Nazri defends ‘excellent’ PSD

Nazri says he called the press conference to speak on behalf of the PSD’s civil servants who are unable to defend themselves. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz went on record today to defend the PublicService Department (PSD) against MCA’s accusations of power abuse, saying its officers were “excellent” and had not been negligent in their duties.

He held a press conference in Parliament here this afternoon to clear all confusion over the issue by explaining the mechanics behind PSD’s scholarship awards, including its selection process and criteria.

In his explanation, Nazri reiterated that in tandem with the prime minister’s pledge last year, all SPM students who scored straight 8A+ and above were guaranteed a place in either local or foreign institutions.

He added that the scholarships offered were centered on courses considered critical to Malaysia’s civil service like medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, science and technology, and social sciences.

“We have two major categories for the scholarship awards. One is the PILN (overseas degree programme) for 1,500 students and another is the PIDN (local degree programme) for 2,500 students, both amounting to 4,000.

“We also offer 8,000 spots in local universities for other qualified students who will get scholarships for matriculation or diploma courses,” he said.

He revealed that of the 4,000 PILN and PIDN scholarships awarded to the 2010 batch of SPM top scorers, 2,183 spots, or 55 per cent, were snapped up by Bumiputera students and 1,817, or 45 per cent, were offered to the non-Bumiputeras.

A total of 16,900 students (7,277, or 43.1 per cent, Bumiputeras and 9,623, or 56.9 per cent, non-Bumiputeras) had applied for PILN scholarships, he said, but only 8,857 made the cut with the minimum academic requirement of straight 9As and above.

Nazri also explained that out of the 1,500 scholarships offered for PILN, 300 were given out solely based on merit to the highest scoring students.

“If I’m not mistaken, 363 students qualified for the merit scholarship interviews but we could only give out 300 in the end,” he said.

Nazri also explained that since only 1,500 PILN scholarships were offered to the 8,857 qualified applicants, the remaining 7,357 who failed to make the cut were still allowed to apply within the PIDN category.

As there were only 2,500 spots offered under PIDN, he added, the remaining 4,857 students who failed their interviews would still be eligible for the 8,000 scholarships offered to other qualified students who would be offered matriculation or diploma courses at local institutions.

Nazri revealed that the government was spending a total of RM1.44 billion for the 4,000 scholarships offered under PILN and PIDN — RM1.08 billion for PILN and RM0.36 billion for PIDN.

Nazri also continued to chastise MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong for raising a hue and cry by alleging abuses of power in the PSD without first attempting to clarify the confusion with him as the minister in charge of PSD.

“We have to be fair to the officers. When you are a politician and you attack a civil servant, they cannot defend themselves. I am doing this on behalf of all the excellent officers that we have,” he declared.

Nazri revealed that both the prime minister and his deputy had been briefed on PSD’s selections for the year on May 5, before the awards were announced on May 13.