market.

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