MCA have met the DPM  and PSD people, and come out with some interesting analysis and report (so they say). Refer MCA website for the article below:

MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek today announced that a delegation comprising of himself and MCA Youth National Chairman cum Deputy Minister of Education Datuk Dr Ir Wee Ka Siong as well as other officers, had a discussion with the Director General of the Public Service Department (Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam [JPA]) this morning about the appeals for JPA scholarship that have been received by MCA.

Explaining that according the its Youth wing, there had been 1,304 appeals.  After a thorough check it has been discovered that all the 214 students who had managed to achieve A+ in all subjects have already received offers of scholarship from JPA, except for 2 cases which are under consideration.

The President then went on to stress that there was a difference in between the different grades of A, which are A+, A, and A-. “The problem arises when the media reports the mark as A. There is a difference between A+, A, and A-. For all those that have achieved A+ for all subjects, all have gotten JPA offers, except for 2 cases which are currently under consideration. After re-marking, we have found that these 2 qualify for JPA scholarships,” he said.

Soi Lek then said that out of the 1,304 cases that they have analyzed, 232 of them have gotten full A’s, meaning A+ and A’s, whereas another 857 have managed to achieve A+, A and A- for the 9 core subjects. He added that after discussion, MCA stated that the people who had gotten A and A+ should be considered for scholarships as well with priority given to them. Stressing that the analysis done does not follow any racial composition, he said that “We have received complaints form all races-Malays, Chinese, and Indians.”

Declaring that MCA is not a postman that merely receives complaints before forwarding them to the JPA, Soi Lek then proceeded to reveal a complicated chart, explaining that MCA Youth has had to analyze the names and the subjects of the complainants as well as to compare the results to the subjects taken to ensure that the appellants have attained the necessary results to enroll in their chosen courses as per the guidelines which have been set out.

Earlier, they mentioned they wanted to meet PSD and looks like they did.

MIC, in the mean time, has this to say:

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will resolve the controversy over the awarding of Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships, namely involving the overseas programme, and entry into matriculation programmes in local universities.

MIC vice-president Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, who is also the Human Resource Minister, said he had raised the two issues at the weekly Cabinet meeting here yesterday, and the Prime Minister had agreed to look into them personally.

“The PM has given an undertaking to resolve the matter,” he said in a statement here.

It was reported that many SPM leavers with excellent grades complained that their applications to do the matriculation programme and to secure the PSD scholarship were rejected.

Many of them have since appealed against the decision.

Many parents of the affected students also took up the matter to the relevant government departments and to the various political parties, including the MIC.

Dr Subramaniam said he also spoke to Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on the matriculation issue where many Indian students with good grades had their applications rejected.

He said a series of discussions were also held with the Education secretary-general on the intake of students to do matriculation courses.

“On the PSD scholarship, I have already held several meetings with the PSD and several more rounds of discussions will be held over the next few days,” Dr Subramaniam said.

He expressed confidence that the issues could be resolved through negotiations with the Govern ment.

“While I agree that there appears to be unhappiness and a sense of mistreatment amongst the affected students and their parents, it has to be understood that the entire process is not over yet,” said Dr Subra-maniam.

“The Government is still in the process of considering appeals from the students. Besides, the results for the PSD scholarship for local universities have also yet to be announced.” — Bernama

Pity the PM. He has bigger things to worry about, and yet also have to handle these problems. Makes us wonder what’s the point of have so many ministries and agencies if everything also need PM to solve. Whatever it is, looks like MIC also doing something, and everyone will live happily ever after soon. And wait for next year to repeat the drama 🙂

Oh, PSD also issued a statement after meeting MCA:

The Public Service Department (PSD) has delayed announcing the names of its scholarship recipients by a week after meeting the MCA over applications sent by top SPM scorers.

A PSD source confirmed that the announcement, orginally set for June 4, will now be made on June 11.

During the meeting, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, who is the party’s Youth chief, brought up the case of 1,304 students to PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam.

The MCA Youth Education Bureau had put together the appeals over a week and those involved were students of all races.

“All cases should be treated equally and we should not have a fixation on the number of Malay, Chinese or Indian appeals,” said Dr Chua in a press conference at Wisma MCA yesterday. [oh oh..PERKASA alert!]

“The MCA treats all cases based on merit and I’m sure that the Government – under the concept of 1Malaysia – wants to take care of deserving students with good results.”

And finally, the story won’t be complete without some radical action. Well, trust HRP to help out in this area. They have sent a petition to PM Najib to ask for royal commission and threatened to torch 1Malaysia logo if the students are not helped. There’s also an online petition to demand equal rights for students. You can download petition form here.