Dr. S.Subramaniam suggests that the interview and extra-curricular criteria to be abolished when handing out PSD scholarships. 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

In other words, scholarships awards should be purely on academic results. This may be problematic since generally those from affluent families have better chance of doing better. Why not do it like this – minimum 9A for those family income below RM3000, minimum 12As for those with family income between RM3001 and RM8000, and minimum 14As for those from family earning above RM8001.

However, he goes on to say that 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. MIC had also asked the government to include the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology in this scheme. This was decided during the first meeting of the Special Committee for Indian Related Affairs chaired by Najib. Human Resources Ministry is the secretariat for the committee.

“Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has agreed in terms of policy and we are now in the process of formalising it.”

The problem with this suggestion is that the other communities may demand the same. After all, we are moving towards equal rights. Unless of course, the privileged community gets scholarship for much lower results, in which case they won’t complain. But the Chinese community will be upset that their students who get 9As don’t get similar deal.

Rest of the committee members are: MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, Dr Subramaniam, MIC deputy ministers, finance and education ministers, Public Service Department director-general, representatives from ministries related to problems faced by the Indian community and multi-agency committees.

Some of the outcomes of the first meeting has been highlighted before, but some new ones are below:

– University intake for Indian students in critical courses to be increased. Eight per cent of PSD scholarships were given to
Indians to study medicine and law. The committee was seeking more
places for Indians wishing to pursue programmes in dentistry, pharmacy,
accountancy and architecture

– A relook at the appeal of Indian students who achieved about 3.0 CGPA grading but did not get university places.

But remember, Najib said that university intake for this year will not be reviewed. He advised students to study harder. Not sure which is which now.

Another area Dr. S.Subramaniam ventured is the civil service. He said of the 16,000 Indians who applied for government jobs last year, only 1,500 were offered postings.

“It’s not true that non-Malays are not applying for civil service posts,” he said, adding that the percentage of Indians in the civil service should be increased from the five to eight per cent.

“We want Indians not only in lower-category jobs but also in higher categories. PSD has been cooperative in furnishing the MIC with information on vacancies in the civil service,” said Dr Subramaniam, who is also MIC secretary-general.

Perhaps PSD will publish such statistics – breakdown by job category, state, age, gender etc.

The next statement filled my heart with joy!

Dr Subramaniam said MIC was also working hard to improve Indian equity in the capital market from 1.1 per cent to 1.5 per cent within the next three years.

While the government is aiming for 1.5 percent in 2020, MIC is planning to turbo-boost it in 3 years. That is indeed a great challenge and one that can revive the community’s faith a bit. The easiest way is to get a big allocation from government, like maybe RM5 billion and offer it to the community via PNB. Immediate cash injection and the equity will be boosted. Just left with a small matter of asking for allocation.