An MIC deputy minister has accused Senator Datuk Jaspal Singh, the party's treasurer-general, of trying to smear his image with the Indian community over public university and matriculation placement.
P. Kamalanathan said Jaspal was leveraging on the issue to endear himself to MIC members ahead of party elections slated for November.
Kamalanathan, the Deputy Education Minister II, in an interview on Tuesday demanded to know what Jaspal had done about the problem which has been a regular feature each year for Indian students when the matriculation programme intake starts.
"This is not a sudden issue. It has been on-going. Why this hysteria against me?" Kamalanathan asked.
In a statement last week, Jaspal had described the intake of Indian students for public universities and matriculation courses as the "most unfair and biased public university intake in the history of Malaysia".
He expressed his disappointment with Kamalanathan, alleging the latter was part of a "deceitful trickery" which has mocked the trust the Indian community had placed in him.
Jaspal said Indian students with a perfect Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.0 were not even given their preferred course choices, with some not even being offered a place to study.
Only 442 of the 51,673 students who sat for the Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) examination achieved a 4.0 CGPA score.
Kamalanathan noted that Jaspal has been in the MIC and in the CWC much longer than him.
"Surely he had the opportunity to raise this matter at various forums as well in the Senate. His silence all this while and sudden awakening is bewildering!" Kamalanathan declared and urged Jaspal to put MIC's struggles ahead of his personal agenda.
"In seeking solutions through channels available to him, I suggest that he approach me on matters pertaining to education."
He said the increase in matriculation places from 300 to 1,500 is a clear example of the government's commitment in extending a helping hand to the Indian community.
Kamalanathan said he has been making it a point to ensure that deserving Indian students are enrolled into matriculation courses.
He said to date, 1,142 students had accepted the offer to enrol in matriculation programmes.
Kamalanathan said he has been working with MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel and the party's deputy president Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam to fill the remaining places.
He said they are also working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and political parties to achieve this.
"The issue is something close to my heart and the MIC and if one man is hoping to be seen as the champion in this matter, it can only be for self-glory."
The Hulu Selangor MP said his ministry was willing to meet parents of students wanting to enrol in the matriculation programme.
"So far we have received more than 100 appeals citing various reasons and we are working with the relevant parties within the ministry to resolve the cases."
Kamalanathan admitted that there are limitations but he was doing his best.
"I can assure you that the Indian students are offered places based on merit as well as the availability of places in their chosen fields of study."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.