MCA insists top scorers get overseas scholarships

Dr Chua yesterday suggested a relook at the PSD’s racial quotas for scholarships. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — MCA told the prime minister today top SPM students should be given scholarships to study abroad despite Putrajaya’s claim that it did not make any such promise.

In the escalating dispute over Public Services Department (PSD) scholarships, the Barisan Nasional (BN) component party handed a report to Datuk Seri Najib Razak today outlining 364 cases that must be reviewed.

“MCA is of the view that 59 appeals with straight A+ in the Sijil Pendidikan Malaysia (SPM) should be offered scholarships for degree courses overseas,” MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said after meeting the PM.

He added that 82 students with 9A+ in core subjects, who were originally offered only scholarships for diploma courses, should also be offered overseas scholarships or at least a local degree scholarship.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said this week that only 300 of 1,500 scholarships were given based on merit, with 60 per cent allocated according to racial quotas.

But Dr Chua said yesterday that while MCA did not object to the 60 per cent race-based quota, the manner in which it is allocated should be reviewed.

With Nazri, the minister in charge of PSD scholarships, stating that the government could not afford to sponsor more students, the row over scholarships is set to cause more racial strife.

Dr Chua, a former health minister, said Najib has promised to look into the issue as soon as possible.

MCA received a total of 1,086 appeals, a third of which it believes requires further attention from the government.

Dr Chua also asked that 103 cases of mismatched courses be reviewed at by the PSD.