Bigotry in scholarship interviews?

In September last year Joseph Entulu said less than 50% of students in Sarawak and Sabah qualified for seats and scholarships in public university.

KUCHING: The case of 9As SPM student Nigel UnchartJeremaiah being rejected for a scholarship has lent credence to commonly held believe here that scholarships meant for Borneo are being hijacked.

Now it appears that that one of the reasons why Sarawakians and Sabahans are unable to fill the 1,000 federal government allocated seats in public universities is because of the myopic Peninsular Malaysia-driven vetting process.

Nigel’s predicament has brought back into focus federal Minister Joseph Entulu’s shocking disclosure last September that more than 50% of federal scholarships had no takers and were “returned” to the peninsular for students there.

The reasoning was that Sarawak and Sabah students did not attain the necessary qualifications, which incidentally the state opposition has vehemently said “is impossible” because of the number of students with good scores who sought them out for assistance.

Nigel reportedly failed to secure a Universiti Tenaga scholarship to pursue Mechanical Engineering. He is also still waiting to hear from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and the Public Service Department (JPA).

He was also left scrambling recently when interviewers for the Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara)’s Indigenous Trust scholarships threw him off with questions about Islamic practices, hudud and related issues even after he informed the interviewing officer that he was a Christian.

In July last year, Sarawak PKR raised the issue of 17 top scorers failing to secure seats  in public higher learning institutions (IPTA). The students each had CGPA scores of 4 or just below.

In September last year federal Minister Entulu, a Sarawakian, said since 2008, less than 50% of the 1,000 scholarships allocated to Sarawak and Sabah in local universities were filled up.

Nigel’s situation has opened up a gnawing issue here – that of biased attitudes, inequality and unfair treatment on not just education but in all segments of federal-linked activities.

Sarawak with its 2.4 million population is predominantly Christian in Muslim Malaysia and has seen little respect, notably in the Bible issue.

Biased questioning

Sarawak Senior Minister James Masing when contacted said testing Christians or any non-Muslims for that matter, of Islam is “plain wrong”.

Masing, who knew Nigel’s family, described the interview questions as “ridiculous”

““I’m not sure if there is an agenda behind this, but if there is, I will be very mad.

“Why were the questions posed on Islam, when the boy himself is a Christian?”

“He is attending the interview based on merit. To ask him questions based on Islamic matters is plain wrong.

“The question has no relevance to applying for a scholarship for higher-learning, He wants to learn mechanical engineering not become an ustaz” said Masing.

He said based on his results it shouldn’t be difficult for students like Nigel to secure scholarships

“Situations like this should not be happening, especially in Sarawak.

“Students like Nigel should be pursued by institutes of higher learning and not the other way around,” he said, adding that he was aware that the problem was widespread among the rural native students.

He said many straight As students were unable to secure scholarships and places in public universities and ended up taking up random courses in lesser known private institutions.

“It’s a waste. The problem occurred because no offer was made to them. Scholarships are the way to fully harness Malaysia’s human capital,” he said.

Masing said he had already submitted a notice to the Prime Minister’s Office, highlighting the issue of high-achievers in school.

“I asked for better access to scholarships and placements in local higher learning institutes,” he said.